Hurricane Season

"If we organize our lives on God's teaching, when the storm comes, we may lose a shingle or two but our foundations will stand firm...Because we built our life around practices that are fashioned after God. Obedience always follows belief. To ask someone to obey you when they don't even know who you are is crazy...You're laying a foundation. This isn't a foundation that's necessarily going to help you today or even next week...And the problem is, there's not a cloud in your sky. But God wants us to be prepared for the storms that come. The worst time to be rethinking foundations is in the middle of a flood."--Andy Stanley, 'Simple: Obey'

Sunday morning, I went to the gym, turned on my ipod to this podcast and was midway through it. I literally started crying on the elliptical machine at Bally's Fitness. At that moment, all the emotion of conversations over the past two weeks, all the hesitation I had of letting my emotions get the best of me coursed through my veins. All the phone calls from mom, the talks about what's happening, the guilt, frustration, grievance overtook me.

The most recent conversation I had had was with Danny and we had spoken of generational transgressions. And how in a very vivid, specific way, my family was seeing generational sin being passed along to the next member. Danny was calm and soothing in delivering a very rigid, convicting message: there's absolutely nothing I can do.

I can love her, I can pray. I can love her, I can pray. Glad everything is so cut and dry. No, really.

I guess you don't really pay attention to things that lie beneath the surface until they rear their heads--big, ugly, and dangerous. And who would have realized that the addiction of our great-grandparents could be still kicking four generations later.

I generally like storms. I like to watch the lightning, hear the thunder, feel the wind whip through the windows. I feel safe in my home and enjoy the sound of the pounding rain. I know that while storms may be strong for a while, they'll pass.

If you live (or have ever lived) in Atlanta, you're aware of the impact hurricane season has. People who may never have hammered a nail have particle board ready and can move quickly to the basement when necessary. Those winds can be strong, relentless, and even deadly. But those who've lived through large hurricanes know that while the damage can be devastating, you move past it. In some instances, those who survive are stronger. The bond grows between neighbors and family alike when you pull through something so forceful and so much bigger than you. Many people unfamiliar with hurricanes may just be thankful that they've never experienced it. Southerners know that a hurricane, like most events in our lives, will blow over. Some folks who may be new to hurricane season may not know how to prepare for a storm of such magnitude but once they've had a tree fall on their car, orientate themselves with the proper procedures pretty quickly.


Well, the winds are a'blowin. We've got trees down in our yard and I guess I forgot for a few moments that we've been through storms before. And we come out stronger. We can handle it. We might be scared and nervous right now because we're not sure what the final outcome will be but our foundation is strong.

And I have to remember that this may be big, but people before me have weathered larger storms and come out on top. And the sins of those before me do not have to be my stumbling blocks. I can face them head on and with preparation and not be swayed. i also have to remember that I am not the fixer of broken things. I am not the one to make all right in the world. I am not the one who holds the weight of the world. I have to remember that I built my house upon the Rock.

"The wise man built his house upon the rock...the rains came down and the floods came up...and the house on the rock stood firm! The foolish man built his house upon the sand, the rains came down and the floods came up..and the house on the sand went SPLAT!"--old children's bible rhyme