Storms

I recently went to beautiful Cozumel, Mexico, on my annual “Escape From Extroversion” trip by myself. It’s a time when I can “get away from it all” and unwind with no cell phone, e-mail, or obligations of any kind. I love it.

This is also a time when I can read without having to cram in a book in 15 minute doses before falling asleep each night! Aside from a couple of John Grisham books, I also read Isaac’s Storm by Erik Larson. The book tells the story of Isaac Cline, a meteorologist who lived in Galveston during the Great Storm of 1900 that killed over 6,000 people. This one event changed Galveston’s future. A city known at the time as the “Wall Street of The South” and destined to become the leading Gulf Coast city (move over, Houston!) was reduced to rubble and, as we now know, never lived up to what it was once expected to become.

In less than 24 hours, it all changed.

Perhaps you’ve had a moment like that in your life – a moment when circumstances beyond your control wiped out any hope of your expectations from becoming a reality. Those moments are painful, difficult to overcome, and often debilitating. You step back and take a look at the mess your life is in (or the mess your emotions are in) and you are paralyzed by what you see. How can I possibly move on from here? Where do I even begin? What should I expect from my life now?

I know many of you have faced those moments, and for some of you, those “moments” have been long in duration (months, years). Perhaps some of you are in such a “moment” right now. How great it is to know that we have a God who can and does get us through those moments – who gets us to the other side of the storm!

Galveston did not become what it – or others – expected it would be. But it did survive.

When it comes to expectations, we have to recognize that they are just that – expectations, and not promises. At one point, I expected to grow up and become President. At one point, I expected to get a bid to join a fraternity. At one point, I expected to be married and have a family at least by the time I was 30. At no point did I expect to be diagnosed with depression.

But those were all expectations that I created or others created for me. They were not God-given promises which stand the test of time. And when other such expectations are not met (and there will be more), I find comfort in the support and encouragement I receive from the Body. It’s my prayer that you, too, would come to experience the same thing as you face the storms that come your way. More importantly, that you would know beyond any doubt that the only expectations you can truly rely upon are the ones rooted in His Word. If He promises it, you can expect it to be so.

Question
What storms have you been through, and how have you come through them?