Get ready for an ouch.
A lot of you like storms better than you like calm.
Why? Because when it’s calm it’s much harder to complain. And some of us simply cannot be happy unless we have something to complain about. It’s why we sabotage relationships.
It’s why we chase storms.
Some of us aren’t happy unless we’re in a crisis and – get this – if we’re not in a crisis we’ll create one. It’s why some of you married the wrong guy. Why others of you date the wrong girl. Why you drink the wrong drink. Why you take the wrong risks. Why you confront the wrong sin. It’s why you create drama where none exists.
And as you’re reading this, so many of your issues have come into focus. That’s why I do what I do! I’m scared of the calm so I create the storm!
We don’t do this consciously, but it’s like the more subconscious it is, the more energy we bring to it. It’s why when things are going well you start feeling uneasy and you run off and chase down a storm and make it your own.
I know there are people who wake up in the morning and look for ways to get offended. You get your feelings a lot. And you look back at your history of relationships and it’s like, “that one – nope, they hurt my feelings.” “Them – no more. They made me mad!” “I was friends with her til she rubbed me the wrong way.” Well, guess who the common denominator is in all those hurt feelings. You are! Because you’re so scared of the calm you go out and chase down a storm!
Really, most folks handle adversity better than prosperity. It’s certainly true in my business – the number of high profile pastors who have a kind of influence most of us long for but then blow it by falling morally is just astronomical. And beyond that, do you know what group of people has among the highest rates of depression, divorce, and discord? Lottery winners! Hello!
Here’s the deal: Can you trust God with your every day? Can you trust him with the same desperation in the calm that you trust him with your storms?
Will you stop making storms out of whatever is handy? Instead of making drama, celebrate peace. Instead of sabotaging relationships, give God glory for the ones that are going well. And when you enter that season of prosperity, that’s when you need God more than ever.
And if you realize today that you are a storm chaser, stop. Just stop. For the sake of your family, for the sake of your health, for the sake of your God, for God’s sake, stop. Today.
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The post you’ve just read is an excerpt from The Shadow Of A Doubt, available now from Abingdon Press.
In fact, it is super available at Good Shepherd this coming Saturday morning from 9:00 to 10:30 a.m.
We sold out of books at our most recent signing event at church, so we have ordered a limited number of all three — The Shadow Of A Doubt, The Storm Before The Calm, and Head Scratchers.
So we wanted to schedule an event during the day and at the beginning of Christmas shopping season. As with all books sold at the church, 100% of the proceeds go to On Eagles’ Wings Ministry for young girls rescued from sex trafficking. Neither the church nor I make a dime off the sale of these books.
Remember: this Saturday, December 5 from 9 to 10:30 a.m. What better way to start your Christmas shopping?
