Storm Preparation

Have you ever been out and about when an unexpected storm hit? When I was a kid living in Hawaii, storms would come out of nowhere. Then as suddenly as the storm began, it would stop and the sun would come out again.

Some storms are big, even scary. We remember Hurricane Andrew, Hurricane Katrina, and more recently, Hurricane Michael. Storms can wreak havoc in our lives.

There are other kinds of storms we deal with in life, like a difficult or broken relationship, a financial crisis, legal problems, health problems, or conflicts at work. Storms will come into our lives, and once we accept that basic truth, it makes life a bit easier.

There are two kinds of people in this world: those who are going through a crisis, and those who are going to go through a crisis. If you’re between storms, enjoy it, because one will come your way soon enough.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus spoke of two men who built houses. One house was built on a faulty foundation of sand, while the other was built on a good foundation of stone. Jesus said of the house with the good foundation, “And the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock” (Matthew 7:25 NKJV).

Notice Jesus said, “And the rain descended”—not if, but and. The rain will come. The Bible says that God “makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:45 NKJV).

We don’t control our lives, as hard as we may try. But we can control what we’ll do and how we’ll respond when the storms come.