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Article Archive |
2007
Storm Cellar
by Jim Morris
Coming to my uncle's ranch in Rhome, Texas, was supposed to be fun. My brother and I had been there a hundred times before and we couldn't find anything fun to do. The adults spent all of their time working, eating or talking. How boring!
Finally, we thought of camping out in the old storm cellar just outside the kitchen. The adults warned us many times not to go down in there because a rattlesnake had been found in it once before. They were just trying to scare us off. They didn't care that we were bored. If they really loved us then they would let us have some fun. They just didn't know how brave, smart and resourceful we were, though.
“How are we going to have a campfire down there?” I asked my brother in such a wise manner. “We don't have any firewood.”
“I can find something after breakfast,” he said. We both envisioned how much fun we were going to have. Inspired by the dream of having our own little club house away from the boring adults we sought out our materials for a fire. My brother came back with a roll of toilet paper and a box of kitchen matches while I figured out a way to enter the storm cellar from the back window because we were too small to open the big, steel cellar door.
Within minutes we were in! The boring adults were out! Now it was time for some fun!
Inside the storm cellar there were only two benches and a dangling light bulb—how boring. However, we placed our campfire materials (the roll of toilet paper) and lit it up. Oh, the fun of it all. Oh, the joy we shared. Oh, the SMOKE we breathed! The whole place became a cloud of dense unbreathable smoke. The more we tried to put out the fire the more smoke it made.
It didn't take long for us to realize the deadly mistake we had made. We couldn't see. We couldn't BREATH. We couldn't find a way out! Just about when we thought all was lost, the big steel door flew open. Hands grabbed us with an iron grip. We literally flew out of the storm cellar into the clean, fresh air outside with smoke billowing behind us. We were saved as we both looked into the face of our father.
How often have we fallen into the trap that we are smarter than our Heavenly Father? How often have we dreamed of improving on His boring ways to make room for some fun for ourselves? How often have we preened with pride on how brave, smart and resourceful we are.
May we learn to be satisfied with Jesus, His loving word and His holy ways. “Be merciful to those who doubt; snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh” (Jude 1:23).
Let us thank our Father for snatching us out of the eternal fire. “To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy—to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen” (1:24-25).
08-15-07
# 33
