Withstanding the storm

A storm blew through the area the other day. On the weather radar there was quite a bit of yellow and red which means it was a pretty strong storm. The winds were very strong. As the storm blew through, I stood and watched out the window just outside my office. I watched the trees in the backyard as the wind whipped the branches back and forth, up and down and around. We have a couple of very large walnut trees in the backyard. While the branches high in the air were blown around violently by the wind, the trunks of those trees stood firm.

As I watched the wind whip the branches around, I marveled at how much they could take without breaking. The wind bent and blew them in every direction. When the storm had passed the branches stood still again. They had withstood the storm. Despite the strength of the storm, the trees stood firm and remained standing. Looking at those trees I thought about how they are a picture of faith. One of the former pastors at the church we are attending would often say that stories can communicate truths in a way that words can’t. Stories are remembered. Jesus often used stories and parables to communicate truths to his disciples.

When I worked in Awana and lead the Sparks group I would often share object lessons with the clubbers as part of their large group teaching time. I did that so that when the kids would look at an object they would hopefully remember something about God and who He is because of the lesson that was taught on Wednesday night. And so, those trees made me think about a person of faith. A person of faith should have deep roots as do most trees. Because of those deep roots it takes very strong winds to take that tree down. They are not easily blown over. When we have our lives deeply rooted in God and His Word, the Bible, we will not be easily blown over by the circumstances of life. We will be able to withstand the storm and remain standing.

A tree may experience some loss of branches in a storm. The strong and flexible branches are able to withstand the wind. Those that are weak or dead are often broken off. One of my trees did lose a large branch. It broke off and fell to the ground. That branch had many leaves on it. But based on the look of where the branch broke off, it was not completely healthy nor strong. Just like the storm the other day, we also have storms blow through our lives. As the storms of life blow through they toss us up and down, side to side and all around. Sometimes the storm passes and we have not lost any branches and have stood firm. Other times we may have stood firm but a branch or two was lost.

I feel like I have been through a violent storm. Ten months ago today, Ben entered heaven. I lost a piece of me that day. But despite Ben’s death, I remain standing. I will never be the same but I am still here. Some have commented that I am so strong. That they admire my strength and faith. There are so many times that I don’t feel strong at all. Times where I break down and the tears flow. Sometimes in the middle of the day. Sometimes at bedtime. Sometimes as I am driving. And sometimes when I am somewhere wishing that Ben was there beside me.

Over two months ago my TV stopped working. I delayed getting a new one. Ben was the tech person in our house. He was also the master of finding deals. I finally decided that with football season quickly approaching that I needed to get a new TV. So I found one on Amazon and ordered it. It came a couple of days later. Then the task was to take down the old one and put the new one up. Again, that would have been all Ben. I would have merely been there to assist him in lifting it into place. You can be sure there were a few tears shed in the process of getting the new TV set up. But I managed to get the wall mount brackets off the old TV and installed on the new one. Sabin helped me lift it onto the wall mount. The new TV is larger than the old one so I needed to remove the shelf that used to hold our cable box. That meant using an electric screwdriver because there was no way I was going to get the screws out with a regular screwdriver. I’m sure Ben could have gotten everything all set up in much less time than me. But I was able to accomplish the task and can now watch my favorite teams this fall.

The storm has passed but the clean up and healing are ongoing. Grief has no timeline. It has no roadmap. It is different for everybody. It never ends. Charles Swindoll has said “life is ten percent what happens to you and ninety percent how you react”. May we all be like the trees in my backyard and weather the storms of life being deeply rooted in faith.