Can we really weather the storms of life? The ones that seem to come out of nowhere and overwhelm us with fear, and anxiety. Especially when we look around us and see a world that is out of control, which only causes us to feel more helpless. What can we do? I have a childhood memory that portrays the principle, that answers this question. I was about 10 years old. My father and I had gone out fishing on his boat. It was a beautiful day on the bay and we had ventured out pretty far. But before long the sky became cloudy and dark, very quickly. My Dad said "reel it in boy, a storm is coming, we need to hurry". He sits in the back of the boat with his hand on the throttle and guns the motor at full speed. I scan the horizon and the only land I see is in the direction we are headed, and it looks very far away. With every minute the sky gets darker, the winds get stronger, and the waves get bigger. I'm getting scared now because the shoreline is still very far away and the boat was too small to navigate waves that big, That's when it happened. The rain came down hard, so hard that now you could not even see the shoreline. I'm in the front of the boat holding onto the sides with every wave that picks us up and slams us down. The more I look for the shoreline, the more worried and frightened I become. I can't see it anywhere, all I can see is the storm. There is only one reassuring sight, the face of my father. Looking straight into the storm, rain beating on his head and running down his face, shirt stuck to his skin. Watching the storm brought fear, watching my father brought calm. I'll never forget how just by keeping my eyes on my father, I knew he would not let anything bad happen to me. God wants us to do the same. He wants us to focus our eyes on Him
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AuthorBrad Ferrone - artist / painter ArchivesCategories |