He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalm 46:10
“What do you want to do today?” It was a question I posed to my wife on this peculiar Labor Day weekend. I say peculiar because it started off with warnings of a possible Category 4 to 5 hurricane! Though it was far off, the news media and weather services spoke as though all of Florida would be erased from the earth! Planning something to do for entertainment seemed downright irreligious!
There were LOTS of things we COULD have done. Organize some rooms, paint the house or visit one of many venues Florida has to offer. Doing those things, while not knowing if your life is about to be run through a blender, seemed counter productive. Especially when forecasters called for rain and the sun came out… and vice versa! I believe weather people should be paid ‘commission.’ If wrong… no pay! But I digress! We were trapped between action and boredom. A desire to ‘enjoy’ time off or rush to prepare for Armageddon! Neither choice appealed to us.
When my wife asked, “What do YOU want to do today?” no desire erupted within to point to any good direction. We ended up DOING a bunch of NOTHING! Yesterday, with the sun blaring and weather reports calling for sunshine until later afternoon, we went for a ride on the motorcycle to an outlet mall. Katie doesn’t like riding the Goldwing on the interstate and I don’t like malls. But being bored and desperate… off we went!
Walking around the outlet mall only proved again why I hate malls. Even 70% off a pair of shoes that were marked $165 is a scam. Though we bought nothing, we were together and enjoyed the time. Getting back on the highway, all went well. That is until we hit a rainstorm and Katie started to get nervous. She talks a lot when she does… and it wasn’t good!
It was at a perfect time when the exit appeared and I did just that. The storm was east of us, so I scooted west. MY goal was to keep her dry! That worked until it didn’t, and we started getting soaked! We found ourselves asking the same question that GOT us into this situation, “So… what do you want to do NOW?” We had 2 choices. Stop and wait or continue on in the rain! Her answer surprised me!
I am not a genius, but at times when she is scared, I feel led to let my bride make the decision!!! She responded, “I’m wet, I don’t want to go in air conditioning… I’ll freeze!” And then, “This isn’t so bad… keep going!” Then she added, “I want you to remember how much I love you!” It was HER way of saying, “had I known THIS was going to happen, we’d have stayed home.” When she relaxed, we actually enjoyed it! When I told he how brave she was…she smiled!
Storms of life come. God never promises that they won’t. But He DOES promise that He will be WITH us when they do. The way ‘TO’ someWHERE often means going ‘THROUGH’ someTHING. And the best way to DO that is to put faith in the ONLY someONE who is smarter you!
May God be exalted in everything we do, everywhere we go!
