Chased By A Storm
This past Friday night, my family and I were on our way back home from Abilene as a severe storm was brewing to the north and west. My wife and I were acting like "storm-chasers" on the Weather Channel while our boys were fast asleep in the back seat.
The farther north we drove the more it seemed we might intersect the storm. Pressing on toward home, we watched through our windshield the little fingers of cloud drop down from the dark black monster that loomed out to the front and left of our car. Giant bolts of lightning flashed from the main body of the storm and all around us on the horizon. We were scanning the sky and the ground under the storm for signs of circulation or little houses being sucked off to Oz. Driving past a herd of cattle, we jokingly quoted from Twister, saying "Cow!" and hoped none of them would take flight in front of our car.
We thought we had reached the storm (or it had reached us) with it almost on top of us as we started to feel hail hitting the car. We asked each other, "Should we pull over into Sonic or into that car wash?" But we decided to keep on driving (as fast as legally possible) toward home.
After a couple of minutes the hail stopped and the storm was behind us. The sky lightened in front of us and the rain lessened the closer we got to home. When we pulled into Munday at about 7:45 p.m., the rain had stopped and it was still light outside. However, behind us it was as dark as midnight except for the ocassional lightning flashes. We had missed the storm--by only 10 minutes according to the news which reported circulation and tornadic activity in the very cloud structure we were chasing or which was chasing us. But we were safe at home.
Okay, you may think we're just plain crazy for endangering ourselves or bad parents for endangering our boys while driving through a storm. But we had no idea really how bad the storm was until we got home. Because of where we live and the age of our car (I guess), we couldn't pick up any radio stations to tell us the amount of potential danger the storm presented. It looked bad, but not where we were on the road. So we kept driving toward home. And by the time the storm started to get bad, we drove out of it. Thankfully, the storm was never bad over our car.
We all will face storms on our horizons. Some may seem to suck the life out of you or blow you down and some may just make you wet. Some may make you have to seek higher ground or go running to the cellar. Some storms you can drive through, while others cause you to get stuck in traffic as the storm approaches from behind. The storms will come, some with plenty of warning and some very suddenly.
Just like meteorological storms will come, sometimes spiritual storms also pop up on the horizon. What are these storms and how should we face them? First, some storms we face may come suddenly and without warning. Sometimes these storms come to test our faith and display God's power. In Matthew 8:23-27, Jesus and His disciples were in a boat when a sudden storm came upon them. The disciples panicked but Jesus just slept. How did Jesus sleep through the storm? Soundly, because He could control the storm. We need to trust God to help us through the storms because only He can calm them and us.
Second, we face some storms because we ignore the warnings. The destructive power of the some of the storms of our lives could have been avoided if we would have just steered clear of the storm when we had the chance. In Acts 27, the apostle Paul was a passenger on a boat headed to Rome in late Fall--the wrong time of the year to sail--when he warned them they would face disaster if they traveled further. They ignored him and, sure enough, they were hit by a "northeaster," they ran aground on an island, and the boat was broken to pieces in the process. By God's grace, no lives were lost. But Paul said in verse 21, "You should have taken my advice ... then you would have spared yourselves this damage and loss." How often does God warn us about impending danger due to sin and disobedience and we find ourselves in a storm we could have avoided? Prayerfully in those situations we only face minor or temporary damage and not lose our lives in the storm. By God's grace we can still be rescued.
Finally, sometimes we face storms as the innocent victims of someone else's storm. This scary storm is the fault of someone else's sin. We didn't cause these storms, yet we still face the terrifying forces of the storm. We need God to protect us during the storm while He deals with the guilty party. While running from God, Jonah put his shipmates at risk of being destroyed by a storm which God was using to get his attention (Jonah 1). Once the sailors were finally convinced by Jonah to throw him overboard and after he was off the boat and in the water, the storm was calmed. The men in the boat showed reverance for God and made "vows" to Him, and then God dealt with Jonah. Even then, the whale or giant fish wasn't a punishment for Jonah but a rescue submarine sent by God. And Jonah praised God for rescuing him from the storm his sin caused.
