August 5, 2026
We anticipate that such threatening clouds as these will bring strong wind, furious rain, and maybe damaging hail. Lightning may crackle dangerously close, followed by the booming concussion of thunder. It’s time to seek shelter before the onslaught.
If the storm hits there may be damage, maybe even destruction from flooding and wind. It may be a time of danger and fear; some storms even leave injury and death in their wake. But they also bring water to a parched landscape. Vegetation becomes greener. Animals and people have water to drink. Wildfires are quenched, and the air is made sweet and clear. Deserts may bloom with a riot of flowers. Storms, then, bring a mix of change and eventual renewal.
So, too, the storms of life: loss, change, renewal and recovery. God’s world has all of these to challenge us. A mix of pain, opportunity, reflection, and hopefully rejuvenation. My losses have been that way, though I’ve hardly desired the storms that inflicted them. But God carried me through the worst parts and guided me to a place of enrichment and healing. I must remember that as I fret about the storms that threaten.
