Welcome to August! By the time some of you read this, our kids will be preparing to go back to school. The yellow school buses will be going up and down the streets, carrying our most precious cargo. Please keep our children as well as the teachers in your prayers as they return to class.
The other day I was watching a story about storm chasers. They are people who literally chase storms. They try to locate where the storm is going and they chase it, all with the goal of gathering information about the storm. They are people who are a cut from a different cloth. Most of us seek shelter when a tornado is coming our direction. These guys chase the storm down and when they get close enough to it, they get out their instruments to try to gather information. I, like most people, enjoy watching a storm from a safe distance but never have I chased one down to get close and personal with it. After all, storms are big and dangerous, what else do you need to know? However, these guys want to know how fast the storm is moving, how powerful are its winds and a whole lot of stuff that makes no sense to me. In life, I do not have to look for storms and chase them down because well, they seem to find me. In addition, like the weather storms, I seek shelter when they do find me. Lately in my life, I have been going through many storms, one right after another. Some of the storms pass very quickly, while others linger for some time. I have been dealing with a shoulder injury for almost 7 months now. Even with rehab, it still bothers me. I have learned not to judge our God during these storms. If I judge God untrue and unloving while in a storm, I am judging him based upon my circumstance and not His character. Like the disciples during the storm on the Sea of Galilee, they cried out to him while he was asleep in the boat, “Do you not care that we perish?” Mark 4:38. They had forgotten just hours earlier he had said to them, “Let us go to the other side,” vs. 35. I am not trying to find storms they will find me. And when they do I am not trying to figure them out, usually I am trying just to survive. However, one thing I know for sure God is faithful even in the storm. If you are in a storm now, seek shelter in His name and know that even if the storm lingers, He is faithful. We will never know why certain storms come in our lives, but we can know that no matter what, Jesus will bring us to the other side.
Waiting for the storm to end and looking for the rainbow,