After the Storm

Lightning streaks across the sky as I depart for the nearest WiFi hotspot, thoughts whirling in my head like the winds that rushed over the local high school a mere hour before. Emotions have whirled during the last few hours, causing me to reminisce of the sudden storm that blew in almost from nowhere.

The day has been full of adventure, fear, joy, sadness, and other emotions, all coming full circle and breaking through like the rain through the clouds. And yet, after it has all gathered, after the storm, there is a silence and a moment of peace. There are still signs of what has happened, just like the ground retains some sense of what the storm unleashed. And yet, there is a spark of hope in that silence for what is here now. These same things were experienced by the rag-tag group of middle school students from North Canton, OH. Their journey has already been filled with storms, both physical and emotional, and yet it is met with a calm after the storm. A time for growth, for contemplation, and for learning.

The weariness of the day takes its toll, but at the end there is a moment of refreshing. I sit back and think of the students gathered in groups of their peers, reflecting on the challenges of the evening, reflecting on what they have already experienced during their time in West Virginia. Challenged by the toils of the storms they have battled through already, being recharged for the storms that are to come.

And yet, just as the storm tonight was resulted in a momentary calm, it is a beautiful thing to watch as the storms these students face result in a time of calming and refreshing. And I contemplate on the storms I and others face, and am encouraged and hopeful through the reactions of these students. The challenge given by peers to not use these times as put downs but to reflect and challenge each other for new growth. To watch as they begin to realize they have nothing to fear, that the storms they face in life, pressures from friends, from influences, can be overcome. They hold something different in their lives, something which gives them a drive to seek this calm. To them, they are clinging to they hope they have found in God. They are grasping the fact that the storms pass, and that the times in between give birth to new growth, a time to rebuild and transform. And it gives me hope, the same hope, evident in their lives, and hopefully evident in my own, that no matter the trial, no matter the struggle, God is bigger than any storm we face. Amidst the time sought to serve here in Wallace, West Virginia, they are experiencing personal growth and personal learning, receiving as much as they are giving.