I spent the weekend in the North Carolina mountians and one of the activities I experienced was tubing down the river at Deep Creek. What a blast!! The water was brisk and exillerating. I noted while I floated down the river, that there were places where the water was deeper and the pace was slow. If you were to the side, you might not even move. Even when you paddled over (by hand) into the current, it was very slow moving. I looked at the trees and sky and appreciated the beauty of God’s creation. But, there were also places where the water was shallow and moved rapidly. There were sudden drops and rocks. You had to be alert! Sometimes in the rapids, a rock would keep me from going forward yet the rushing water kept me pinned and much effort was required to get back into the flow. I loved it, as did many I saw. Some however, fretted or cried in the scary parts and worried about the rapids while going was smooth.
The experience I had tubing, I realize, illustrates life. There will always be storms on the horizon. Not always literally like Gustav, Hanna, and Ike, but similarly lined up times of trouble in life. Like the river had slow smooth water followed by rapids, and the line of mentioned hurricanes, life too has slow mundane periods followed by trouble or even tragedy.
Throughout life, whether in trial or triumph, God is still God, and He is in control! Rather than fret about what is to come or panic about the storm you’re in now, draw near to God. Like the Casting Crowns song says, praise Him in your storm. To quote Tony Morgan’s blog post “Perryisms“, “My circumstances don’t alter His character.” God is above and beyond all things.
Colossians 1:16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. 17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.
