Dad…can you turn down the Thunder?

Last night we went to bed about 11:00 because there were some thunderstorms coming in. This is the joy of living in the Illinois area, and I am using the word joy somewhat sarcastically. Growing up in El Paso, Texas storms were few and far between, but now they are a routine of the spring season. Here came the joy of my night as my two boys would wake up and say to my wife and me, the thunder is to loud.

With faces like theirs it is so hard to get upset, but with sleep deprivation and a their persistent desire to have us quite the thunder, we got a little frustrated. As my wife put my youngest son back to bed he quietly said, “Nobody cares about the fact that I am scared.” When he uttered that phrase I realized in his mind he felt that nobody cared, even though the previous hours of my wife’s concern was not sufficient evidence to him that he was very cared for.

How often we are like this in our walk with Christ. Jesus walks with us through those times of trouble and we look back and say during that one time that the Lord says okay I am going to allow you to bear a little more of this load by yourself. We immediately chime in and say, “Don’t you care about me?” The truth is that of course he does, but would like us to learn to grow a little.

My Son was overwhelmed like we are sometimes and all he wanted was his mothers loving touch. Sometimes we feel like God is far away, but he is always there. He is there to calm the storm as he did in the life of Peter as he walked on the water in the midst of a storm. There is nothing I can do to turn down the thunder son, but I can help you talk to the God that controls the Thunder.