Calming the Storm

Lots of bad weather in the ATL this summer, rain, thunder, lightening, flooding, trees falling, events postponed. I experienced it first hand this week with a tree falling in our driveway and a 2 1/2 hour rain delay at the Cubs-Braves game. No way to eliminate all these storms, just have to find a way to take shelter during them.

That's the problem with addiction, we take shelter in all the wrong places and never learn how to ride out the storm. In the storms that come up in our lives, we evacuate the premises and escape into a bottle or pill. Instead of staying safe, we stay stoned which for awhile kept us safe but not anymore. Just this week I have seen several overdoses lead to death. Not much guarantee of shelter there.

Psalm 27 says: For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent and set me high upon a rock.

While it initially seems difficult to seek shelter in a God we can't always see or may have never known, the pill and bottle offer no real safety, only more bad weather. It is when we come to that realization that we can be healed, we can learn about a new shelter. In simple truth, His shelter keeps me safe, my shelter keeps me stoned.

Add this possibility to the other: He who dwells in the shadow of the most high will rest in the shadow of the almighty. Psalm 91:1!

Do this, walk outside in the sun and check out your shadow, see how big it can really get. Then look up, look around and see how really big God's shadow is. Mine only allows me to remain within my own dysfunctional realm of possibility, His extends unlimited potential to explore life to its fullest potential.

My shadow, His Shadow - which one really calms the storms? My shelter, His shelter, -which one keeps me safe?

The answer, we need to replace the shadow we are walking in. It will be shelter even when stormy weather is ahead!