Have you ever been minding your own business when catastrophe strikes? Well, that’s what happened on Saturday night. 

I was doing my regular Saturday night routine, wings doused in Frank’s Redhot sauce. The TV was on and the Leafs were winning. 

There was no question, I was feeling pretty good. I threw some balls out on the pool table and proceeded to knock them into the pockets.

Then I remembered I had a few chairs that needed a bit of assembling. … Who am I kidding? The chairs were from IKEA – they needed complete assembling. 

Life was good. I’d already read over my sermon about three times and made some edits to it. 

What I didn’t realize as I was enjoying my Saturday evening was the catastrophe happening outside the four walls of our house. 

Unlike the three little pigs’ homes, our house is thankfully not made of straw so we were comfortable and unfazed by the howling wolf of a wind outside.

Then Lily heard a crashing sound and went to a window to look out.

Our basketball net had fallen over. 

Realizing that the wind was strong enough to drop the basketball net, she started looking out other windows to check the property over.

That’s when she spied that our back fence had fallen over – not the whole fence but three sections were down. 

Years ago we stored our travel trailer in our back yard, so I had taken two sections of the fence apart and made a large gateway out of them.

We haven’t used this gate in over ten years, but the modification makes weaker than the rest of the fence.  

Add to that, I discovered that two posts had rotted just above the cement that holds them into the ground. This made for a “perfect storm” in the wind storm we were experiencing.  

… I’m thinking that’s why in the three little pigs story even the house that was made with sticks couldn’t withstand the wolf’s howling breath. 

Seeing my fence look like that plastic garden edging that is not fully installed, I figured I needed to do something right there and then.

With no plan I went out to inspect the situation. I figured I couldn’t do anything about the section that was part of the gate and now on the ground, but I could get the other two sections standing straight up again.

With some ingenuity, stakes, a sledge hammer and some tie down straps I got that fence standing fairly straight. Of course I had a large gap in the fence where the one section was missing. 

With a trip to the hardware store the next day for some fence hangers and nails, I had what I needed to put that last section up.

Unless that wolf comes back, I think my fence will remain standing this winter, I’ll make permanent repairs in the spring.

Here’s the thing: Life can flow along for you so peacefully, but there could be a catastrophe brewing. That life storm can overtake you in an instant. It was Jesus who calmed the storm for His disciples. He can calm the storms you go through as well. Always seek Him, and also in times of trouble. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What life storm do you need to seek Jesus for right now? Leave your comments and questions below. 

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