The Creator of us all has a plan

Jim Honeycutt

Chaplain-Baptist Minister

Blessings my friend, I pray all is well with you. I particularly hope that the tie that binds you in peace is being actively pursued. Your tie, being Jesus Christ our Redeemer. My Hope being Jesus Christ our Savior. Our peace, being Jesus Christ The Lord. 

I wish to share with you a simple reflection from my memories. It’s been an anchor for my soul when the challenging storms of life blow across my ship’s bow; when the phone rings at two in the morning bringing tragic news; when family members are torn between themselves; when the income isn’t enough to pay the bills; when an addiction of any type, takes a loved one away. And the list goes on and on.

So, if you have a moment, walk with me to a small Baptist encampment near Aquila, Texas named Latham Springs. It’s sometime around the summer of 1966 and my family has come with other church members to a weekend retreat. We have come to fellowship, worship and take time to rest. 

In a simple small wooden bungalow, after a full day of play, Bible stories and singing, my loving mother having put my sisters and me to bed. “A thunderstorm is coming,” my father said. “I see the flashes of lighting in the distance.”

No sooner had he said this, when a boom of thunder shook the structure causing us kids to flee our bunks. I can remember the fear I had in that little cracker box of a structure. All I wanted was my mother. For my mother was my shelter, steadfast and sure. So as daddy secured the flapping back screen door, my sisters and I huddled around our mom. With the storm raging, I squeezed as close as I could to her side. Softly, gently she stroked my head, all the while speaking reassuring comfort to my frail, fearful, childhood emotions: “You know your daddy is here with us. You know that Jesus is here with us. Be still, relax, it’s all going to be alright. I am here with you. The storm will soon pass.”

It’s quite ironic and makes me feel a little hypocritical to write about being still. For even though I desire it, understanding the reason for it, I have wrestled with it since I was a child. Even now my mind is a whirl with thoughts related to it. Not the physically immobile part, but the emotionally peace giving intention of my mother’s directive. As she spoke them to me, she was echoing the idea of God’s words in Psalm 46 verse 10: “Be still and know that I am God.”

For me it is the knowing, that secures my being still. Knowing that God not sparing His Son, sent Him to die upon the cross for my wrongs. Knowing that by His hand (Jesus), He leads His children through worldly calamity and strife. Knowing according to His word and by my personal experiences, He has brought those that call upon His name through countless trials. Knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus lives, that He loves, that He will never leave, instills within me a hope that passes my own understanding. 

I have faced and passed through numerous hardships in my lifetime, yet in every stormy gale His Love has held me secure. Still, I must actively press close to His side, for my shelter is found in the shadow of His wings. And like with mother when I was a child, I run to him at the sound of thunder. These days the thunder is growing louder. Across the world, storms rage, no longer a distant conflict in a distant land. The shores of our country are buffeted by the cold wind of unrest. People from every corner of the globe are feeling the heat of the dragon’s breath.

Billowing clouds of the downtrodden are filling the skies with their cries for justice. And while nature weeps, the anger of a world in turmoil unleashes it’s furry upon the vile and innocent alike. God is no longer mocked in secret, but like pearls cast among the swine, His precepts are fodder for the unenlightened.

I encourage you to take the time today to read Psalm 46. In this you will find that the God of the universe, the Creator of you and me, has a plan. Abiding close by Jesus side I find shelter, I find comfort, I find peace, I find the ability to be still knowing that Jehovah God has it all under control. The storm is raging but there is peace in being still and knowing God.

Are you weak? Are you weary? Come to the side of The Savior, there is rest, there stillness, there is knowing.