Ducking for Cover

I was traveling to an appointment in the later afternoon. I drove into the heavy storm that was crossing the metro area and watched with fascination as I saw large hailstones begin to pelt the road ahead of me. Even more interesting was the reaction of the cars ahead of me.

As the hail began to fall, car after car began to look for a place to shelter. Every overpass had an almost comical image, as drivers appeared to be playing a game called “how many cars can we park under this bridge?”

The scene prompted me to reflect about how it is natural to seek shelter in a time of storm. We recognize that life presents us with situations that are simply beyond our control. That is the image of our relationship to God in Scripture.

As one hymn writer paraphrased it, God is our shelter in the time of storm. I know that many of us have proven that true over the years. It is an important reality for persons of faith. God is a source of refuge for us in crisis moments akin to the sheltering overpass that shielded those autos from the damaging force of the hail.

Do we have an equivalent lively awareness of the presence of God in our life? There are storms in life that are beyond the scope of any physical shelter. What is our alternative?

“The Lord’s our Rock, in Him we hide,
A Shelter in the time of storm;
Secure whatever ill betide,
A Shelter in the time of storm.

Oh, Jesus is a Rock in a weary land,
A weary land, a weary land;
Oh, Jesus is a Rock in a weary land,
A Shelter in the time of storm.”
(lyrics by Vernon J. Charlesworth ca. 1880)