12-30-2018

        Good Morning All,

        Isaiah 32:2, “Each will be like a hiding place from the wind, a shelter from the storm, like streams of water in a dry place, like the shade of a great rock in a weary land.”

    It was a moderate blizzard at best.  We have seen far worse but still, it is an awesome sight.  You look out the window and can barely see and when it subsides enough to go out; we are amazed at the power of the storm, the size of the drifts, the hardness of the snow and the difficulty of getting back to somewhat normal.

   Most of us can relate to this verse at all the levels Isaiah lists.  We have been out in the wind or in a storm and we sought shelter.  We have been out in the scorching heat and wanted some cool refreshing time out of the sun.  We have experienced the cold, the hot, the storms which come our way.

    As we live our life, we have had this in our spiritual, emotional, relational and experiential life.  We have all experienced storms.  Whether it seems big to others or not, it was a storm to us.  It may be the anxiety from taking a test in school, a friendship that slips away, a job that is rocky, finances that are shaky, heath issues, death of loved ones, or even our own approaching mortality; we all experience storms.

    That is probably the biggest mistake many believers face.  Some think that if we are Christians we never have storms that we never need shelter.  This leads to a crisis of faith when we face a storm in life.  The thought process is that IF I am a Christian I will have no storms so if I have storms I must NOT be a Christian.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Sometimes it seems that Christians face more storms than non-believers.  I think it is because we face struggles of faith when we worry about others.  Talk to any Christian grandmother you know, all they do is pray for their grandchildren and face storms about how they live, how they act, how they will live their life of faith.  We all have storms just like the weatherman doesn’t miss wind as a forecast, we will face storms.

    The difference is that we don’t face them alone.  We have a loving God who is our shelter.  We can look throughout Scriptures and see where God id our refuge, our shelter, our hope, our comfort and the list goes on.  Storms will occur but they will never last.  God will heal us, God will guide us, and God will protect us.  We rest in his loving hands. 

    Sometimes, if you are out in a storm, you have to look for shelter.  Yet as a believer, you never have to seek shelter; the shelter seeks you.  God send his Spirit to you to provide you with the comfort that we need.  That comfort may take the form of a friend, or a neighbor or as a Christian brother or sister; shelter from the storm or shade to a weary land.

Heavenly Father, you are our only source of comfort, you alone are our shelter.  Protect us this day and when the storms of life occur, use them to strength our faith and draw us closer to you.  Hold us safely in your arms and give us peace.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray.  Amen

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret