Our hope in Christ stabilizes us in the storms of life, but unlike an anchor, it does not hold us back. – Charles Swindoll

Why do airlines have flight attendants? They’re not just there to serve food and beverages. Their safety training and hours of experience help to ensure that passengers reach their destination safely. 

For the majority of flights, the journey passes without incident. If you watch you’ll notice a few of the precautions that form part of their routine, like when they sit on their hands during takeoff. Flight attendants take their seats only after they’ve completed their final checks on passengers and secured the cabin. Then, they pull down a jump seat, buckle up and often sit on their hands. It’s part of the brace position, which includes ensuring feet are placed flat on the floor and their head is positioned so it remains as steady as possible. These actions are designed to ensure that, in the event of an emergency, a flight attendant’s body remains relatively rigid. So, if turbulence occurs, there’s less likelihood of injury that could be caused by an arm suddenly flung into a bulkhead or seat. It’s a wise practice; flight attendants need to be fully mobile to look after passengers during an emergency. Turbulence is relatively common in air travel. Studies indicate that severe turbulence is becoming more frequent. 

We’re beginning a new study: Stormproof. An old song has this line, into each life some rain must fall. It’s not true…it’s not “some rain.” It’s lots of rain, sometimes it’s even massive storms. Because we live in a sin-contaminated world, storms are coming. The question is: Are we ready?

Personally, I become irritated when I hear some media minister say, “Just give your life to Christ, and everything will go smoothly. You’ll be healthy and wealthy.” It’s a lie. Paul got sick; Jesus was poor. Anyone who enters the Christian life with those kinds of unrealistic expectations is going to be disillusioned and may even drop out because storms are coming. 

Over the next several weeks we’ll be working through some of the typical storms that everyone faces stress, loss, depression, loneliness, being misunderstood, waiting, unsolvable problems and defection. 1 Corinthians 10:13 reminds us, these are all common to our human existence. 

Have you ever talked with a starry-eyed young couple about to get married? They’ll say something like, “Oh, we just can’t wait. It is going to be so wonderful to be together twenty-four hours every day.” 

I love the candor of W. A. Criswell, longtime pastor of Dallas’ First Baptist. Criswell, who’d been married fifty years said, “Sometimes I love my wife so much I could just eat her up. Sometimes the next day I wish I had.” He understood that marriage, like life, can be tough. It’s not some endless honeymoon. Life is not smooth sailing. Storms are coming. If our boat is not going to wreck or sink, we must be ready. We must learn how to handle storms…because they’re coming, often lots of them.

Storms of life, as depicted in God’s Word, serve as metaphors for the trials we endure, revealing that even the most faithful are not immune to tough times. In Jesus’ life, there are notable accounts of at least two storms: one where Jesus calms the storm while asleep in the boat (Mark 4:35-41) and another where He walks on water to reach His disciples during a storm (Mark 6:47-53). These accounts illustrate that even in the worst storm, we are not alone, and our Lord has power over the worst storms of life. But since they’re coming, if you’re not already in one, you must be ready. 

I love this story from Gary Richmond’s book, A View from a Zoo. Richmond shares about the birth of a giraffe. The first thing to emerge are the baby giraffe’s front hooves and head. A few minutes later the plucky newborn calf is hurled forth, falls ten feet, and lands on its back. Then the mother giraffe lowers her head long enough to take a look and then after about 60 seconds or so, she does the most unreasonable thing. She swings her long pendulous leg outward and kicks her baby so that its sent sprawling head over heels. When it doesn’t get up, the violent process is repeated over and over again. The little guy struggles to rise and when he grows tired, the mother kicks him again. Finally, the calf stands for the first time on its wobbly legs. Then the mother giraffe kicks it off its feet again. Why? She wants him to remember how he got up. 

In the wild, baby giraffes must be able to get up as quickly as possible in order to stay with the herd, where there is safety. Lions, hyenas, leopards, and wild dogs all love to eat young giraffes. They’d get to eat a lot more often if mother giraffes didn’t teach their babies to get up quickly. 

Like a baby giraffe, we must be prepared. It’s one reason why God allows storms in our lives. He doesn’t want us to end up on Satan’s menu. He also wants us to grow spiritually, to turn to Him and trust Him more. Storms help us, as they did His disciples, to look to Jesus.

Has there been a time when you endured one storm, only to get through one to face another one? It may be that God is allowing a series of storms to help you remember how it was you got up. Maybe He is permitting this to help us to get it in our hearts that to become like Jesus, to survive in this world, we must stay close to God. We must learn to walk in His shadow, under His care. He may even be using our storms and our faithfulness in it to encourage others as He did with Job and a Joni Earekson-Tada. 

God is much more interested in our character than He is our comfort. Character can’t be developed in times of ease. You can’t become a person of grace, godliness, endurance and patience by reading a book or listening to a sermon. These Christlike qualities are only learned through storms.

When the storms come, as they will, we’re ready and we should rejoice and give thanks. Thomas Watson, the 17^th century Puritan, wrote, Affliction works as our preacher and tutor. Sometimes a sickbed can teach us more than a sermon. Affliction is often the medicine that God uses to carry off our spiritual diseases. As Christ-followers, when we face storms, God’s grace is enough to get us through. 

There’s a wonderful verse in Hebrews 6:19 that tells us Jesus is our anchor. Anchors don’t stop storms but make us secure during one.  

We all go through storms. They’re wet, windy, loud, and uncomfortable. Is your anchor, Jesus? Do you have faith in your Anchor? We know we can trust Him and we’re never alone. We know He loves us and as Romans 8:28 promises that all things work together for good. Trusting in God and His Word is the key to being Stormproof! Are you Stormproof?