Oh Hail

Ever have a storm come out of nowhere in your life? The storm can be of the literal or figurative sense. Today, I experienced this in the literal sense. I was out for a walk with my brothers on a beautiful sunny day. We were enjoying catching up on the past couple months because we have not all been together since Christmas. As we laughed and joked, I took note of the storm cloud that was looming. It seemed best to turn around and head back to beat the impending rain, though none of us felt it was anything serious. Oh how wrong we were. A drizzle began, which was refreshing at first, but soon the skies opened up and all three of us were drenched in a cold rain. This caused me to shiver to my core, but it still didn't seem terrible. Then, all of a sudden, there was a bright flash of lightning and a loud thunderclap just as we reached the end of the driveway. At this, we were prompted to run, which was a good decision considering the torrent of rain morphed into pelting hail. Once we reached the shelter of the front porch, we chuckled in amusement at how, what started out as a perfectly sunny walk took a drastic turn as we outsprinted pounding hail.
This experience had me thinking about the disciples as they were on the Sea of Galilee. Jesus had asked them to get into a boat and row across the sea. As Jesus slept, a storm came upon them and frightened them. This is outlined in Matthew 8:24, which states, "Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping." I find it fascinating that as the disciples are terrified, Jesus is so calm that he slumbers in the stern. What we should take away from this, though, is that we have no reason to fear the sudden turbulence of life because our Lord in heaven is calm and resolved and in control of everything.
In the realm of running, changes in weather can occur, but an internal storm can also begin brewing during a race. Runners who experience a depletion in fuel tend to hit the proverbial wall. Some panic in such situations because the wall can sneak up on a runner, much like the hail storm I encountered earlier this afternoon. Instead of panicking, though, we must have faith and call on Christ. Jesus is always in control, even if He appears to be sleeping, like in the story of the disciples in Matthew and Mark. Jesus rebuked the disciples in Mark 4:40: "He said to his disciples, 'Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?'" We need to constantly build our faith by putting more trust in the Lord, because He has complete control over our entire lives. It is a blessing to know I have nothing to fear with Christ in my corner and a faith that gains strength slwoly and surely everyday.