Peace, Perfect Peace

 

Midwestern April Storm Approaches

Indiana  2010

 

John 14:27 NIV

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid."

 

In Ohio, March can roll in like a lion and leave like a lamb; however, tornado season can last all spring. Even throughout the summer, severe thunderstorms with tornadoes attached to them are apt to tear up hundred year old trees by the roots and fling them across fields and destroy homes and cities in their paths.

 

Midwesterners anxiously listen for the call of emergency sirens during storm season, and yes, the Weather Channel is the favorite television channel for many of us. It took me years to detox from my Midwestern upbringing once I moved south.

 

When we first married, John ridiculed me for watching the Weather Channel for hours on end. He told me it would be hot, hazy, and humid with a chance of rain all summer.  He was right. At least in the Midwest, weather is volatile and changes.

 

One summer weekend in the mid-1970s, I attended a church retreat for teens when a severe thunderstorm blew through the region. Originally we were spread out over several cabins for the girls and boys, but as the weather deteriorated, our chaperones moved us into one cabin with two rooms, one for the boys, one for the girls, for safety.

 

None of us slept easily that night as we heard the storm rage outside, so we sang songs.  We sang for a long time until the boys serenaded us with:

 

"Good night sweetheart, 'til we meet tomorrow. Good night sweetheart, sleep will banish sorrow.  Tears and parting may make us forlorn. But with the dawn, a new day is born. Goodnight sweetheart, goodnight..." 

 

We giggled.

 

During the night, our leaders kept us calm by talking about God and faith. We prayed we would make it through the night safely. We talked until we finally fell asleep.

 

As unnerving as it was to hear wind whip through chinks in the cabin walls or rain lash on the windows, or trees crack and fall nearby us, a calmness that came from our faith in God was within us. This faith led to peace and eventual sleep.

 

When daylight broke, we rose to examine the damage to the campgrounds. Several cabins, including one a group of boys had been assigned to, had trees fall through them. Had the boys stayed in the cabin, they would have had the tree fall on them.

 

Tree branches and leaves littered the ground. Several cabins had structural damage. Windows were broken. Cabins had been moved from their foundations. However, the cabin we spent the night in was untouched. 

 

As we packed our belongings to head home, we remarked on God's greatness and the miracles we had witnessed the past 24 hours.

 

Not only was I grateful none of us had been injured, but I also was thankful for the peace God had given me to get calmly through one of the stormiest nights I had witnessed in my young life.

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Dear Lord, help me remember you left me your peace, and you gave me your peace. Let me use your peace to calm me in the midst of storms in my life.