Weathering the Storm

Twenty years ago this week, Britain was hit by its worst storm in over 200 years. The evening caught the nation by surprise as weather forecaster Michael Fish famously played down rumours of the impending hurricane. The following morning with 19 people dead and 15 million trees destroyed, a somewhat flustered Ian McCaskill was interviewed by Micheal Buerk. “Well, Ian, you chaps were a fat lot of good last night! If you can’t forecast the worst storms for several centuries three hours before they happen, what are you doing?” Apparently, even with the best technology at your disposal, you can’t always predict a severe storm.

Meteorology aside, none of us can be sure when the storms of life will hit. But we can all be sure that at some point they will arrive and when they do we weather them best if we are prepared. Standing tall in a storm is at least in part determined by the strength of foundations that exist.

Jesus said, “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.” His point is simple – life is strengthened by what we do or don’t believe. Faith is important not because it eliminates the storms but rather anchors us in the midst of them. Over the years I’ve heard many people rehearse their disappointment at God because he has not removed the storm, and I struggle to understand why. Christians don’t walk in some bubble that protects them from the world, rather they walk through the world with all its storms knowing that they are held firm in the knowledge that the promise of God is to walk through them with us.

There have been many occasions when I’d wished faith could be waved like the magicians wand and the problems would all vanish; times when divine intervention would have taken away pain and suffering. However, the storms still came. The only way to stand is to build our lives upon a rock. That rock is Christ.

Whatever storms might come your way (and I pray they be few and not many) you will be strengthened if you give attention to building your life well during the quiet times. As Charles Swindoll once wrote, ‘Character is built over a lifetime but tested in a moment.’ That moment is often the storm that catches us unawares. So be alert and make the most of the quietness which comes before the storm.

A Little Discretion, Please

When asked to comment about his relationship with former president, Bill Clinton, Tony Campolo replied, ‘You can talk to presidents or you can talk about them, but you can’t do both’. How is it that for some people wisdom pours from them like rain from clouds? When you have listened to their response you just know you are sitting amongst greatness. Comments like that don’t come from knowledge, but from understanding and knowing the right thing to do.

For the rest of us, we stumble along with our words, gaffing here and goofing there as we plod through life clumsily trying to master the art of considerate conversation. ‘Oh, sorry, I didn’t mean to say that… or, ‘I apologise, it came out wrong’… How many times have you uttered a sentence you later regret or spoke a word that harmed rather than healed?

‘Discretion’, said Fastaff in the Shakespearean play, Henry IV, ‘is the better part of valour’, his words suggesting prudence has a role to play even amongst those who wish to be brave. It takes a long time to retract a spoken word – if it is ever retracted. In our gossip driven culture the role of words may have been trivialised yet their power is not weakened. I can still be hurt or honoured through another person’s speech. So I ought to be careful how I use them, especially in speaking about others. Jesus said, ‘By your words you will be acquitted and by your words you will be condemned,’ – such is the power of speech.

Earlier this week I was teaching on the subject of conflict resolution and in my preparations came across advice given by the preacher John Wesley to his students. He laid down what he considered to be the ‘rules’ of relationship. Several centuries later they still carry resonance:

• We will not listen or enquire after any ill concerning others. Our ears are committed to the Lord.
• If we do hear any ill of others we will not be forward to speak it.
• As soon as possible we will communicate what we hear, by speaking to the person concerned.
• Until we have done this, we will not speak a syllable of it to any person whatsoever.
• We will not make any exception to these rules unless we think ourselves absolutely obliged in conscience to do so.

Discretion, is to language what prudence is to finance, the ability to show restraint. It’s a missing quality from many of our lives and one we ought to look to restore.