A Mighty Rushing Wind

WOW! What a storm we had yesterday afternoon here in Easley. My wife was having a surgical procedure done at a local office when the storm came, so we watched as it passed by downtown. The clouds were black and ugly, the rain came down in sheets, and the lightning danced in the windows. At one point, one of the technicians thought they spotted a funnel. Everyone was afraid to leave the building.

When we headed home and turned on our street, there was debris everywhere. The closer we came to our house, the more we could see. Finally we saw what I was worried about- a tree limb down in the front yard. Actually it was a LARGE tree limb. It missed the house by just inches, or else I would not have had a bedroom to lay my head last night.

Although we weren't here to see what the storm was like, because of what we experienced at the doctors office, I can just imagine the wind that was blowing everything around.

Is this storm a representation of what it is like in our lives? Do we see a storm all around us? Does it frighten us and cause us to stay where we are, seeking whatever shelter is available? And when we get to our next place in our life, can we imagine what the storm was like for the people who just lived through it, even though we weren't there?

Everyday we see people hurting, frightened or bruised and sore and needing a friend. Needing a hand. Yet as Christians we sometimes wipe our brow, remind ourselves how fortunate we are to have survived a similar crisis, and walk on by the person without offering a hand.

In the book of Jonah, there came a great storm while he was on a ship at sea. Jonah realized that he was the cause of it, and told the crew to toss him overboard. For most it would have been certain death. For Jonah, it was a chance to live again. Jonah realized the reason for the storm, took action, trusting in God that He would see him through.

Now I'm not a meteorologist, but I understand why the storms come up in summertime like they do. Though there is nothing I can do to stop the storm, there are things I can do to prepare for it, and survive through it. And when I come out the other side of it, I know how to show others what it takes to get through it, and listen with a sympathetic ear to those who are either going through a storm or have lived through one of their own in the past.

That was one reason that Jesus came to earth and lived his life for over 30 years as a man. He has been in our shoes. He has seen the storms. (Read the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, they are full of them). He has seen the hatred of mankind thrust upon him. Yet he still loved them, asked his Father, our God, to forgive them, and he is still there for us, waiting to listen. Waiting to help.

Will we use his example and love others, helping them through the storms of life? Or will we walk on by, glad that we're not the ones being damaged at the moment? The choice is truly ours.

Thank you and have a blessed day. Now it's time to go clean up the damage.