Matthew 25:21 His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
I say again, “Storms are going to come as you work to forge a better version of yourself and a better life.” Storms are by definition disorienting and confusing. When I was about thirteen my neighborhood was rocked by a tornado. My family huddled in the basement while my dad who was a shift worker slept in the attic. When the tornado arrived, my dad traveled from the attic to the basement faster than he ever had. He reported that he thought a train was coming through the house and was very motivated. The power went out, the storm raged. The dog hid under a small table. Then silence. We sat there together. After a few moments my dad quietly went up the stairs and out the side door to go see what happened. He had gone for what seemed like a long time but was likely only a few moments. Then he called for us all to come outside. Amazingly the sky was clear and full of stars. With no power and great darkness, the sky was more transparent than I had ever seen it. It was awe inspiring. I felt grateful to God that He had preserved my own hide and that of my family.
As we gazed at the majestic beauty my dad must have looked across the street and saw that the front of the neighbor’s house had collapsed. Now this house had seen better days. While I am sure at some point it was majestic and wonderful, I had only seen it as run down. The owner was a farmer who worked hard and had actually built the house himself. In fact, he later shared that during the tornado his little family huddled in the basement like the rest of us. While we were gazing out at the stars they were coming out of their basement into their back yard. He looked at the house and bragged to his sister about his great building ability because the back of the house showed no damage. It was only later that they walked around and saw the roof caved in over the front porch. The old farmer stood in the front yard scratching his head as he reconsidered his earlier bragging. The tornado brought only minor injuries, no deaths but lots of damaged houses. For my neighbor insurance came along and arranged for repairs. One day, a few weeks later, it looked like they had a new house. The storm was good for them.
When those storms come one of the things, we must look for are an examination of what good can come out of this challenge? Use the crisis to redirect the direction of your life. I heard it said once that without the civil war we would likely never have heard of Abraham Lincoln. I am confident that our sixteenth president would have preferred not to experience the trials and challenges of his day but it was the storm that made him a legend. Can your storm be used to make you a legend?
