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Breezes cool things.
Wind moves things.
But storms….storms can destroy things.
Storms use the same element of the breeze and the wind — air.
Movement of air is increased wildly in a storm. What had been beneficial, becomes destructive. Storms do not give gentle flight to leaves. Sails are overwhelmed in storms.
Doesn’t this happen in life as well? Not with winds, but with circumstances? What had been lovely, became painful. What had been a dream, unexpectedly became a nightmare. What had been hoped for, became a distant memory.
We can, in those moments, relate to a sailboat on the ocean. We had set sail under blue skies with dreams of a distant shore. With wind in our sails, riding the current, all seemed right with the world. And then the wind… it grew too strong. We tended the sails carefully. Trying to maintain the course for our dreamed of destination. But when we looked toward the horizon ahead, the dream faded. Blue skies had become dark with heavy clouds. We lowered our sails. We tried to pause. We prayed, “…help”. Storm-winds threatened to rip the sails from our mast. Waves grew so large we couldn’t see beyond their bulk in front of us. We knew we were too small in the bigness of it all. The waters rose around us….waves became mountains….and we could no longer see the shore we had dreamed of.
This is a life-storm.
When the diagnosis,
the tragedy,
the loss,
the betrayal,
the rejection,
the poison words
…crash into us.
We realize we are adrift in something huge, threatening, and out of control.
This is The Storm.
Years ago I sat in church, on a sunny Sunday morning, holding our newborn son as he slept. A visiting pastor spoke words my heart was not prepared to hear. There was great purpose in his message, but it hit me sideways. I sat still, poised, listening and silently refusing his words. But in time, and with needed prayer, I began to realize….his words were true. Painfully true. Horribly accurate. He said...
“Rogue winds come to every life. They cannot be avoided. They will come. If you are not in a rogue wind right now, then you have either passed through one or you are about to enter into one.”
I wanted to scream at him. I wanted to hold my little one tight and run.
As a young mother, his words scared me….to my core.
On the outside, I appeared to be sailing under blue skies. But on the inside I was battening down my hatches fearing dark clouds on the horizon.
Forty years have passed since that sermon stung my young ears; I’ve never forgotten the words spoken in church that day. I don’t remember the pastor’s name, but I remember the exact words he spoke. And I’ve watched carefully as those words have played out over and over again in my life and in the lives of others.
Everyone of us faces rogue winds. Are you in one now? Have you just passed through one? Are you battening down your hatches preparing for one?
A rogue wind is an unexpected, life altering event with destructive force. Rogue winds are wildly unpredictable and intensely harmful. First cousin to the rogue wind, is the rogue wave. Rogue waves occur on open seas. With no blip on the radar warning of their arrival…they simply appear with a great ominous threat as they rise above all waves surrounding them.
Boats can disappear when a rogue wave rolls over them.
Wildfires spread like a growling monster when a rogue wind carries them.
The preacher was right. He wasn’t trying to frighten us that day….he was warning us. He was working to make us aware that when your rogue wind hits, you are not alone. It happens to us all.
Rogue winds are not the result of a storm. Storms are felt by everyone in their path. So a storm could be considered a “community event”. The pastor was not speaking of a wild wind related to a widespread storm. He was speaking of a destructive wind that becomes your very own personal storm. And that feels so much worse. Not because we want everyone else to suffer…no. Instead it’s that while everyone around us is NOT facing the storm….we, alone, are. We feel alone in it. We wonder, “Why is this happening to me?” “Why is no one else having to face this?”
This is a personal rogue wind that is hitting your life……as others go about their normal lives unaltered, unaffected, perhaps even unaware of the depth of what’s happening in your world. In the midst of the wild, personal storm of this rogue wind, the enemy of God is working to make you feel isolated, alone, and overwhelmed. And if we are not keenly focused, he can win at his dark, destructive plan.
That is why the preacher’s words were so important in my life.
He was warning us all to be prepared. Not shocked. Ready. Not swept away.
“In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
John 16:33b
Jesus, Himself, gave us this warning.
NO ONE passes through life on this earth without troubles. Rogue winds come to us all. But if we let the threat of them frighten us, we are defeated before they arrive. If we let the whirl of them overcome us, we will be blown off course by them. And if we let the fear of their pending arrival paralyze us, we will lay in a bed of anxiety. Oh but there is another, most wonderful way. To set our eye firmly on the ONE who has overcome. God Himself, knows what the rogue winds of life can do, how they feel, what damage they intend, and how fierce their growl can feel to our souls. He has overcome whatever comes. He knows the way through. He IS the way through.
The rogue winds of life are not intended to destroy us….they are allowed, but there is a purpose in them. Oh how our human flesh wishes they were not allowed, and that’s fair….but that will be Heaven, no suffering on that horizon….it’s just that we are not in Heaven yet. Rogue winds strengthen us even as they bring us to our knees. They shock us into remembering, we do NOT have control. We are NOT able. We are small and can be overcome. Then as we go to our knees in that reality….we have a chance to remember more deeply WHO IS in control, who IS able, who HAS overcome…. “Take heart! I have overcome the world.”
Jesus felt the most intense rogue wind that has ever arrived. No one else was facing the personal-storm-winds on the dark horizon when Jesus went to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. Even Jesus did not want to feel so alone….He asked three close friends to be near and pray with him. He knew the storm winds were coming for him.
Jesus is our perfect Teacher in how to endure the rogue winds of life. For rogue winds, in the hands of GOD will always strengthen us, prepare us, enable us, and bring about something good we could have never imagined possible. Jesus on the cross is the most remarkable example…. what He did on the cross, brought about hope for all who would believe and receive.
C.S. Lewis wrote “The Chronicles of Narnia” which is an amazing creative presentation called a “supposal” — Lewis was clear on his intended purpose. “Suppose there was a fictional place where good and evil were at war….and a fictional character could show us what Jesus did in the real world where evil wars against goodness.” In the beautiful writing of “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe”, Lewis gives us the written visual as Aslan (representing Christ) walks up the Stone Table (which acts as an altar of sacrifice), and sacrifices himself in Edmund’s place. In all ways, Lewis wanted to give us the visual of what Christ did for us.
Aslan endures the rogue winds of the demons taunting, abusing, screaming.
And what does he do?
He keeps his head down….he endures…..he goes “down” even as he overcomes.
When winds blow hard, we are wise to go to our knees.
When rogue winds come, we might need to go all the way down. It’s the position from which our Savior overcame. Surrendered in God’s hands, beauty happens there. He brings “beauty from ashes…”(Isaiah 61:3)….rogue winds cause ashes….God brings beauty from them.
What is your rogue wind friend?
You are not alone in it.
What rogue wind have you endured? Did it lay you down? Have you risen holding the Savior’s hand? Can you feel the “fur of Aslan” in your fingers as you walk towards new green pastures beside still waters?
~John 16:33 in full:
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.
In this world you will have trouble. (sometimes even rogue wind trouble)
But take heart! (Be brave)
I (God)
have (present tense always)
overcome (defeated and risen above)
the world.” (where we are now…)
Everyone, everyone, everyone faces their own personal-rogue-winds. Yours is not worse. Yours is not easier. The most amazing truth in this truth is — Jesus has gone before us and He knows the way. Grab hold of His hand. His scar is proof that He has overcome.
Audio background music by Nathan Nockels
