We live in Central Florida. We’re still cleaning up and putting our lives back in order following the visit this past week of Hurricane Irma. You wouldn’t believe the things Irma damaged and destroyed.

A hurricane has a way of reinforcing life’s important lessons, and believe me, she (in this case) can be a very intense teacher: she doesn’t take “no” for an answer; she is relentless; she drives her point home over and over again. When she speaks, people listen.

Hurricane Irma proved to be a very forceful teacher, reminding us once again of certain principles that, like gravity, define life: ignore them and you will feel the effects.

What life lessons did we relearn from Professor Irma?

1. Live prepared: prepared to stay; prepared to go.

When a hurricane hits, many people are forced into impulsive decisions they would not normally make, decisions they would not have made if they had been prepared.

Some stay and ride out the hurricane while others evacuate, but each choice requires preparation.

Live prepared to stay through the hurricane: supplies, secure the house and household,

Live prepared to evacuate: supplies, secure the house and household.

The time to prepare for a storm is not when it is on the way, but long before when there are no signs that one will come, leaving only the assembly of the parts to do as the storm approaches.

Storms are guaranteed in life: family, financial, health, etc.

And the Bible ‘forecasts’ – promises, really – that a storm to end all storms is coming: the coming meltdown of social order around the world in what it calls, “the end of the age.” This means that Jesus, the Son of Man can return anytime. Those who are prepared for His coming will rise above the storm while those who are not prepared for His coming will go under.

Therefore, live as if you have only this day in living and loving: living out your creation and call; loving God and others. Live as if you have eternity, because you do. It has already begun.

2. Gain wisdom at all costs.

With the storm on the horizon and coming, one person secures his house, another doesn’t: each is wiling to live with the trade-off between leisure and preparedness. One plays today, gambling the storm won’t do any damage tomorrow. Another person gives up his free time today and invests it in securing his household. One person chooses to prepare and one chooses not to.

Life is about making wise tradeoffs:  when I choose to do A with my time or money, I am also choosing to not do B. Choosing to do B means that I am also choosing not to do A. Each choice has its own outcome.

For example, guitarist that I am, I can choose to not pay my mortgage for three months in order to buy the guitar of my dreams: I will have the joy of playing my guitar, but not in the house I used to call mine. Or I can choose to not buy the guitar, but instead pay the mortgage, and so, have a place to live, even if I don’t have the joy of playing that guitar.

Note from my pastoral diary of 37 years: Not making wise trade-offs is the reason for more problems and pain in people’s lives than possibly any other principle in life.

One person prepares to meet God, another yawns. One submits to what God says about eternal life and how to receive it – he gives up his sin and pride to God to secure his soul for eternity. Another person does not accept what God says about preparing to meet Him. In choosing his own ideas of eternal life, this person chooses only as much eternal life as he can give himself.

The book of Proverbs speaks of this in terms of the “wise man” and the “foolish man.” Each one looks at the sun or storm on the horizon and makes his choice, but each one at a price.

One person chooses to prepare; one chooses to not prepare. Each one weighs the trade-offs between this life and the life to come and each arrives at his decision: one secures the house of his life today, another gambles that he need not worry about meeting God.

Life is about making wise tradeoffs, knowing when to hold ’em and when to fold ’em:

3. Know your neighbors

When the storm is approaching, neighbors share invaluable information and help in preparing. After it passes, neighbors check on each other and lend a helping hand.

As Hurricane Irma approached Florida, friends across America and even overseas sent worried note asking when we would evacuate: “The national media keeps saying that this is the ‘storm of the century,’ one that will leave historic death and destruction in its wake. PLEASE leave now!”

As I read notes like those, neighbors jogged by, getting in one more run before the storm. One neighbor waved from her chair in the driveway. The neighbor next door was wrapping up  a project.  No, they were not “blowing off” the storm: these are “old Floridians,” people who’ve seen these storms again and again. They were prepared. And even more, while the media 1100 miles away in New York were busy doing their usual “The Sky is Falling” routine, the locals were dealing in facts.

In other areas of Florida, “old Floridians” talked and agreed it was best they evacuate.

The wisdom of locals – neighbors – was borne out in how we all handled the storm.

It’s a good thing we know our neighbors or we would have let talking heads in a TV studio 1100 mile away dictate how we live our life.

We know our neighbors. Before the storm – and every day – we talk, we help each other, we share information, we take care of each other. In the company of counselors there is wisdom.

We know our neighbors. After the storm – and every day – we talk, we help each other, we share information, we take care of each other. In the company of friends, there is a always a helping hand.

The Bible talks about such a community of neighbors: it’s called the church. Studies continue to find that, in spite of clear biblical commands, millions of “followers of Jesus Christ” in America are not a part of a local body of believers.

Is it any wonder that the storms of life so rock us? Is it any wonder  that the winds and waves of political correctness define our lives more than does the Bible? Is it any wonder that the storms daily brewed by media so fill our lives with fear, anger and hate?

Know your neighbors. Get back in church. Be a part of the body, the community of the redeemed – those who share facts and wisdom before storms; help and healing after storms; love, truth, and wisdom whether there’s a storm or sunny skies.

4. Take responsibility for your own life.  

All of it. The good and the bad.  What is your fault and what isn’t.

When the storm hits, it’s just you and the storm. After it passes, it’s just you and your attitude.

America in 2017 is marked by a spirit of entitlement: “I want; I deserve.” It is brazen in its demands.  It looks you in the eye and says you owe it what it wants: “I am entitled and I don’t have to earn it.”

