Sunday, April 26, 2009

Weathering the storms

6Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life:
no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
John 14:6 (KJV)

5I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me,
and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit:
for without me ye can do nothing.

6If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch,
and is withered; and men gather them, and
cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
John 15:5-6 (KJV)

Jesus is the vine in which we all abide. There is no other way to life, no other way to live. Unless we are attached to the vine, to the roots, we have no hope of survival.

We often expect that once a person makes the decision to follow Christ, then their life should flow smoothly and they should be protected from all the evils and ills that befall the rest of mankind. The truth is, that as long as we live on this earth, we cannot and will not be exempt from anything everyone else has to go through. If being a Christian meant we would never have to suffer again, then everyone would be a Christian because of the benefits.

A plant is not exempt from the weather that surrounds us. Here in Calgary, it is spring, yet we have already faced one blizzard this week and are looking at another coming in sometime today. We have trees beginning to bud and plants beginning to grow and bloom and they are facing the severe winds, blowing and drifting snow, freezing rain, yo-yo temperatures and all the other things that come with our volatile and unpredictable springs. The branches on those trees cannot escape the weather, rather, because they are securely attached to a deeply rooted, healthy tree they can withstand the storms that beset during its dormant times, its blooming times, and any other time. It doesn't change the storm, the trials or the troubles, it just has the strength to endure.

If I align myself with God and am grafted onto His strong trunk, then I can and will survive any storm. He will sustain me, feed me and hold on to me so I have nothing to fear as long as I stay attached to Him. The minute I chose to let go, then I face the destruction that storms can cause, breaking me from the tree and tossing me about until I am just firewood.

Will you cling to Him? Will you allow yourself to be grafted to His vine so that you can share in His strength? I pray that you do.

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