Bomb Shelter

Jordan, Ezekiel and I had the immense blessing this past week of attending Family Camp out at the ARC in Osceola, Wisconsin. It's been a crazy month of travel for all three of us (Jordan could count the number of days he spent at home in July on his hands), and although the trip out to Camp was long, the week spent together and with family was a  blessing. One crazy thing did happen on Friday night; something I've never experienced at the ARC - or any other camp for that matter.

At 11:30pm, when Zeke and I were both thoroughly asleep for the night, Jordan woke me up with the news that we had to leave the lodge that we were staying in and head to the Tabernacle. A storm was coming and the entire camp was to evacuate their rooms and hunker down in a building that once served as a bomb shelter. With a siren howling, thunder booming, and a disoriented mind, I was brought to a place of fear. Although we were only in a severe thunderstorm warning, the ARC's weather siren communicated to me tornado -- which is one of my biggest fears. Ever since elementary school - when I remember crouching down in our hallway as we waited out a tornado warning - I've been freaked out by tornadoes. So, as we piled in my in-laws van for the short drive to the Tabernacle, I was scared.

As we sat in the Tabernacle, Jordan told one of his brothers: "You don't have to be scared at all. This building was built to withstand a bomb." What a comforting thought! If the shelter we had taken could withstand a bomb, there was no reason it could not withstand 70 mph winds. With that comforting thought resting on my mind, I eased into sleep for the next hour as we waited out the worst of the storm.

Isn't it wonderful that we too have a shelter from the storms of life? When we are gripped with fear, we have only to run to the arms of our Heavenly Father. He is our shelter, our place of refuge, an ever-present help in times of trouble. What better, safer place could we flee? In His arms we find not only safety, but rest.

"He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the LORD, 'My refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust!' For it is He who delivers you from the snare of the trapper and from deadly pestilence. He will cover you with His pinions, and under His wings you may seek refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and a bulwark. You will not be afraid of the terror by night, or of the arrow that flies by day, of the pestilience that stalks in darkness, or of the destruction that lays wasted at noon. A thousand may fall at your side and ten thousand at your right hand, but it shall not approach you. You will only see the recompense of the wicked. For you have made the LORD, my refuge, even the Most High, your dwelling place. No evil will befall you, nor will any plague come near your tent.
'Because He has loved Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him securely on high, because he has known My name. He will call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him and let him see My salvation.'" - Psalm 16:1-10, 14-16 (emphasis added)

Praise the LORD that we are never alone!