A Shelter in the Time of Storm

Life will have its up and downs. There are times when it just doesn’t get any better than this, times when everything is just fine but not really great, and times that stink.

When things are good everything goes well. We can’t make a mistake. The “big mo” momentum is on our side and life is sweet. The decisions you make get applause. People smile at you when you walk by. There is a spring in your step and a song in heart. You look in the mirror and say “Life is good.”

But when it goes bad it all goes bad. The slide seems to have no end. The highway of life becomes a cul de sac. Life is like a bad country song.

Well, it was all that I could do to keep from cryin'
Sometimes it seems so useless to remain
You don't have to call me darlin'...darlin'
You never even call me by my name.

Well, I was drunk the day my Mom got outta prison.
And I went to pick her up in the rain.
But, before I could get to the station in my pickup truck
She got runned over by a slow old train.

And I'll hang around as long as you will let me
And I never minded standin' in the rain. No,
You don't have to call me darlin'...darlin'
You never even call me
Well, I wonder why you don't call me
Why don't you ever call me by my name?
“You Never Call Me by My Name” – Lyrics by David Allen Coe

It was 9:00 on Saturday morning. Carol and I had finished a light breakfast and I had taken our daughter to a day camp and just returned home. Carol was making arrangements for a friend to stay with Dawn for the weekend since we were planning to spend it with my dad.

It was a warm, sunny March morning. I could hear the wind chimes playing a soft song in the gentle breeze. This was the kind of day you move to California for. I was about to pick up the morning paper hoping to spend a few relaxing moments while Carol finished packing.

We had just completed one of the most successful but equally stressful three months of the fiscal year. I was exhausted. Our organization had set an all time production record, but the effort had taken its physical and mental toll.

As I opened the screen door to the patio the phone rang. I reached over the table and picked up the receiver. An unfamiliar voice said, “Mr. (pause) Hitchcock, Mr. Bruce Hitchcock?” I said, “Yes.” The voice continued, “I have been trying to reach your father and there is no answer at his home. Your mother expired sometime early this morning. When we went to check on her at 8:30, she was not breathing. We called the funeral home and they have made all the arrangements.” That was it. I said, “Thank you, good bye.”

Mom hadn’t been feeling well since Thanksgiving. In early February the doctor sent her to an oncologist where she was diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer. Now, only eight weeks later, she was gone. Gone to be with the Lord.

She was so sick that we had moved her into a convalescent hospital. The last week she slowly deteriorated to the point that she could no longer speak. But, as I leaned down to kiss her that Friday, I heard her whisper ever so quietly that I could barely make it out, “Bruce, I love you.” She knew I was there. I guess she was saying goodbye.

Little did I know that this was just the beginning of one of worst years of my life. At the end of the fiscal year in June, the company promoted my top sales manager. That started a downward production spiral that ended in the only decrease we had in my twenty-five years with the company. In addition, the unbearable pain I was experiencing in my shoulder was diagnosed as a torn rotator cuff from an old football injury. After the surgery it took four months of painful rehabilitation. I had hit bottom both physically and emotionally.

I would like to say that I had been in communication with God everyday during this period. But unfortunately most of us, and that includes me, don’t seek Him until we have nowhere else to turn. With nowhere else to turn I cried out to Him. I needed more than a prayer with a quick fix. I needed a time of deep rest, the kind that only can come from God holding you in his arms, hiding you in His love, and protecting you from the world until He can work you through recovery.

Psalms 62:5-8 says, “My soul waits in silence for God only, for my hope is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold; I shall not be shaken. On God my salvation and my glory rest; the rock of my strength, my refuge is in God. Trust in Him at all times, O people; Pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us. Selah. (NASU)

I learned three truths from this experience of deep despair. God is the only one in whom we can place our complete trust. The only place we can safely pour out our hearts and know that it is heard and understood. God is our shelter in the time of storm.

First, God can be trusted. When we lean on Him we will not fall. Psalms 143:8 says, “Cause me to hear Your lovingkindness in the morning, For in You do I trust; Cause me to know the way in which I should walk, For I lift up my soul to You.” (NKJV)

Secondly, God always listens. Job’s friends listened, but then they responded to his emptiness inappropriately. Psalms 4:3 assures us that God listens when it says, “The Lord hears when I call to Him.” (NASU)

Finally, God is our sanctuary. He is our hiding place. God is our refuge: Jeremiah 16:19 “Lord, my strength and my stronghold, and my refuge in the day of distress.” (NASU)

Psalms 61:1-4 should be our prayer daily but most importantly when we are in despair. “Hear my cry, O God; Give heed to my prayer. From the end of the earth I call to You when my heart is faint; Lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For You have been a refuge for me, A tower of strength against the enemy. Let me dwell in Your tent forever; Let me take refuge in the shelter of Your wings. Selah.” (NASU)

I looked to find the strength in me,
But came up empty, bound not free.
The pain was deep, so dark, so real,
Despair was mine, I could not heal.

Then it came to me; Oh Lord,
The answer’s here within Your Word,
I looked and found a verse so dear
Just the one to bring me near
To you oh God
Words to heal the open wound
The loneliness, the hurt, the pain
I could live again.

Thank you God for being here,
For loving me, dispelling fear.
Protecting me from worldly harm
A shelter in the time of storm.
- Bruce