[bluidkiti]

Storms by Leslie Snyder

Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.—Matthew 7:24-27

Packed like a can of sardines, our family was stuck in our van, trapped by a sudden cloudburst. We skillfully balanced our rescued dinner of spaghetti and green beans on yellow disposable plates. Rain poured and quickly formed rivers that rose around our campsite, our tent and the 4-inch pad that grounded our tent. There was no doubt it would be a long night. Rain clouds had followed us during our drive to the Rocky Mountains and seemed to settle in for the week. This storm, however, was different. It came up fast and then stayed. Nearly two inches of rain fell in a 45-minute time period. My husband tried unsuccessfully to divert the water around our tent pad, building a makeshift levy, but there was little we could do except ride out the storm, clean up the mess and make the best of a very wet situation.

When you camp, you get used to the idea that storms will come, so you pack your rain gear, some disposable items, and food that can be salvaged at the last second. But, even though you go prepared, some storms still surprise you. Isn’t that true in life as well? Sure, we understand that there will be some storms in life, so we prepare ourselves as best we can, but still some storms surprise us. They come faster than we expected, stay longer than we want, and leave us with a bigger mess to clean up than we could have imagined.

The question then becomes, “What now?” Who do we lean on when the storms of life roll in? Who is our Rock in times of trouble? Psalm 18:2 reads, “The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.”