When You Walk Through the Storm

We stepped onto the beach for one last sand sculpture, one last skim boarding , but the sky was black. Only the outer bands were to touch Hilton Head, but the sky was inky, perilously dark against the sea that still glinted with reflections of sun peeking from the other end of the sky. We had just unloaded our things from our beach cart when God decided we needed just a taste of a hurricane. Rain and wind exploded out of the blackness, so strong that we had trouble walking against it. Chairs and coolers and people's beach toys and towels were picked up with the now bullet pieces of sand, and were flying down the beach. We snatched our things and raced back to the car.
"That wasn't so bad," said Arvo.
"The rain was going sideways," countered Asherel.
The rest of the day was spent in the condo watching the rain, torrential at times.

Why did we stay, why were we not fleeing even the outer edges of this storm, my friends asked.

Because that evening, we were to go have dinner at a restaurant with a band that played 4 straight hours of Beatles. Asherel had been looking forward to it all week. When we arrived at 6:30, the rain finally had let up. There were only 3 or 4 tables of customers. It was clear they had braved the hurricane to hear the Beatles band too. Asherel munched on fish and chips while the band played, and took requests from the three tables of fans.
"Wow," the band said, as they took our sometimes obscure requests,"These are REAL Beatles fans."
"Here comes the sun!" called out a boy.
"We don't do that one during hurricanes," said the band.

We stayed for over two hours. It was a fitting and wonderful cap to our week at the beach. And in a week, our vacation reflected the story of life:

Anticipation, preparation, born to a new place, experiencing all the joys and wonders of life, building, creating, working and playing, family. Looming in the distance, a fearful threat, adversity, even terror. Reliance and trust and prayer to God, the fearful threat rages. Singing with delight in the midst of the storm. Awakening, reborn, the dreadful storm gone, birds singing, the skies blue again.

God's messages of redemption and restoration are never ending.

To those still to endure this storm, I pray for all of you.

Luke 8:23-25 NIV

As they sailed, he fell asleep. A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger. The disciples went and woke him, saying, "Master, Master, we're going to drown!"
He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm. "Where is your faith?" he asked his disciples.
In fear and amazement they asked one another, "Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him."

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