Caught in the rain

At some point during the day, I talk with my grandmother on the phone.  Some days I talk to her numerous times and some days our phone conversations last for hours. (I’m thankful AT&T has rollover minutes) If there happens to be a day when I don’t talk to her it’s because she doesn’t answer when I call. There are 2 reasons why she doesn’t answer: she is driving around town (I’ve given up the fight to get her keys) or taking her breathing treatment (I quit campaigning for her to stop smoking years ago) and has the TV turned up very loud to drown out the machine so she can’t hear the phone when it rings. Since I have mastered her breathing treatment schedule and I call repeatedly when I think she is cruising around town, there are very few times when I miss a daily conversation with her.  Tonight when I talked to her she said she was in the basement. My grandma only goes to the basement when it storms. She has quite a ritual. First, she packs a bag complete with snacks, Misty Lights, her medicine, her breathing machine, a diet sprite, and a cordless phone. Then, she gets a LARGE cup of ice and a spot light (a flashlight doesn’t seem adequate enough) and rides her chair lift to the basement. Awaiting her at the bottom of the stairs is a recliner and an end table complete with a blanket and an ashtray. After she makes it to her “storm shelter” she is prepared to stay there for as long as it takes for the storm to pass. And I have seen her stay there for a long time.

Although I don’t find it necessary to go to my basement every time it storms with a bag packed full of my necessities, I do usually stay indoors to avoid the madness happening outside. But how do I handle the storms of my life? Am I prepared to face the madness? Better yet, am I prepared to ride out the storm? The truth is, when I am standing in the storms of life and the wind is beating me around, the rain is overriding my body, and thunder is shaking my soul I am like a generic umbrella that lasts 2 minutes before falling apart and resembling a torn plastic grocery bag. That is why I have to turn to my true “storm shelter”: God. God gives me the strength to withstand whatever is beating me down, the will to keep swimming when the waters are rising, the comfort when explosions tear my heart apart, and the foresight to get through the fog. When I try to face the storms of life alone, I have my bag of necessities but there is a hole in the bottom of the bag. So, when I go to get out whatever it is I need, I come out empty handed. I can’t outride a storm without God because I have nothing to sustain me. Flashlights will eventually die, food supplies will eventually run out, and cordless phones will only be convenient for a few days but God’s shelter will last forever. With God you won’t be running for the basement at the first sign of a storm but instead looking out the window awaiting the beauty of your rainbow.

Verse to remember: Psalm 61:4  I long to dwell in your tent forever and take refuge in the shelter of your wings.