Living on the lake, it’s important to keep an eye on the weather. One day the skies suddenly darkened. When I looked out on the lake, the water was still calm, then I saw a man, rowing across the lake. I hoped he was headed home, and thought I needed to keep an eye on him. Within five minutes the storm hit the lake with a vengeance. I ran out of the house in the rain to grab the trash can and potted plants that were tossed in the wind. Once everything was secure, I turned to the lake, to see where the kayaker was. I could see a tiny dot in the far distance out on the whitecaps of the lake. By the time I got back in my house and looked out, that poor man in the wind-tossed kayak headed our way. I ran down to our dock to see if I could help the man. By the time I got there, the man was about 20 feet from our dock. I yelled out to the man and asked him what I could do to help. He just stared at me, as he flapped his oars in the waves. As he got closer, I yelled out to see how I could help him. Again, no answer! I saw that he was going to miss my dock, so I told him, to meet me at the next dock. I then ran in my bare feet, across the rocks that line our very steep shore. Once I reached the neighbor’s dock I yelled out, asking him to row over to safety. Suddenly a huge gust of wind came up, his boat flipped, and he and all of his belongings dumped in the frigid lake! All we could do is watch as his shoes, hat, and bag floated off with the wind. I yelled at him to come to the dock. As he struggled in the wind, the soaked man, with his overturned boat in tow, fought his way to the dock. The dock is high out of the water, so the exhausted, frustrated man yelled demanding that I drop the ladder in the water. I tried to explain to him that is was not my dock, and the ladder was locked. He turned and watched his hat, shoes, and bag as they disappeared in the distance. I unhooked the ladder and messed with the ladder and the chain on the ladder until the bottom rung was a few inches from the water. I asked the exhausted man to grab the ladder, or I would meet him on the next dock down wind. He was able to reach the ladder and caught his breath. After a few minutes, the man decided that he would try to swim/drift his boat to the shore, although it was covered in rocks, and he now had no shoes. About 4 feet from the shore, he was able to touch the bottom. At that point he flipped his boat over and walk his boat down the shore. Again, I asked him if I could help him, and he said no, he lived a short distance down the shore, and he could now walk his boat home. His pride was bruised, along with the bottom of his feet, as he walked all the way home in the freezing water, over branches, rocks, and who knows what else that was in the bottom of the lake.
As I watched him walk away in waist-high water, relentlessly pelted by the freezing rain, it made me think about when Paul wrote to the Ephesians, when he told them to arm themselves. The kayaker was totally unprepared for his adventure on the lake. He didn’t check the weather before he left. He didn’t have the right shoes, he hadn’t strapped his bag that held his possessions to the boat, but most importantly, he didn’t have a life jacket with him, much less on him.
Sometimes we hit unexpected storms in our lives, and we are not prepared! Paul warns us to put on the full armor of Christ, and when we do, we can handle the storms.
“Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” Ephesians 6:13-17
As you go out into the world, put on your armor of God. He will keep you safe in the storms of life. He will help you deal with all the waves and the winds that blow your way. Rely on Him, and although there may be rough waters, He will take care of you.
