Hurricanes fascinate me to some extent—the vicious wind, the driving rain and then the eye of the storm. Of course, hurricanes come and hurricanes go, but sometimes the hurricanes of life stick in the mind. All the ugly mess that comes with a hurricane, there is a beauty to it that can go unnoticed while dealing with destruction.
My first taste of a hurricane came when I was six years old. Hurricane Carla made its debut in 1961 with sustained winds of 145 miles per hour. My eyes were fixed on the trees in our front yard as they swayed and bent with the winds. I was standing near a big picture window, watching a tree fall that couldn’t take the beating any longer. Yet, during that storm, the picture window, though invisible, held firm and did not break.
Hurricanes come in different forms and have different strengths. I didn’t know that until I was much older. Some hurricanes we survive, and some are not so lucky to survive. Some come out with nothing left, and yet the house next door barely received a scratch.
Cruising down a back road outside of Weimar on my motorcycle, I suddenly replayed my life in slow motion as my bike swept out from underneath me while I somehow climbed on top of it and watched my speedometer burst in slow motion. Then, fi nally, I was spared from the neardeath experience: I came out in the eye of the storm.
Later in life, an infection set inside and outside my heart, giving me a near-death experience again. I saw the white light, the highly peaceful and safe feeling that many recounts during their hurricane in life. Seven days later, I came into the eye of the storm.
Our lives are hurricanes. Lives go from hurricane to hurricane into the eye of the storm and the ugliness hits us all over again. But why are some of us spared so little damage and others’ lives totally destroyed? Why did I survive my hurricanes, yet my mother was taken all too soon? Why did Dianne’s mother die in a hor- rific car accident when Dianne was so young?
Why was I spared? Why not others more deserving to live than me? I have seen death, destruction and the underbelly of society during my days in emergency medical services. During my law enforcement days, I have experienced split-second moments where I thought I might not see my wife and kids again. So why do I come out into the eye of the storm?
God has plans for each of us. There are those days we experience the eye of the storm in all its calmness and the beauty of life. Then, dark and angry storms interrupt those days and remind us of our frailty in life, and our dependence on God to see us through. God is with us in life as He is in death.
No one knows why God takes those from us we feel deserve more to stay on Earth. God may have rewarded them earlier with His presence. However, God never promised us a perfect life while we waited our turn to join Him in Heaven.
That is where perfection lies. No matter the storms we encounter, our faith in God should be our path into the eye of the storm.
John 16:33-“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world, you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
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