Another bitter cold night; 16 below, brrrr! Winter can be so harsh here. I find myself worrying about the children out early in the morning the catch the school bus. Often the school issues a delay just to allow the temps to come up a bit before the kids have to leave their homes. Our school district is about 27 square miles and it’s not unusual for children to spend an hour riding the bus to get to school. Being so spread out, there’s no such thing as a ‘bus stop’. Instead, a student has to wait by the roadside at the end of their driveway. If they aren’t there when the school bus comes by, the driver just moves on with his route. Obviously, these kids can’t stand outside freezing in a blizzard waiting for a bus!
Using that famous ‘Yankee Ingenuity’ parents have come up with a practical solution to shelter their children from the cold and blowing snow. Little shelters made from recycled materials wait like phone booths at the end of long drive ways.
Each has a window to watch for the bus. Some even have doors installed. There are plain ugly shelters and others are quite decorative. A few are cleverly repurposed as produce stands for the summer!
Emotionally we face many storms throughout our lives. Storms that turn our lives upside down! Storms of broken hearts that need much more than a flimsy little booth of protection. The loss of loved ones, financial disaster, broken homes, failing health, on and on goes the list. This life is not perfect nor is it safe. Where do we run for respite and shelter in times of such storms?
For in the day of trouble
he will keep me safe in his dwelling;
he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent
and set me high upon a rock. Psalm 27:5
God has provided a shelter for us, too. Not a little outhouse with borrowed windows, but an impregnable fortress against the storms of life.
Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust. Psalm 91:1-2
Love as always, Elaine
