Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Pondering Refuge....Follow that Ball!


The storm "blew in" suddenly, or so it seemed. The clouds had actually been threatening something wild and possibly dangerous all afternoon. But it seemed like it came quickly once it started.

I watched from my favorite vantage point...right inside the door. Behind the glass door, with it open just enough so that I could feel a fine mist of rain and experience just a touch of the wild wind, I watched. (I love the wind unless, of course, it is blowing sawdust or furniture.)

I laughed to myself when a large pink beach ball came flying down the alley and made the turn into the street in front of my house. It bounced and flew and jutted from one side of the street to the other at the mercy of the wind and the rain.

The ball was blowing up the street, the rain was running down the street and soon the flighty thing became lodged under the front fender of the old truck parked across the street.

I considered going after it, but had no desire to suffer the consequences, so I continued to enjoy this spectacle of nature from the comfortable dryness of just inside the door.

I was more than a little surprised when, just as suddenly, the ball dislodged itself and began to tumble back down the street, fighting against the wind for all it was worth. It seemed to take on a life of its own, determined, against all odds, to make its way back home. (For, not only did it bounce into the stream of water running back the way it had come, but then it actually turned the corner and flew back up the alley!)

Again I laughed and, when the storm had played itself out, I ran out to try to catch a glimpse of the ball. I found it safely snuggled up against a concrete wall in the alley. Apparently, it had found a place of shelter, a refuge of sorts, hidden from the raging storms...just like me.

For I too, like that ball, have found a refuge, a place to ride out the the stormy gales of life. Regardless, of the storms that come my way, I have a safe place to run to and I am daily pavilioned in praise...

Psalm 27:5

For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion: in the secret of His tabernacle shall He hide me; He shall set me up upon a rock.
Psalm 61:4
I long to dwell in Your tent forever and take refuge in the shelter of Your wings
Psalm 34:8
Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the woman who takes refuge in Him.
Psalm 46:1
God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.
Psalm 59:16-17
But I will sing of Your strength, in the morning I will sing of Your love; for you are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble. O my Strength, I sing praise to You; You, O God, are my fortress, my loving God.

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