I write this on Friday morning seated in our sunroom as a thunderstorm is rolling through. Our sunroom faces into our backyard, and there, stands a large wooden swing set that I built. Our grandchildren love to play on that swing set. As I look outside at those swings, that just yesterday held the joyful bodies of my grandchildren, they are now empty, hanging in a torrential downpour, in the midst of a storm.

Before beginning to write this, I read my newsfeed this morning. In it were the names and faces of the children and the teachers who lost their lives in the horrific tragedy in Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. As I looked at their faces and prayed for their families, their parents and their grandparents, my eyes continued to be drawn to those swings outside hanging there in the storm. I thought about similar swings that most likely reside in Uvalde. Swings that now hang in the midst of a different kind of storm, so I prayed!

God’s Word tell us that in this life, storms will come; and these storms may bring great devastation, but there is a way to come through these storms and continue to stand. I pray you’ll engage in this message titled “Standing in Life’s Storms” as we look to Jesus to be with us in our storms.

Pastor Joe Still