September 19, 2017
On this date we had to report to work even though forecasters had announced the arrival of a major hurricane. At 5:15 a.m. we received an all-call stating we now had to work only half-a-day. I called the job to say we weren’t going in. Early in the morning we packed our SUV and headed to my mom’s house. After picking up the fridge & some ice with our son, and returning to our home to get more belongings, we headed to my mom’s place.
By noon the winds were picking up quite a bit. In the evening, I asked my mom’s neighbor if he wanted help as he put steel pipes in his metal shed for protection. He didn’t. He wasn’t sure the shed would survive.
We locked ourselves inside and braced for what might come. Lots of prayers went up that day and night interceding and imploring God to turn the storm away. That was not to be. The wind howled all night creating a horrible and dreadful sound. All night long, my wife and I slept on the living room sofa right under a window. We looked (and felt) disfigured as we constantly sought ways to get comfortable yet stay below the window and out of danger.
Although the carport is 10’ wide and has ornamental concrete blocks (they’re open to allow breeze in), the rain pelted the Miami-style metal shutter windows like bullets slamming against them as if there were no walls or roof.
It isn’t easy by any means to laugh in the tough times, but I believe in trying to see the brighter side of things no matter how bleak they may be. That would be tested in the days ahead. After commending both residences, our neighbors, our pets, and ourselves to Him who has his way in the whirlwinds and in the storms, (Nahum 1:3b), we fell asleep after midnight.
In retrospect, I can equate that night’s storm experience to a blinding blizzard as someone cuddles before a fireplace in a small cabin somewhere out west in the middle of nowhere.
I love the stories of cowboys and line shacks- those small cabins built and situated out west in fields near the perimeters of grand ranches. As workers ‘rode the line,’ should a storm come upon them suddenly, they sought shelter within small, humble one-room cabins. Those cabins were usually stocked with necessities like matches, thin blankets, maybe a lantern and non-perishables of the time-period like beans and coffee. These life-saving cabins sheltered workers from the tempest without. They lit a fire, warmed their hands as they drank some coffee and enjoyed a hot meal. Spending the night toasty-warm within while the winds howled, and snow and ice fell outside, saved many lives. On this day, my wife and I were to take refuge from an impending storm in a ‘line shack’ and God was our life-line.