Swimming Upstream: “Are You Prepared for Storms?”

The cell phone rang; I flipped it open. “Hello,” I said.

“I have cancer. Will you pray for me?” she said through panic-weighted sobs.

Though shocked, I replied, “Yes, of course I will.”

This just happened, but over my twenty-four years of being a believer, I’ve heard it often. Storms happen, you know. At times, the storms blow across our lives as financial monsoons. Other times, it’s sickness hurricanes. Or divorce cyclones. Whatever, the storms are devastating when they hit. And the wreckage may be severe.

More often than not, the individual is not prepared. They may be active members of a church. They may be generous givers of tithes and offerings. They may be doing some good works in their communities.

But usually, their prayer lives are three-minute dart tosses each day, aimed at heaven, as in “God bless this meal and us today. Amen.”

And their Bible studies consists of thirty-minute per week workouts, done along with their pastors’ sermons on Sunday mornings. Then, after these exhausting exercises, the Bibles rest on tables until next week.

When the storms hit, what do these people usually depend on? The prayer lives and faith of other people.

Now, this is not to say that storms do not happen to all types of believers. They do. And this is not to say that all believers should not ask for prayer from others. They should.

But when the storm rocked the disciples’ boat and they screamed, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing”, what was the Lord’s reply?

He said to them, “Why are you afraid, you men of little faith?…” (Matthew 8:26)

So, are you prepared for the next storm in your life? Will your prayer life and faith calm the storm?

Swimming Upstream appears at this blog site on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. It’s  a little of this and a little of that, all written  to encourage and exhort believers in their Christian journeys.