Courage For Today

storm

Singing in the Rain

Encouragement

 “It will be a shelter and shade from the heat of the day, and a refuge and hiding place from the storm and rain.” Isaiah 4:6

Some of my favorite memories as a child were when our family went on Camping Trips.  Camping was an inexpensive way for all of us to pack up and visit places we normally would not have been able to afford to visit.  We camped near beaches, on mountaintops and everything in between.  There is just something about the camping experience that makes wonderful memories.  Maybe it is the chance to get away from your normal routine.  Or, perhaps its the smell of bacon cooking in the morning.  It might be that your camping neighbors just always seemed to be friendlier than your normal neighbors.  Whatever it was about camping certainly made a lasting impression on me.

I remember one particular trip we took to a local State Park.  We went through the normal routine of packing the car full with our coolers and our tent and clothes and barely leaving enough room for all of us to fit in the car.  Somehow we managed to make it to our destination and start the unpacking and tent set-up.  I have to admit that we weren’t much help to my Mom and Dad.  He pretty much had to set-up the tent and unpack all of our “stuff” while my Mom kept an eye on us as we gathered wood for the eventual fire and had sword fights with the fallen tree limbs we found.

As nightfall approached, we finished our dinner of hot dogs over the open fire finished off with roasted marshmallows.  We slowly made our way to our tent and started coloring in our coloring books and just having fun as a family.  Suddenly, without warning, a huge storm approached.  It rained and rained and rained some more.  My brothers and I were fairly young and, of course, we were scared as the rain pounded our tent and the ground rumbled with the sound of thunder.  Just when we thought the storm was slowing down, some of our tent poles collapsed and the center of the tent fell upon us.  We kids panicked thinking the world was coming to an end while my Dad climbed out of the tent and reset the pole in the driving rain storm.  He managed to re-sturdy the tent and climbed back inside, soaked to the bone, dripping water over all of us.  Despite all of the drama, we could see the calm face of our Dad and somehow that calmed our nerves and made us feel safe and secure.  It wasn’t very long until we were back working on our coloring masterpieces.  The weather finally calmed down and we managed to all snuggle in our sleeping bags for a comfortable night’s sleep—our tent and our Dad protecting us from the storm’s fury.

This story reminds me of the many trials I have been through in my own life.  Trials that many of you are going through as we speak.  There have been times when I honestly didn’t know what to do next.  Times when I thought all was lost.  Times when I felt hopeless.  During those rainstorms in my own life, it always comforted me to know my Heavenly Father was there protecting me and repairing the damage of the storms.  Over time, I learned that the driving rainstorms of life didn’t have to be depressing and defeating.  Instead, I let the storms remind me of His Heavenly protection and shine as an example of His many miracles.

Are you experiencing your own rainstorm in life right now?  Instead of feeling defeated by the trial and the storm, let the rain be a gentle reminder to stay focused on God’s presence in your life while providing you with encouragement that the warm sunshine is not far behind.

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Calm During the Storm

Strength

Several years ago, my wife and I were invited by some friends of ours to spend an afternoon on the Lake in their Cabin Cruiser.  It didn’t take us long to say “yes.”  After all, what could be more relaxing than a lazy day boating, fishing, and swimming?

It took my wife and I about an hour to drive to the lake, a large lake in the North Georgia Area.  The afternoon was beautiful.  The sun was shining.  The wind was slightly blowing.  It couldn’t have been a prettier day.  We had the opportunity to cruise the lake and park the boat in a large, private cove.  I can remember jumping in the water and swimming in the beautiful water until I was so tired, I had to climb back on the boat.  After we took time to eat a relaxing lunch on the boat and were bored of this particular spot, we took off for another part of the lake, cruising at top speed with the wind blowing in our hair.  Not a worry in the world.

Seemingly within minutes, we noticed the water getting choppier and the sky getting cloudier.  We didn’t think much about it; after all, summer rain showers come and go all the time.  Besides, we were having too much fun.  Of course, by then we were no where near the nearest shore and were somewhere in the middle of this gigantic body of water.  The winds got stronger.  The waves got higher and rougher.

At first, I wasn’t too scared.  It reminded me somewhat of the boat on the old TV Show, Gilligan’s Island.  We were tossing around some, but nothing too drastic.  Our friend, who was driving the boat, decided that we had better play it safe and head for shore just in case the pending storm worsened.  That turned out to be the wisest decision of the day.

As we started heading back, we noticed Park Rangers cruising around and warning people to get to shore as quickly as possible.  We noticed another Ranger that was helping some stranded passengers on another boat.  The wind blew increasingly stronger to the point it was actually stinging our faces. We had to push the boat to its limits to get to shore, but our faces paid a painful price in the process.

The boat dipped, and tossed, and dipped, and tossed.  I really thought that we were going to need rescuing ourselves.  The bow dipped and water rushed across the deck.  Not enough to cause any damage, but for a land-lover like me, it was more water than I wanted to see.

After seemingly an eternity we made it to the nearest shore.  Not a shore with a dock mind you, but a shore nonetheless.  We anchored the boat in shallow water and jumped in the waist deep water to walk to shore.  We held on to a rope from the boat so the boat wouldn’t drift off in the lake since we weren’t confident the anchor would hold.

Suddenly, without any warning, a tree from the nearby shore snapped from the wind and crashed in the water near us.  I don’t know why I didn’t have a heart attack, but I probably should have.  As if being on the Lake in the middle of a storm wasn’t scary enough, now we were almost crushed by a fallen tree as we tried to get to safety.

Somehow, by the Grace of God, we made it to shore and found a small Campground Restroom where we took shelter and rode out the storm.  There’s nothing like being in a restroom shelter in the middle of what seemed like a hurricane to humble you and make you feel really thankful for your many blessings.

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