Storms

Are we done yet with the heat! It has been near 100 degrees for weeks, sometimes a few degrees over and occasionally a few degrees under, but usually right around that 100 mark. I know “it’s a dry heat,” but it is still miserable.

The worse part about this time of year is the compound effect of hot days. Sure, in the spring we get a hot day now and again, but usually that is followed by some relief. The house cools down, the AC is not needed, windows are opened and walking outside once again becomes delightful.

When we hit these summer months of consistent hot temperatures, the house never cools down, the AC blasts 24 hours a day, mornings begin hot and walking outside is unbearable before the day barely begins.

As I sat here this morning, at 5 AM and 75 degrees already, I thought about the compound effect of not just the hot days, but the compound effect of the storms of life as well.

We can handle the occasional storm, but when they follow one on top of another, we get increasingly worn down and discouraged. That is where our nation, our society is right now.  Pandemic. Rising cost of food, gas. People being priced out of their homes and apartments. Mass Shootings. War. There is little around us on a daily basis to delight our hearts and minds.

Well, that is not exactly true. There is little around us on a daily basis to encourage us if we are only listening to the evening newscast. There is much around us to encourage us if we turn our attention to the daily Holy Spirit Good Newscast!

2 Thessalonians 2:16-17: “May our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal encouragement and good hope by grace, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good work and word.”

Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father has loved us and given us eternal encouragement and good hope by His Grace. Eternal Encouragement. That is sufficient for each and every day.

Spring and summer in the Treasure Valley in Idaho are a constantly changing weather picture. We can be cold one day, blazing hot the next. But the best are the thunderstorms that just seem to appear out of nowhere.

A couple weeks ago such a thunderstorm hit us. The sky grew dark, and the wind began to howl. It began to pour. I could hear the thunder and lightning accompanying the noisy wind. Water came off the roof in buckets. It was great.  I stood in the doorway and watched the clouds race across the sky.  And then just as suddenly as it came up, it was gone. Weather peace descended again.

Everyone has storms in life. Sometimes they come up just like the Treasure Valley thunderstorms that dot our weather pattern in spring and summer.  It is when the storms are buffeting us that we need to remember that Jesus is our song amid the storm.

There is a marvelous song that I listen to during my worship walks, “Let It Be Jesus.”  It begins with these words, “Let it be Jesus. The first name that I call. Let it be Jesus. My song inside the storm”  

My song inside the storm of life is this, “for me to live is Christ.” And one day when that final storm wins its battle over my body, I shall know firsthand that “to die is gain.”  [Philippians 1:21]