Riding It Out

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=168 BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF" background="002a11c3.png"> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Home Page"><U>HOME</U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id4.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Book Page"><U>BOOKS   </U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id6.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Articles"><U>ARTICLES</U></A></div> <bR> <div>  <A HREF="id7.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Tapes"><U>TAPES</U></A>   </div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id8.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Spiritual Warfare/Occult "><U>SPIRITUAL WARFARE, OCCULT   </U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id77.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Sexual Abuse Issues"><U>SEXUAL ABUSE ISSUES</U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id11.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Exposing the Darkness Seminar"><U>***EXPOSING THE DARKNESS SEMINAR***</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="mailto:greid@elp.rr.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:greid@elp.rr.com"><U> <img src="HTMLobj-863/aniGif.gif" border="0" align="bottom" width="67" height="50">  </U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="37dbce40.jpg" border=0 width="700" height="484" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Riding It Out</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>  In 1972, Los Angeles was hit by a 6.9 quake, and we lived 7 miles from the center of it.</B></div> <div> <B>  </B></div> <div> <B>   I woke up at 6:59 A.M., and I knew something was about to happen. I could just sense it. I took a few deep breaths, and suddenly my room was being rearranged like so many raisins in a box of raisin bran being shaken up. So I screamed. Wouldn't you? "JESUS HELLLLP MEEEE!", I yelled at the top of my voice. After about a minute of violent shaking, everything was calm. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     I got out of bed and ran to make sure everyone was safe. My brother was O.K., my dad was O.K., and my mom, well, she was calmly standing in front of the bathroom mirror, brushing her hair. "Mom, you allright?", I gasped. "I'm fine, honey", she replied with complete composure. What a sight - the brave teen boy, young warrior of God, shaking and scared - and his middle age, frail mom, calm as she could be.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     That's mom's way. Her life had always been filled with hardship and heartache. Left by her parents to the care of her aunt, she knew early on the hurt of rejection. Her life has never been easy. But even through all the crises of life to come, the death of her first husband, the loss of our house through a fire and a hundred other tragedies, she remained dignified, poised, and calm. I've learned a lot from her. I have always seen the worst in things, thought the most negative things and feared things that probably would never happen. One day I was trying to reach my parents by phone after leaving them in Las Vegas and had given them enough time to drive the seven hour trip home. After 8 hours, I panicked, calling every 5 minutes from my hotel room, seeing vivid scenes of an accident along the road, wondering if I should call the Highway Patrol. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     At 8 hours 10 minutes, I reached them. "Oh honey, you didn't have to worry", Mom said reassuringly. "Your father and I just stopped to eat." I felt dumb having worried for nothing. But that was MY way. Mom's final words of wisdom have stuck with me over the years: "When you hear hoofbeats, don't think it's a zebra. It's probably just a horse."</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     Fear is funny. (No one's laughing.) I understand about 90% of everything we fear never happens. Yet we insist on assuming and expecting the worst. Some things are inevitable. The death rate is still one per person. But so much of life is so good, so beautiful, that it seems obscene to waste so much crippled by fear.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     When Mom was in the Army, they were sailing the Pacific when they were faced with being in the center of a great typhoon. Those in command knew their odds of survival were nearly zero as great rolling waves threatened to drown them all. So they set out cyanide capsules for those who wanted it to end quickly, and they battened down the hatches and waited for the end to come. Miraculously, none of them took the cyanide. Instead, they got out a deck of cards and played poker for hours. They couldn't do anything about the storm, but they weren't ready to end their lives JUST IN CASE they might survive. And they did survive, all grateful not to have killed themselves.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     That storms will come in our lives is a fact. I've always wanted to meet the man that told me Jesus would make my life easy and full of blessings - and strangle him. It's a HARD path. Some people think being a Christian is for weenies. It's always people who never tried it. One kid at school carrying a Bible was assaulted by a big bully who yelled, "You Bible-carrying Christians are such WIMPS!"  "Oh yeah?", the kid replied, "If I'm such a wimp, YOU carry this Bible for a day!" End of discussion.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     We can panic when the storms come. The disciples did when the storm threatened to kill them in the boat. Jesus was asleep while all this was going on. Can you imagine that? "Don't you care that we're going to die?", they accused Jesus. "You of little faith!", Jesus said, and stopped the storm. Jesus obviously knew something they didn't. I think it's that the storm isn't the issue or the boat but who's in it. When Jesus is in your boat, you'll be OK.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     I've learned over the years not to panic so much, not to assume the worst. It's come because God has proven His faithfulness to me over and over again. I've survived things I thought would kill me. I never thought I'd come this far intact. But Jesus has been in my boat all along, and if He hasn't stopped the storm, He always pulled me out of the waters.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     There's great wisdom during crises and storms in the old saying, "Change what you can, surrender what you can't." In a lot of my storms, I've done just that. When I did my part, I could expect God to do his. And then I'd do something fun, like go to a movie, or have an all night card game with the kids, or just paint. I learned that from my mom.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     If you can't stop the storm, just batten down the hatches, ride it out and play cards. Sounds like great advice to me.</B></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id168.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Obedience"><U><B>CHAPTER SIXTEEN - OBEDIENCE</B></U></A></div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>