The Storm

As I write this, we are in the middle of a typhoon. The meteorological agency issued a warning yesterday afternoon showing Typhoon Roke to be headed on a course that would put it over Tokyo at about the same time the next day.

This puts school administrators in a tough position--do you cancel school for something that might not happen? The storm could change course, it could hit later than predicted... and then, you've wound up canceling school at a time when you could've gone. Of course, if you don't cancel school, and the storm hits full force... train-lines close down, walking, biking and driving become treacherous due to low visibility, low traction and high gusts of wind... and you have a majority of the student body stranded at school. What do you do? You make the safe decision.

I'm thankful that school was canceled today as I listen to the storm raging outside. The only other typhoon I remember being anywhere close to this strong actually ended our annual School Without Walls week a day early (a few brave staff members hiked out into the woods late at night to find and bring back the Wilderness Camp groups--I was supposed to be out there, but had an unfortunate encounter with Swine Flu that prevented me from going at the last minute). This typhoon is even worse than that one, and I pray that the damage happening outside these walls is not as bad as the storm sounds.

The wind is rattling and shaking our 2nd story apartment, the rain is driving hard against the windows, and there's a constant eerie ghoulish howling noise coming from the streets as the storm rages through the city.

Life does this occasionally... we know the world is a broken place, and so we anticipate hard times as well as good. We can steel ourselves for the stressful, stormy times but when they come, they are often more overwhelming than we could ever have predicted. In times like this, it's vital to know that Christ is LORD, even over the storm. Yeah. We can't weather the tempest on our own. However, if we stand with Christ as our foundation, placing in him our faith and trust, we'll find ourselves on the other side of the storm one way or another. This is no guarantee that we won't be physically or emotionally battered by the things happening to us, but it is a guarantee of something much more important emerging safely: our souls... our very identity and birthright in God's kingdom... the part of us that is eternal.

Eventually, this typhoon will end, and the next day will be bright, clear and sunny. We, in our limited and oh-so-logical minds, "know" this and believe it unquestioningly though the storm is scary right now (the building just shook so hard, I'd have thought it was an earthquake if it wasn't for the sound of the wind). So, I challenge myself and anyone who reads this to believe unquestioningly that Christ will carry us (or at least the part of us that matters) through even the toughest of trials. The storm will end. The sun will rise. This we know, because the Son has risen. Alleluia!