A Storm Capable of Producing a Great Lesson

The day started off beautifully.  Sunny, warm (but not too warm), and a nice breeze was blowing.  The girls and I even ate lunch on the patio at our favorite Mexican restaurant.

We had heard the weather was to turn stormy later in the day, but we kept commenting on how the sky didn’t look that bad.  Those silly weather forecasters.  This will probably be nothing.

The day went on while the forecasters continued predicting the worst.  And now a Tornado Watch for the Denver Metro area?  That doesn’t happen often.

As evening approached, the sky began to turn a green color.  And as the sun set we were surrounded by dark, ominous clouds.  It was a good time to settle in and watch some television.  So You Think You Can Dance was the show of choice—not mine mind you.

Izzy was glued to her daddy’s side with a big blanket in hand—great for covering her eyes from the lightening.  Maddie put on a brave front, but I could tell she was scared, and maybe a little excited about what was to come.  At some point Matthew and I looked at each other with a knowing look of, if this is the worst it gets, this is nothing.

Then Facebook began to light up.  Our friends who live about 20 minutes south of us were reporting golf ball size hail, severe thunder and lightening, flooding, and even a bear walking down Main Street?  Wait.  Scroll back up the news feed.  A bear? A real bear?  Yep!  A reverse 911 call even went out to the area warning neighbors of the bear sighting.

At 10 p.m. we decided to call it a night.  Besides, the constant emergency alerts every few minutes were interrupting the show and causing some undo stress.  We tucked the girls into the guest room bed, because, as any parent knows, there’s safety when siblings are snuggled together in a comfy, cozy, bed versus their own beds in their dark and scary bedrooms.

Well, you know what’s coming.  In about two minutes time the storm went from pretty easy to handle to downright threatening.  No matter how thick the curtains, the lightening lit up every room of the house.  The thunder pounded and rattled the windows.  The hail started, which sounded as if someone was throwing golf balls on the roof.  The noise was deafening.  We were soon joined by two lovely young ladies. And the bed that’s meant to hold two comfortably, was now overflowing with four bodies.  Did I mention it was hot?  Well it was.

Izzy was trembling with fear and radiating heat from her legs which were now stuck to mine.  I tried to comfort her.  Tried to think of all those comforting scriptures, but nothing.  All I could think to whisper was, “Holy Hail Batman.”  Seriously, where did that come from?

At 11:30 we tucked the groggy young ladies back into their own bed.  The storm was dying down.  Or at least we thought it was.  Little did we know, round two was lurking just behind it.  And it promised to be a doozy.

Isn’t that just how the storms of life go?

Sometimes we bring on the storms ourselves.  We make poor decisions, not tapping into Godly wisdom that tells us to run the other way.  Despite all the warnings and red flags, we push on with our own agenda, only to wake one morning to the aftermath of the storm. And  a mess to clean up.

There are other storms.  The ones we don’t see coming.  The sky looks clear. The sun is shining.  And from out of nowhere we are caught in the turbulence of a disaster we couldn’t imagine.   We tremble with fear.  We curse angry words.  We cry out and plead for answers.  But our thoughts and words are met with silence.

And then there are the storms where we invite Jesus to join us.  Oh they are still vicious storms, but with His protection, guidance and grace, we somehow make it through the darkness.  We find our bearings.  We get up in the morning.  We face the damage.  And somehow we find ourselves again.

A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”  He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.  He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!” Mark 4:37-41

Who is this?  He is Jesus.  The Calmer of Storms.