Learning to Follow God’s Lead

As wildfires raged across Canada, few ever contemplated that multiple communities across the Northwest Territories would be evacuated over 1500 km south to Alberta. The communities of Fort Smith, Hay River, and Yellowknife – over 35,000 people – all hit the road not sure where they would be going, or for how long they would be displaced from their homes.

Each community in the Western Arctic has a single road, and for those leaving Yellowknife, there is one gas station – with a total of four pumps – along the first 800 km of that highway. There’s one store, one hotel with about 20 rooms, and 20,000 people all trying to get out through the smoke and as flames flare up in the ditches along several sections of highway.

If we think to scripture, it is easy to be reminded of the many times that God’s People find themselves displaced, for any number of reasons. The call to us as Christians is to trust in God in the midst of that. “We set out not knowing where we were going, all I knew is that God would carry us through, and one way or another, He would work all things together for our ultimate good and His ultimate glory” said Archdeacon Pryor.

There were real challenges, doing the work of the Synod Office from a picnic table or a hotel desk. There were even real fears: how long would this last, and can we afford to pay the clergy when two of our self-supporting parishes are shut down? God be praised, after weeks away from home, our communities were spared.

There are real lessons from the evacuation. How often do fears and “practical concerns” get in the way of faithfulness? More often than any of us would like to admit. It’s in the wilderness that our faith is tested, and if our eyes are open, we see God at work in our lives.