Making it Through a Storm

AuthorHouse

Contents

Acknowledgments..................................................................vForeword.........................................................................viiIntroduction.....................................................................11. Avoiding Self-Imposed Storms..................................................112. The Hope That Endures the Zero-Moment Point of a Storm........................273. Courage: The Impetus to Face Our Storm........................................414. Developing an Attitude that Prevails through a Storm..........................595. The Importance of Crying for Help in the Midst of a Storm.....................796. Maintaining Our Health during the Storm.......................................977. The Importance of Remaining Calm During the Storm.............................1158. Coming to Grips with My Reason in the Storm...................................1359. The Night Time of the Storm...................................................14910. My Guardian Angel through My Storm...........................................16711. Seizing the Moment to Come Out of a Storm....................................18912. Holding on to My Convictions: My Anchor for the Storm........................20313. The Faith that Carries Us through the Storm..................................21714. The Ultimate Purpose of a Storm..............................................231

Chapter One

For nearly five years, I was blessed to serve as pastor of the Mount Zion Baptist Church in Madison, Wisconsin. Living in Madison, I must say, was a special treat. Working with the kind people of the Mount Zion Baptist Church, the exciting worship experience every Sunday and the wonderful summers made living in Madison, Wisconsin a special treat. But along with the good times came the challenging times of the winter. The winters in Madison were filled with extremely low temperatures, the constant shoveling of snow, and the occasional-hazardous driving conditions. The winter season in Madison was always full of suspenseful moments. But for me, the most suspenseful moments during the winter season were the times I had to fly.

Flying in and out of Madison during the winter season, seemingly, was never without some degree of suspense. Practically all of my flights were delayed or contained unexpected layovers. I can recall with great detail the times when the pilot would announce over the intercom, while in the midst of the early stage of the flight in the air, "We have changed our destination to another airport in order to avoid a storm that is headed our way." My first time ever trafficking through the airport of Minneapolis, Minnesota occurred on a flight that was supposed to travel from Dayton, Ohio to Madison with a layover in Detroit, Michigan. The flight, however, was rerouted to Minneapolis in order to avoid a storm that was in our path to Detroit.

Though at those times extremely curious about what was going on, I was always moved by the pilot's ingenuity to avoid a storm. In a sense, it left an indelible impression upon me about our interactions with some storms. It was impressed upon me that we are not necessarily obligated to engage in every storm that could descend upon our lives. Since there are different reasons as to why a storm may descend, it is possible to avoid certain storms altogether. Ron Mehl in his book Surprised Endings: Ten Good Things About Bad Things listed four different means by which a storm can come upon us. He wrote that:

Sometimes Satan causes the storm.

Sometimes people cause the storm.

Sometimes I cause the storm.

Sometimes the Lord sends the storm.

The storms that Ron Mehl insisted we cause ourselves, are storms that I strongly believe can be avoided. I call those self-imposed storms.

In case there are those who feel that it is just inconceivable in any form to be the cause of your own storm, let me just say that I hear you, and I give some credence to your view. However, let us contemplate on the following scenarios to see if what I am advocating about self-imposed storms is even plausible.

If we had not bought those things that we knew we could not afford and did not necessarily need, we could have avoided being in this financial storm.

I failed to study hard in school, preferring instead to skip class, play around and mess around. So I had to start stealing, dealing illegal drugs and gang banging to earn money. But if I had worked hard in school and gotten my degree, this stormy time that I am spending in the state prison could have been avoided.

The warning was on the cigarettes package, but I ignored it and continued to smoke many packages of cigarettes every week. So this lung cancer that I am suffering with could have been avoided.

I just would not listen. In spite of seeing how illicit drugs and intoxicating beverages were destroying other people's lives, I still had to try those things. I led myself into the addiction that is now controlling and consuming my life and this cirrhosis of my liver could have been avoided.

I saw what it did to too many of my relatives, but I still continued to eat a tremendous amount of fried food and salty ham. This hypertension from which I am now suffering could have been avoided.

I really have no excuse. My mother always told me about the kind of people that I should or should not seek to marry. She even told me once to date who I wanted, but mind who I marry. But I overlooked all of the things she told me to be aware of, and now this stormy ruptured relationship that I am enduring could have been avoided.

After reading these scenarios, can we now agree that some storms in life can be avoided? Even this severe storm that is the focus of this series could have been avoided.

The severe storm in Acts 27, as shown in our text, could have easily been avoided, if the captain of the ship had simply listened to the advice of the Apostle Paul. The text reveals that in the early stages of their journey to Italy, they were experiencing difficulty sailing because of the weather conditions. Leaving a place called Myra, the rigorousness of the wind forced them to pull into a harbor called Fair Haven. At Fair Haven harbor, Paul admonished them not to continue sailing with these words, "Sirs, I perceive that this voyage will be with hurt and much damage, not only of the lading and ship, but also of our lives" (Acts 27:10). It is clear in his admonishment. Paul did not want them to sail because of the potential losses - cargo, equipment, and even lives - and damages - to the ship and their lives - that could possibly occur if they came in contact with that storm. This, may I say in my opinion, is the primary reason why self-imposed storms must be avoided. Self-imposed storms can bring unnecessary losses and damages to our lives. One's sense of self-respect, dignity, valuable time, happiness and financial stability can be lost in self-imposed storms, and one's self-worth, reputation, and health can be damaged in self-imposed storms. Nevertheless, Paul's advice was and they continued to sail. However, things turned out just as Paul had predicted. Tremendous losses occurred, and irreparable damage was done to the...