I was awoken last night at @ 5:20 by Amanda hitting me and yelling, “Tornado! Trav get Obie!”
In a daze, I ran through the house to a sound that seemed like the windows were about to shatter and the house was about to be lifted up. I grabbed Obadiah out of the crib fast asleep. He was startled by the sudden intrusion, and then he seemed to be even more alarmed by the sounds he was hearing. As the sounds escalated, he looked to somewhat understand the situation.
Then the strangest thing happened.
I was trying to hold him down to protect him and hoping he would stay asleep. He popped his head up as I was carrying him.
He looked at the window at the rain coming down, then he looked at me, smiled, pointed at my face, said “Dada” in the most tender voice I have ever heard, and then he laid his head down on my shoulder and went to sleep.
You must understand this: if you wake Obie up, he stays up. He doesn’t go back down easily. He normally would think it would be time to play. And given the sounds in our home, he should have been alarmed, but he fell back asleep and I was eventually able to put him back in his crib. But something was different last night.
He looked at his father in the midst of the storm, and felt peaceful enough to fall back asleep.
Oh, how I long for this to be my story! I want to be alerted to the storms in my life, but I don’t want to be shaken by them. I want to grasp the power of the storm, but I want to be overwhelmed by the power of my God! I want to look up, see my Father, call his name, and be at peace in his arms.
O believers, what a treasure we have in our Father! He is so more capable than I am to protect my son through a tornado, yet why do we doubt his care, his power, his protection?
I don’t know what storm you are going through today, but I do know our Father. And quite honestly, it’s time to go back to sleep.
Travis Agnew serves as the Lead Pastor of Rocky Creek Church in Greenville, SC. His most recent book is Just (About) Married.
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