As I watched the storm clouds roll in, suddenly the temperature and the barometric pressure dropped. Judah, the patriarch of our livestock guardian dogs, flashed his amber eyes towards me as if to say “we need to go.” “This one is going to be bad isn’t it buddy, I said as I rubbed his head.
Indeed, the storm was impressive. The thunder shook the earth, and the lightening was sharp and almost blinding at times. I was able to make it to our old farm truck just before the deluge began. As the storm continued, I decided to make my way back to the pasture. I fully expected to see nothing but sheets of rain and maybe a few downed limbs.
To my suprise, through the foggy windshield, I saw the blurry images of sheep dotting the landscape. They had moved to high ground, but they were not hunkered down in their houses as I expected. Some were standing under the low lying limbs of a tree, others were calmly chewing their cud, and some were out grazing on the hillside as the storm around them raged.
What a lesson for us all! We have no control over the relentless storms in our lives. It seems as though we get through one, and an even bigger one blows in, but we cannot let fear paralyze us. I challenge each of us to stop looking at the storm, and instead start focusing on our Shepherd.
Hang in there friends! Just keep grazing!
John 16:33 (NKJV)
These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”