In the Eye of the Storm
I have had my fill of hurricanes, especially after riding out Hurricane Mitch, which struck Central America in October 1998. We huddled together and spent our time on top of Mayan ruins sending back e-mails and radio interviews as the hurricane swirled all around us.
This category five hurricane slowly moved across Central America and dropped historic amounts of rainfall in Honduras and Nicaragua. Of the nearly 11,000 deaths caused by the effect of this hurricane, 11 of those were in Belize, were we were held up waiting for the storm to pass.
We managed to travel in our van from church to church and school to school visiting folks hiding in these facilities hoping for safety. Repeatedly people said the same thing to us. “What in the world are you doing here? All the Americans have been evacuated.”
Our reply to these folks was, “Well, where do you expect to find us, but with our friends and families in Belize.”
No matter how fierce the hurricane is raging around you today, know, dear Christian that the Lord is with you in the midst of the storm. Be encouraged by Paul’s words in Romans 5:3-4:
“…but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.”
When we persevere in our trials, we find tremendous strength and encouragement from our Lord. When we hold fast to Him, and we do not let go, our character and spiritual maturity grows. As our character develops and we rely more and more upon Jesus to sustain us, our hope and faith in God multiplies beyond measure.
In the eye of a hurricane, the winds are light and there is little to no precipitation. So too, we find in the midst of our storms that Christ surrounds us and calms our spirit providing the peace we long for.