Sadly this attitude is even in the church. Have you seen the new PEV Bible (Personal Entitlement Version)?  Evidently, it has excised personal responsibility from its pages.  It’s admonitions that, “Each one must examine his own work, . . . For each one will bear his own load” (Galatians 6.4-5); and, “If someone will not work, he should not be fed by others” (II Thessalonians 3.10) are not to be found in this version of the Bible, or at least in the version of the Bible many in the church live today.

Hurricanes have a great way of blowing away all sense of entitlement: it’s impossible to stand in the face of a hurricane and say, “I deserve” or “You owe me.” You hope, but you know you don’t deserve.

When a hurricane hits, it’s just you and your own actions: you have to do what YOU have to do – whether anyone does what you want them to do to help or not.

And after the storm, it’s just you and your own attitude. After the storm, whatever others do or don’t do to reach out to you, it’s you and the recovery: the external or physical recovery from storm damage, and the internal or emotional recovery from what others do or don’t do to reach out to you.

Just days before Irma hit our state of Florida, the people of Texas were hit by hurricane Harvey. What we in Florida experienced pales before the hit that the people of south Texas experienced.

Did you notice the response of Texans to the hit and aftermath of Harvey? There were no belligerent demands of entitlement. The attitude was: “This wasn’t our fault, but neither is it someone else’s responsibility – we’ve got this thing and we will build again and we will build better than before.”

They didn’t do the destruction: they were victims of it. But when it happened, they were the ones who took responsibility for themselves AND, in their own need, they reached out to help their neighbor as well. Apparently, Texans aren’t victims of anything or anyone. They are overcomer.  As the Bible commands, they take responsibility for their own lives and attitudes, whoever or whatever is to blame.

God bless the people of Texas.

5. Give yourself to prayer.

While Irma roared through, I don’t think I stopped praying from 1:00 until 5:00. I don’t mean the occasional prayer, I mean a constant, in the trenches, sending up an SOS for four solid hours. And that’s not to say that I didn’t pray before or after: those hours were also saturated with thanksgivings, prayers, supplications, and intercessions.

The storm put me in a position of prayer. The storm put me not just in an “attitude of prayer” but in a continual action of prayer: I prayed without ceasing.

I prayed. During the storm.

But Paul tells us to pray without ceasing at all times. He tells us to rejoice, to give thanks, and to pray always, in all circumstances, and without ceasing.

“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” I Thessalonians 5.16-18

Why does it take a storm to make me focus my faith on God? Why does it take a storm to lift my eyes and heart to the God of Heaven? Is it really true that the storm is larger on my radar than God, His love, His goodness, His faithfulness?

Professor Irma didn’t do much good for us in Florida, but she did remind this student of one very important lesson, that of praying without ceasing. Not just during the storm, but at all times.

6. Focus on what’s important in life, let the rest go.

Hurricanes help you focus on what’s important: God, family, friends, real needs, long term well-being.

Hurricanes help you let go of what’s not that important. We can each fill in the blank on this one.

When the storm hit last Sunday night, I wasn’t concerned about the latest Hollywood gossip, the NFL, what was trending on social media, fantasy football leagues, the latest video game, what Mr. A or Ms. B was saying about X, Y, or Z.

All of these things faded in the face of the coming storm and whether those things that are really important were secure, whether they knew that I loved them and was there for them, whether or not all of us would be well when the storm had passed, whether I was placing my trust in God.

Focus on what’s important in life and let the rest go.

How We Weather the Storm is How We Weather the Calm             

At one church I pastored, an elder and I disagreed about church ministry. We didn’t agree on the “how” or the “why” of it: where I am committed to a “make disciples” approach, my friend was committed to a “Mega-events” approach, saying that as we put people in the pews, the church would grow.

This elder was well-versed in biblical prophecy. It was his passionate pursuit and he knew his Bible well. He was, and still is, convinced that we will see the coming of Jesus in our lifetime, and I completely agree: The Bible teaches us that Jesus could return at any moment. My friend. the elder, also believes that a time of great persecution for the church, if you will, a “storm,” will come at any time.

Picking up on this, I asked my friend if he thought the government would seize our building during that time of persecution. “Absolutely,” he said, “No doubt about it.”

I asked him what our strategy should be at that time to effectively lead our people. He told me we would need to go to a discipleship approach; we would need to do all we could to strengthen people in their faith, to disciple them in the Word so as to build their faith and build body strength.

I asked him if this was biblical, to which he replied in the affirmative: “Of course, Jesus said that we are to go into all the world making disciples: this was the what, why and how of our church and its mission.”

I pointed out to my friend, “If this is what Jesus taught and it is true in times of storm, is it not then what Jesus taught and is true in time of calm: should not the principle of discipleship guide our church and its ministries whatever the time – storm or calm?   Should not discipleship rather than events be our focus?” He nodded his head in agreement, asking if we couldn’t still use our building to reach out to people? Foundational pillar-principles firmly established, I completely agreed with my friend, the elder.

If only we were as focused on scriptural principals in times of calm as we are in time of storm . Every day. In all things. In all situations. If only we could lean in and bear down on giving ourselves to these things with the same intensity after the storm as we do during the storm.

What is true in storms is true in times of calm. What a shame that it takes a storm to remind us how God intends for us to live every day.

No thank you, Professor Irma, for all of the rest, but thank you for what you left behind in life lessons.

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“Of all vocations, surely the gospel ministry is the one whose paradigm is most radically formed by the dynamics of godly mentorship.” 

Stephen Baldwin