Driving Into the Storm

A few days ago, the kids and I were driving into town on our way to Tae Kwon Do when we came upon a storm. As we drove further into the storm, it went from a sprinkling rain, to a harder rain, to lightning and hail, to even more hail. After a few minutes driving in the storm, I caught a glimpse ahead of us of the edge of the storm and the blue sky on the other side. I told the kids, "I can see the edge of the storm. We'll be out of it soon!" But, the further we drove, the worse the storm got and the further it seemed to be to the end.

Finally, we arrived at Tae Kwon Do. I pulled up as close to the door as possible to let the kids jump out with their bags. Once they were safely inside, I pulled around and found a parking spot further away. Just as I was opening the door to get out of the van, the rain stopped and the sky became blue again.

Turns out, what I had thought was the end of the storm was actually the FRONT of the storm. When I thought I was driving myself out of the storm to the other side, I was actually driving further into it. My efforts to get through it only made things worse. Instead of trying to fight my way through the storm, what I should have done is STOP and BE STILL. If I had only been still a little while, the storm would have passed over me on it's own and I could have safely driven to my destination under a blue sky.

So often we do that same thing with the storms of life! We see a problem and we try to fix it on our own. But all our effort seems to only make things worse. In those times, what we need to do is BE STILL and let the storm pass by. Let the one who even the wind and waves obey calm your heart and get you through.

He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalm 46:10 (NIV)