June 10, 2020 (Wednesday)
Note: This blog was written weeks ago, before the two weeks of protests and riots, and we can add those kinds of storms and their underlying causes to our concerns as we look to the Lord for comfort and aid.
We are familiar with storms here on the Gulf Coast. The video below shows ships in the midst of storms with mountainous waves pounding and threatening to sink the ships. A Navy veteran told me one day that when he was in the service he served on a ship that broke in half during a powerful storm. The two halves remained afloat until the storm passed by. How terrifying that must have been.
But we face many kinds of storms in life. Right now we are fighting a storm of illness as people by the thousands are getting sick and thousands have died. As it is sometimes said, we’ve been “playing it by ear” as we have sought ways to be victorious over this storm of sickness and death.
Tied to the pandemic is the storm of economic woes that have accompanied it. People without jobs and income. Businesses that are still struggling to do better. We have had bad recessions, depressions, and panics as they once were called, and they have been horrible, but we have never known a time in this country when we intentionally shut down businesses and put people out of work. This is something new and confusing to us, but our leaders are doing their best to lead us to better times.
No matter how bad the storms are, they always pass by sooner or later. A great song teaches us to pray, “Keep me safe till the storm passes by.” The song featured today in this blog urges us to plead with the Lord: “Stand by Me.”
