| Sleeping Through
The Storm Years
ago a farmer owned land along the Atlantic seacoast. He constantly advertised for hired
hands. Most people were reluctant to work on farms along the Atlantic. They dreaded the
awful storms that raged across the Atlantic, wreaking havoc on the buildings and crops.
As the farmer interviewed
applicants for the job, he received a steady stream of refusals. Finally, a short, thin
man, well past middle age, approached the farmer. "Are you a good farmhand?" the
farmer asked him. "Well, I can sleep when the wind blows," answered the little
man. Although puzzled by this answer, the farmer, desperate for help, hired him. The
little man worked well around the farm, busy from dawn to dusk, and the farmer felt
satisfied with the man's work.
Then one night the wind howled
loudly in from offshore. Jumping out of bed, the farmer grabbed a lantern and rushed next
door to the hired hand's sleeping quarters. He shook the little man and yelled, "Get
up! A storm is coming! Tie things down before they blow away!" The little man rolled
over in bed and said firmly, "No sir. I told you, I can sleep when the wind
blows."
Enraged by the old man's response,
the farmer was tempted to fire him on the spot. Instead, he hurried outside to prepare for
the storm. To his amazement, he discovered that all of the haystacks had been covered with
tarpaulins. The cows were in the barn, the chickens were in the coops, and the doors were
barred. The shutters were tightly secured. Everything was tied down. Nothing could blow
away. The farmer then understood what his hired hand meant, and he returned to bed to also
sleep while the wind blew.
Where to take it from here......
When you're prepared, you have
nothing to fear. Can you sleep when the wind blows through your life? The hired hand in
the story was able to sleep because he had secured the farm against the storm. We secure
ourselves against the storms of life by grounding ourselves firmly in the Word of God.
~Author Unknown~ |