Storm  A Comin'

      Can You Sleep While the Wind Blows?

       Years ago, a farmer owned land along the Atlantic seacoast.
    He constantly advertised for hired hands. Most people were
    reluctant to work on farms along the Atlantic. They dreaded the
    awful storms that raged across the Atlantic, wreaking havoc on the
    buildings and crops.  

    As the farmer interviewed applicants for the job, he received
    A steady stream of refusals. Finally, a short, thin man well past
middle age, approached the farmer. "Are you a good farm hand?"
asked the farmer. "Well, I can sleep when the wind blows,"
answered the little man.

          Although puzzled by this answer, the farmer, desperate for help,
    Hired him. The little man worked well around the farm, busy from
    dawn to dusk,  and the farmer felt satisfied with the man's work.
    Then one night the wind howled loudly in from offshore.
    Jumping out of bed, the farmer grabbed a lantern and rushed
    next door to the hired hand's sleeping quarters. He shook the
    little man and yelled, "Get up!  A storm is coming!
    Tie things down before they blow away!"
    The little man rolled over in bed and said firmly, "No
    sir. I told you, I can sleep when the wind blows."

        Enraged by the response, the farmer was tempted to fire him on
    the spot. Instead, he hurried outside to prepare for the storm.
    To his amazement, he discovered that all of the haystacks had
    been covered with tarpaulins. The cows were in the barn, the chickens
    were in the coops, and the doors were barred.
    The shutters were tightly secured.  Everything was tied down
Nothing could blow away. The farmer then understood what his
tired hand meant, so he returned to his bed to also sleep while
the wind blew.

~An Uncle Arthur Story~  

     
The Moral

     
    When you're prepared, spiritually, mentally, and physically,
    you have nothing to fear. Can you sleep when the
    wind blows through your life?
    The hired hand in the story was able to sleep because he
    had secured the farm against the storm.
    We secure ourselves against the storms of life by
    grounding ourselves in the Word of God.
    We don't need to understand, we just need to hold
    His hand to have peace in the middle of storms.

  Living in Pensacola, Florida where storms often visit, we have
to secure our home often against them. The above story tells
us we also need to prepare ourselves against the storms of life
We can do this by believing and trusting in God to give us
 strength to overcome so that we can "sleep when the wind blows."
Betty