Chased by the Storm

Sunday was a stormy day.

Dom and I had expected to go for a ride but it started to rain in the morning.

Dom and I waiting for the storm to let up.

The sun came out in the afternoon so we took our chances and rode to a public beach about a half an hour away. 

Then the sky grew dark and we realized there was an angry cloud between us and home to the east of us and it seemed to be getting larger by the minute.

We started down a gravel road hoping to skirt the storm and race ahead of it.  As we went down that road the sun disappeared, the wind picked up, the temperature dropped and we started to get hit with large drops of rain.  We turned around and amazingly broke free of the storm.  We went further south and then tried another road to the east of us.

This road had potential!

We were right on the fringe of the storm and could see lightning to the left of us and in front of us, we could also see curtains of rain gradually making their way across our line of sight.  Dom kept us moving eastward, taking any southern roads that took us where we wanted to go.

At one point we were caught.  The storm came over us from the left side and pelted us with rain and wind.  We just had to get to the next turn-off and we would be moving southward on the final stretch!  We made it and raced in front of the storm!

In the rear-view mirrors I couldn't see anything behind me, just a haze of rain, but we stayed relatively dry up until arriving at home.  It was barely a minute after we were inside the house when the rain reached us.

I believe most of us would try to avoid a storm like that and find it a success if we got home safely without getting wet - especially on motorcycles.  But sometimes we can't avoid storms in life and if we're not prepared for them when they hit, we suffer.

In the Old Testament Daniel and his two friends headed straight into a storm when they decided to not bow to King Nebuchadnezzar's image, giving glory to God even when it meant they would be given the death penalty and thrown into a furnace (Daniel 3). The King even gave them a second chance to bow down and he'd forget about their rebellion.  They didn't take it.

So they were thrown into the furnace and the people that threw them in died of the heat.  But Daniel and his two friends were fine.  The King and his servants saw a fourth man with Daniel and his friends.  They said that 'the appearance of the fourth was like a son of the gods.' (Daniel 3:25). 

That's what we need to remember.  God is present with us as we go through the storms of life.  And when we focus on Him the storm doesn't seem as great.  It doesn't mean the storm will end, it just means we can face it with Someone who is greater than it.

Daniel and his friends stayed in that furnace with God until the King called them out.  They didn't try to escape the furnace.  They stayed with God in the furnace.  When they did come out 'the fire had no effect on their bodies, nor was the hair of their head singed, nor their trousers damaged, nor had the smell of fire even come on them.' (Daniel 3:27)  We need to realize that it is better to be in a storm with God than try to escape the storm without God.  He will always be greater than the storm.