Its A Twister!

***Song from Danielle's Picks~ "Mighty is the Power of the Cross".

The bus was rolling along the Oklahoma interstate as I sat quietly in my seat just behind the driver. (Hey! I'm telling this story and I say I was being quiet.) The wind was gaining strength and making it difficult for the bus driver to maintain control of the bus. As I looked at the horizon from my window, I could see three distinct layers. Layer one was flat land that stretched out for miles around us. Just above that was a thin layer of dark blue sky and directly above that was a black layer that confirmed the forecast for storms coming in. There was talk around the bus about some nearby dangling clouds that could easily spin off a tornado, but there was no rain or lightening. Just a light foggy mist.
Moments later, one of the other passengers sat forward and said, "Is that a funnel cloud or is my eyes playing tricks on me?". All eyes shifted forward immediately as leadership began to assess the situation. The pastor told the bus driver to get us under the overpass.
I was trembling. It was a perfect funnel cloud right in front of us beside the interstate. I knew what we were about to be facing. Within seconds, I had processed every possible worst case scenario and had accepted our plight.
Then I heard the pastor say, "Keep going!".
WHAT?!?!?!? Keep going? You mean as in toward the funnel cloud?
The bus passed under the only safe shelter available to us and proceeded in the direction of the storm. But, the closer we got to the tornado, the clearer it became. Something was in the center of it.
Almost in unison the cry came, "Its the cross!"
The spotlight that illuminated a huge metal cross from the base, cast a shadow in the foggy mist that looked just like a funnel cloud.
As soon as we got the cross in focus, the threat of the storm was gone. What a lesson!
I wish I could tell you that I was brave and had great faith, but I was just like the disciples in the midst of the storm on the sea. In Mark 5:40, Jesus asked them, "Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?" That's what happens when we focus on the storm instead of on Him. When they entered the ship in verse 35, Jesus told them that He was going to get them to the other side, but they forgot His words.
Verse 41 says they were in awe of Him when the wind and sea obeyed Him. That is one of the reasons God leads His children into storms. To show us great and wonderful things about Himself.
One of the greatest mistakes I made, was picturing how I would handle problems that didn't even exist. God's grace is distributed at the moment it is needed. Not before and not after. I was trying to handle tomorrow's problems with only today's grace.
All things, including storms, have a purpose to bring us good and Him glory! (Romans 8:28) Believe that! Get that! Because God has not given us the spirit of fear...but of a sound mind. 2 Timothy 1:7