Only God can rescue us from our storms, whether they are caused by us or someone else, or whether they happen for some other "God-only-knows" reason. When storms seem to be chasing you, I hope you remember these two verses:
The farther north we drove the more it seemed we might intersect the storm. Pressing on toward home, we watched through our windshield the little fingers of cloud drop down from the dark black monster that loomed out to the front and left of our car. Giant bolts of lightning flashed from the main body of the storm and all around us on the horizon. We were scanning the sky and the ground under the storm for signs of circulation or little houses being sucked off to Oz. Driving past a herd of cattle, we jokingly quoted from Twister, saying "Cow!" and hoped none of them would take flight in front of our car.
We thought we had reached the storm (or it had reached us) with it almost on top of us as we started to feel hail hitting the car. We asked each other, "Should we pull over into Sonic or into that car wash?" But we decided to keep on driving (as fast as legally possible) toward home.
After a couple of minutes the hail stopped and the storm was behind us. The sky lightened in front of us and the rain lessened the closer we got to home. When we pulled into Munday at about 7:45 p.m., the rain had stopped and it was still light outside. However, behind us it was as dark as midnight except for the ocassional lightning flashes. We had missed the storm--by only 10 minutes according to the news which reported circulation and tornadic activity in the very cloud structure we were chasing or which was chasing us. But we were safe at home.
Okay, you may think we're just plain crazy for endangering ourselves or bad parents for endangering our boys while driving through a storm. But we had no idea really how bad the storm was until we got home. Because of where we live and the age of our car (I guess), we couldn't pick up any radio stations to tell us the amount of potential danger the storm presented. It looked bad, but not where we were on the road. So we kept driving toward home. And by the time the storm started to get bad, we drove out of it. Thankfully, the storm was never bad over our car.
We all will face storms on our horizons. Some may seem to suck the life out of you or blow you down and some may just make you wet. Some may make you have to seek higher ground or go running to the cellar. Some storms you can drive through, while others cause you to get stuck in traffic as the storm approaches from behind. The storms will come, some with plenty of warning and some very suddenly.
Just like meteorological storms will come, sometimes spiritual storms also pop up on the horizon. What are these storms and how should we face them? First, some storms we face may come suddenly and without warning. Sometimes these storms come to test our faith and display God's power. In Matthew 8:23-27, Jesus and His disciples were in a boat when a sudden storm came upon them. The disciples panicked but Jesus just slept. How did Jesus sleep through the storm? Soundly, because He could control the storm. We need to trust God to help us through the storms because only He can calm them and us.
Second, we face some storms because we ignore the warnings. The destructive power of the some of the storms of our lives could have been avoided if we would have just steered clear of the storm when we had the chance. In Acts 27, the apostle Paul was a passenger on a boat headed to Rome in late Fall--the wrong time of the year to sail--when he warned them they would face disaster if they traveled further. They ignored him and, sure enough, they were hit by a "northeaster," they ran aground on an island, and the boat was broken to pieces in the process. By God's grace, no lives were lost. But Paul said in verse 21, "You should have taken my advice ... then you would have spared yourselves this damage and loss." How often does God warn us about impending danger due to sin and disobedience and we find ourselves in a storm we could have avoided? Prayerfully in those situations we only face minor or temporary damage and not lose our lives in the storm. By God's grace we can still be rescued.
Finally, sometimes we face storms as the innocent victims of someone else's storm. This scary storm is the fault of someone else's sin. We didn't cause these storms, yet we still face the terrifying forces of the storm. We need God to protect us during the storm while He deals with the guilty party. While running from God, Jonah put his shipmates at risk of being destroyed by a storm which God was using to get his attention (Jonah 1). Once the sailors were finally convinced by Jonah to throw him overboard and after he was off the boat and in the water, the storm was calmed. The men in the boat showed reverance for God and made "vows" to Him, and then God dealt with Jonah. Even then, the whale or giant fish wasn't a punishment for Jonah but a rescue submarine sent by God. And Jonah praised God for rescuing him from the storm his sin caused.
Only God can rescue us from our storms, whether they are caused by us or someone else, or whether they happen for some other "God-only-knows" reason. When storms seem to be chasing you, I hope you remember these two verses:
Psalms 55:8 (CEV) "... quickly find shelter from howling winds and raging storms."
Isaiah 25:4 (NIV) "You [God] have been a refuge for the poor, a refuge for the needy in his distress, a shelter from the storm ..."
May God bless you and protect you on your journey.
posted by Sojourner at 3:02 PM
1 Comments:
Aren't you glad that you live in tornado alley?! Kent
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