See you on the other side.

The following is a chapter from a manuscript that a friend and mentor of mine from Oklahoma has been working on. His name is Dee Kelley and he is now a pastor out in San Diego. He has named his work, The Mansion of Prayer. In the manuscript he has a number of chapters each devoted to a different room in a house, and each room represents different images of prayer. It's actually quite good.. I ran across chapter 19 today, and I thought I would share it with you...

Chapter 19
"The Storm Room"
Going to the Other Side

Today is May 3rd. On this date, several years ago, Oklahoma City experienced one of the worst tornadoes on record. There were several funnel clouds, but the most devastating was an F5 tornado with winds that exceeded two hundred miles an hour. The twister came from the Southwest and cut a swath of devastation along the south side of the city that was a half a mile wide. Entire neighborhoods were destroyed and businesses were wiped out. The many tornado drills and the tornado awareness perpetuated by the media probably helped to minimize the loss of life. Grade schools teach the children where to go in case of a storm and most city residents know the safest place in their home to go if a tornado is heading in their direction. Very few Oklahoma homes have basements, so an interior room with no windows or a bathtub with a mattress on top is a good place to wait out the storm.

In the months and years that have followed the storm, sales of storm shelters have risen dramatically. They come in all shapes and sizes. Some are installed underneath a garage floor. A trap door allows the residents into the shelter. Once in, there is room to sit, shelves to store emergency food and water, and batteries or generators to provide light and power for communication devices.

...One of the most popular shelters, particularly for new construction, is called a safe room. The room is typically the size of a large walk-in closet. It sits in the interior of the house and is built with reinforced concrete. It can be finished out in any way the homeowner desires. If there is severe weather, the residents go to the safe room and wait out the storm. I have discovered that I need a storm room in my house of prayer.

The storms of my life come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Some come with horrendous winds and seem to blow me backwards. Some are accompanied by lightening and thunder. If the noise doesn't frighten me, the lightening can knock me off my feet. Some storms seem to come out of nowhere. The bright sunshine is suddenly overtaken by a dark cloud that kicks up the wind and sends showers all over my well-constructed plans. Other storms start brewing while I am asleep. I go to bed, thinking everything is fine and I am awakened to a traumatic event or gut wrenching news that makes sleep seem trivial.

In some storm-filled moments prayer feels like a luxury for which I have no time. In other storms, prayer seems more like a panic where I cry for help, but don't have time to wait for an answer. Sometimes prayer feels like a self-pity party where I whine to God about the injustice of life, or offer sanctimonious statements that attempt to spiritualize (and mask) real feelings of pain, or anger, or resentment.

In Luke 8:22 Jesus said to his disciples that they were going to go to the other side of the lake. they got into the boat and set sail. A storm came up. The disciples were frightened. Apparently there were not convinced of Jesus' words that they were going to go to the other side. Jesus, on the other hand, was asleep, in His own inward storm shelter. he was undaunted and undistracted by the storm. The disciples were unfamiliar with this kind of peace in the midst of life-threatening circumstances. They cry for help. Jesus awakens and calms the storm.

Jesus always hears the cries for help, and prayer is often nothing less than that. however, Jesus' response to his disciples indicated that prayer can be much more than a cry for escape from life's circumstances. Jesus asked the disciples, "Where is your faith?" Jesus had said they were going to the other side. Faith that God would get them through the storm to the other side is different than a prayer to end the storm.

Prayer can transport us to a safe room, a place of refuge, a storm shelter. The storm may be raging all around, but in the prayer room we gain confidence that God is going to get us where He wants us to be. It is a place of security, not freedom from pain. It is a place of certainty in the midst of questionable or confusing circumstances. It is a place of assurance in spite of the inability to see the other side. The storm room is not a place to live, but rather a place to which one retreats. The storm may last for a while, but there are lessons that can only be learned by sailing through the storm. Unlike a concrete reinforced storm room, our spiritual one is mobile. We step back into the winds, having partnered with God in creating an inward space that is tethered to Him. We're going to get to the other side.