Shelter From The Storm

Psalm 121:1-2
I lift up my eyes to the hills—from where will my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. (NRSV)

Last night I was watching the local news in Des Moines and they where showing damage from the tornado that tore through Parkersburg and New Hartford, Iowa last Sunday. Then today my wife sent me a slideshow of the disaster. The damage is immense and overwhelming. I can not imagine what it would be like to see all that I owned smashed and scattered all over the countryside. The electronic items that it seems like we can not do without, the clothing, the books, toys, dishes, keepsakes that remind us of times of joy, and pictures and videos of those great times in the past including pictures and keepsakes of those loved ones that have died. All the things we hold dear scattered and gone.

Even worse is the loss of seven people, whose families have lost far more then things they have lost someone who they love and hold dear. They are missing a smile, a voice, a hug that they will not experience again.

As I looked at the images of that terrible storm I thought of how I take so many things for granted. Today I woke up in my safe bed, which was not crushed under beams of my house. I turned on the morning news; my TV was not smashed and thrown down the road. I said good-by to my family, they were all alive and well. I drove my daughter to school, my car was not wrapped around a tree and her school was not torn apart. I went to our Church to start another day of work; all of its windows were in tact. Just the simple everyday things that those sifting through debris whished they had. How I take so much for granted.

Then I thought of the harsh words that I have said over the last few days and weeks that have ripped through some of my relationships with family and friends. Leaving our relationship and friendship smashed and scattered. All because I perceived that I did not get what I wanted or because of some minor inconvenience that I had to face. How I take so much for granted.

I reflect upon all the brokenness that I have seen, some created by a thunderstorm and some cause by my own storm, and wonder is there any hope? Yes there is, for even in our worst storms our Lord is their. As the tornado ravaged through northern Iowa Christ was there giving hope and comfort to those who lost so much. As I create a storm with my tongue Christ is there nudging me to repent and ask for forgiveness from God and from the ones that I hurt.

As the Psalmist says, “I lift up my eyes to the hills—from where will my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” As we look up in our despair God is there. The one who stepped down into creation and who went up on the cross is here bringing comfort, hope, and love to all that are broken. As Paul writes in Romans 8:35-39: “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, ‘For your sake we are being killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (NRSV)
In your hurt, in your loss, in your pain know that Christ is with you and that nothing can separate you for God’s love in Christ Jesus. Jesus gives us shelter from all the storms that we face in life.

God of hope, we pray for those who have lost so much in the storms of this spring. Bring them comfort and hope. Touch them with your healing touch. Help us to reach out to them with prayers and with help. Help us to be your hands in this time of rebuilding. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

(If you would like to help the victims you can give to ELCA Disaster Response. One hundred percent of gifts designated for a specific response will be used for the immediate and long-term response to that disaster. Give through your ELCA congregation, give online at, www.elca.org/giving, or call 800/638-3522.)