Awaiting a Storm

Ominous - that's how I'd describe it. 

Waiting for a huge storm to arrive, knowing what could happen.  These possibilities drive reasonable men and women out to fight over bread crumbs and swipe clean shelves of water or batteries.  They say a generator can't be found anywhere in the neighboring three states, let alone ours.

And, I'm reminded of Thunder Cake, a book I've read countless times to all our children.  A grandma and child await a thunderstorm.  The girl lies shaking under a bed as thunder rumbles, indicating the storm to come.  Her grandmother sets about getting the girl's help to make a cake, but not just any cake.  No, this cake is a 'thundercake.'  The girl's mood though still scared, obligingly helps her grandmother, who has weathered quite a number of storms in her life.

You always remember the storms in life.

When we lived on the farm with my Pap, the blizzard of '93 left us with a broken down tractor, stuck in a snowbank and a quarter mile lane still snow covered.  With shovels in hand, we scooped and threw drifted snow from the bottom of our valley upward.  About two-thirds into our task, we noticed them, a neighboring family shoveling from the opposite direction.  We met partway with red cheeks, hard breath, frozen hands, sweaty backs, and bright smiles.

What of the storm which dumped six feet of snow onto the ground?  At the time, we had two babes, a one month old and a one year old, and I was home alone.  The Drummer was away for work and couldn't get a flight home until two days later.

But, we won't see snow this time.  The world won't be blanketed anew with crisp white snow when the winds calm this time.

Who can know what we'll face when the winds die down and the rain finally stops?

They say we'll loose power and experience some flooding.  To hear 'em talk one might think this could be the storm of the century.  It's the not knowing that sends the grown men and women out to fight for the remaining supplies, like two year olds yelling, "Mine! Mine! Mine!"

The experts compile listings of necessities to follow.  We read, 'water, flashlights, radio, batteries...,' but they lack the most essential elements of prayer and trust.  Faith in the One who knows how this storm, and every other, will end.  Faith in the One who will work all things together for good. 

Faith in the One who is omniscient.


The dog waits at the door, I open it and see the rain begin to fall.



Related Post:
Through the Storms of Life


*Pictures from the archives.