B-log

We moved to Texas in 2005. I was literally on the job for one week when Hurricanes Katrina and Rita slammed into the Gulf of Mexico and brought historic damage to the gulf cities in several states. We up in Dallas did our best to welcome the wave (no pun intended) of evacuees who had been displaced by the storms.

A few times over the years that followed, we’d get a weather alert that a subsequent Hurricane had built up in the Gulf, or was making landfall, and that dangerous storms were to be expected. There were times when we’d be on the ball field and the lightning alarm would sound, and we would rush home to the news that tornadoes were sighted and may touch down in the area.

We were fortunate to always have the severe weather skirt around us, but we often saw the pictures or video of those who weren’t so fortunate. And as the 2011 Joplin tornado showed, sometimes the devastation can be so widespread it’s a wonder if anyone escapes the destruction.

Whenever those storm alarms would come, the meteorologist always gave the same advice. “Take cover!” The advice is always to go underground. If that’s not possible go to a central room, one without widows if possible, as insulated from the outside as much as possible, and get under anything that can protect you. We had to do that one time at church when a big storm hit, but never at home. We had a plan, though, to go to the pantry under the stairs…it was our “take cover” spot.

I got to thinking about our “take cover” spot when I came across this quote:

The pride of man and the strife of tongues find no entrance into the pavilion of God. The secret of his presence is more secure than a thousand Gilbralters. I do not mean that no trials come. They may come in abundance, but they cannot penetrate into the sanctuary of the soul, and we may dwell in perfect peace, even in the midst of life’s fiercest storms. (Hannah Whitall Smith)

I don’t know how much other stuff I agree on with Whitall Smith, but I find strong affinity with this statement of hers.

We all face proverbial storms, and some of them seem pretty dangerous. They threaten to destroy our well being, our family, our peace of mind, our important relationships. And just like a meteorologist’s storm warning, we can do some simple things to minimize the danger and mitigate the potential damage.

The smartest thing, though, that you can do when a lifestorm* is bearing down on you is for you to find sanctuary in prayer. I don’t mean “hide out from the world in prayer.” I don’t know how God does it, but he has made it possible for you to be completely engaged in the world while still being completely engaged in a spirit of prayer. And when you do that, you will find yourself in an incredibly sweet spot. And that’s where Whitall Smith has got it right…when you are deep in the sanctuary of prayer, God is able to protect you with perfect peace.

Here’s the challenge, at least in my own experience: being willing to go deeper into the sanctuary when the winds of the lifestorm are beating at your back (so to speak). I think the natural inclination for a person is to pray for a while, then to leave the communion with God and to go fight the battle waging on outside. To me, that’d be like me staying inside my inner pantry as the storm approaches, but then…right when the eye of the storm is overhead… I run out with a cooler full of ice trying to offset the warm air disturbance. It’s stupid and possibly tragic.

When I have faced adversity, the storm can feel relentless. When I enter into a season of prayer, I try to give God all my attention, where I can unburden myself of my fears, my worries, my concerns, my troubles. But the storm is relentless. It is distracting. It constantly is poking at me, whipping at me, beating upon me. The challenge is to not give my attention to the storm, but to seek deeper sanctuary, even while addressing the trials.

Look…I don’t have it all figured out. I just know that I wrestle with it. And I suspect you do, too.  The sanctuary of prayer is the safest shelter imaginable. I hope you get increasingly better at finding God’s protection within it.

You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. 

Isaiah 26:3

*“lifestorm”…do you like that…I made it up. Google showed that there’s a lifestorm counseling service that has a duck as a logo. I don’t understand why.