Storm Lessons

Last night, before I went up to the hospital, I wanted to get in a walk to tire myself out as much as possible in anticipation of another night of Naugahyde cruelty. As I prepared to leave, a sudden rainstorm hit. I'm not big on walking in the pouring rain...I've done it when determined, but I decided to wait a few minutes, and sure enough the storm passed over quickly.

As I walked in the freshly cooled air I noticed birds out in force....I mean they were everywhere, flying all over the place.

I thought, "How cool...the birds having been stuck in the heat all realized that there are blessings in some storms." I figured they were out frolicking. I gawked at them as I walked, my mouth literally agape as I marveled at how they swooped and sailed.

Then a bug flew into my mouth causing me to choke and cough.

It was then I realized that although the birds may indeed also see blessings even in stormy times...their definition of blessing differed from mine.
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This morning, I left the hospital at about 5:30 with a plan to come home...deal with our dogs, read the paper, and still have time to get to church early since Gordon is out of town (more on how that went in another post). An almost identical thing happened. I was about to take my walk when a rain storm hit. I decided to wait a while and sure enough the rain passed, so off I went.

I took my usual route and came upon a dog, which I've mentioned before. I hadn't seen him for more than a month now and quite honestly I thought he had probably been picked up by the pound since he was always running free in a neighborhood cul-de-sac. Although he would occasionally follow me a brief distance, and act a bit playful, never before had he followed me very far.

Today was different. I suppose it was the rain which had him fired up. He spotted me and immediately starting tagging along, seeing how close he could get before I'd turn around. Whenever I did he'd scamper away. I supposed we had elevated our relationship and kept walking. He kept following. He never got close enough to let me pet him, but he was always within 50 feet of me. I tried to spook him back toward his cul-de-sac a few times to no avail, and then decided to ignore him. He stayed with me for the entire three-mile walk, in fact I was so concerned as I got closer to my home - requiring a turn onto a busier road - that I opted to cut across a yard to make sure this stupid dog who had made up his own game after a morning rainstorm, didn't get penalized...or pulverized, by a passing car.

As I reached our house, the dog spotted two other dogs and went chasing toward them, apparently intent on starting a new game.

I went inside and couldn't help but think that there was a lesson there.

Often in my life I have been stuck in raging storms, and there have been many times when I have passed through storms unscathed.

I realized in all those circumstances, I've never really been alone.

Give thanks to the Lord of lords:
His love endures forever.
to Him who alone does great wonders,
His love endures forever.
who by his understanding made the heavens,
His love endures forever.
- Psalm 136:3-5