Stormy

We knew bad weather was possible, but the weather alerts had expired and the rain had ceased to fall.  With this in mind, my brother and I sloshed through muddy water and soaked ground to get to our car and start the thirty-minute drive home.  We called home, and our dad suggested we wait a few more minutes to make sure the bad weather was past.  As we pulled to the side of the gravel road, the rain starting coming down hard - again.  We thought we would wait about ten minutes and then get back on the road.

Then we heard it.

Plink.  Plunk.  Plonk.

There was nothing we could do but sit and wait as the hailstones dropped down all around us.

Dad had said that we should miss the brunt of the storm, and we knew of no tornadoes in our area.  So  there was nothing for us to do but wait, watching the torrents of rain come down and laughing about our shoes that were soaked from walking through muddy water.  There was a freedom in knowing that we would come out fine - even if our car ended up with a little hail damage.

Every day people all over the world face problems and difficulties - the storms of life.  Some are quick, summer thunderstorms, leaving as quickly as they come and bringing a cool breeze to a hot day.  Some are tornadoes, wreaking havoc and destruction on everything around us.  Some are hailstorms - not earth-shattering or life-changing, but you don't want to be outside when they come.

In the 1800s, a man penned the hymn, "A Shelter in Time of Storm":

"The raging storms may round us beat,
A Shelter in the time of storm
We’ll never leave our safe retreat,
A Shelter in the time of storm."

Ira Sankey, music director for D.L Moody, found the hymn and set it to a different tune, commenting, "It was said to be a favorite song of the fisherman on the north coast of England, and they were often heard singing it as they approached their harbors in the time of storm."

For my brother and I, our storm was more of a slight interruption than a catastrophe.  We even had fun while we waited, as my brother kept changing the radio stations, trying to hear what all of them were saying.  We listened to the list of counties under tornado warnings, finding humor in some of the county names we had never heard before.  One station was off the air, and my brother pretended the static on the airwaves was actually artillery fire (it would take a boy to think of that).

Even with the hail dropping all around us (and on the roof above our heads), it was as if we didn't have a care in the world.  And we really didn't.  We knew we would be able to go home eventually.  We knew we would be safe until then.  No matter what storm was raining down on us, we could be at peace.

"Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me,

    for in you my soul takes refuge;

in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge,

    till the storms of destruction pass by."

Psalm 57:1

Image courtesy of prozac1 / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Good Morning, World!

I used to be a morning person, but I lost that habit somewhere.  In theory, I love the idea of getting up early, but somehow, I'm not as fond of the "early to rise" ideal when it calls for actually rousing myself out of warm comfort.  Many nights I have had good intentions of rising early the next morning, but I always think of a good excuse by the time morning light comes through my window.

Throughout the Bible, rising early in the morning seems to have been a pattern for carrying out God's will.  When Abraham offered Isaac on the altar, he rose early for the trek to Moriah.  God instructed Moses to "'rise up early'" to tell Pharaoh to let God's people go.  The seventh day the Israelites marched around Jericho, they rose early - at dawn.  When Nehemiah read the Book of the Law to the people of Israel, he started early in the morning.

It wasn't just people in Old Testament times who followed this pattern.  Jesus would rise very early, "while it was still dark," to pray alone before another day of ministry.  He would teach in the temple "early in the morning."  When some of the women came to anoint Jesus' body after His death, they went to the tomb "very early."

As Hudson Taylor said, "A man may be consecrated, dedicated, and devoted, but of little value if undisciplined."  All my good intentions aren't worth much if I don't actually carry them out.  That discipline causes our plans to bring good return for our work.

So, here I am.  It is 6:09 AM.  Not too early, but I have to ease into this, right?  It's already bright outside, but I did catch a glimpse of this morning's sunrise.  And to think I would have missed that.

Image courtesy of domdeen / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Welcome!

Hi!  Welcome to my little cyber-home.  :)

How was that?  I wasn't exactly sure what I should say in the first line of the first post, so bear with me.

If you would like to know more about me, try the "About Me" page.  (Really kind of self-explanatory, but I'm running out of things to say here.)  For archives, book recommendations (and opinions), or searching the blog, try the right sidebar.  At the top of the page, click on "Quotes" to see some of my favorite quotes (I really like quotes).

Just make yourself at home.  As I write this, "These Traveling Days" is still new, so this page is more or less under construction.  Don't leave yet, though - I'm working on clearing away the clutter.  I hope we can be friends!