Shelters in the storm

A number of years ago, I took a bunch of teenagers from our youth group hiking on the Appalachian Trail. Now that was quite the trip! Some of us had never been on the trail before, and we discovered how heavy backpacks can feel and how miserable blisters can make you.

You can learn a lot about yourself and others when you’re covering 21 miles over 3 days. I remember how good the oatmeal tasted in the morning, how warm the fire was at night, and how glad I was for the pizza buffet when we stopped for our first meal after the hike!

But the one memory that stands out among the rest was getting caught in a downpour on the trail. Thankfully, the good people who maintain the trail had built shelters along the path, and we were fortunate to be near one. It was rustic with no electricity and basically 2 long bunks for hikers to lay down on.

I remember laying in that shelter listening to the rain, the laughter, the screams when someone turned on a flashlight and we saw the spiderwebs hanging directly over our heads! It wasn’t long before the rain stopped and we were on our way again, but the lesson God taught me has never left me.

The shelter in the storm wasn’t the building; it was the people in the building.

Some of them were my people — the ones that had come with me. There were others in that shelter, too, from other places. People that I’ll never meet again but who were in the same storm we were and found shelter in the same place. All of us laughed, shared stories, talked about what we’d experienced on the trail.

Maybe you’re in a storm right now. Can I encourage you with the truth that God has promised to provide shelter in the storm? My guess is that He already has, and when you start to focus on who you’re sheltered with more than what you’re sheltered from, you’ll find that it’s the people with you in the storm that God is using to shelter you.

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