“And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat,
so that the boat was already filling.
But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion.”
(Mark 4:37–38, ESV)
We had arrived safely at our Boondockers Welcome location in Hailey, ID after a short but enjoyable trip from Idaho Falls. The temperature was in the lower 80’s, a gentle wind, and a few clouds in the sky greeted us, along with our host when we pulled into the designated area for RV’s to park.
Katie’s sister timed her arrival perfectly for our afternoon coffee-break tradition, as we had just finished setting up for our several-days stay. After visiting for what seemed like only a few minutes, she left to get her daughter and the two of them returned to have dinner with us.
While eating dinner, the weather went from sunny, partly cloudy skies, to an overcast condition that indicated some type of storm was headed in our direction. Just as we finished dinner, the wind picked up, and within minutes it went from a gentle breeze to 20-30 mph winds! The speed that it hit indicated a strong storm was indeed headed our direction!
Katie’s sister and niece quickly made a hasty retreat to their home as we packed up camp chairs, quickly collected our cell-signal boosting antenna that had blown down, and “battened down the hatches” as the wind speeds continued to climb. Our flurry of activity included putting nylon line around the slide-out awnings to keep them from destroying themselves. We had made these specifically for this purpose last year after our experience in Rawlins, WY, where we had experienced 50-60 mph winds.
It seemed like only minutes and the sustained wind speed was pushing 30-40 mph, yet the windstorm continued to intensify. Within the hour the winds were up to 40-50 mph. At one point, our anemometer recorded winds of 57 mph! Katie’s sister texted to let us know branches and, in some cases, trees were down in Hailey. As the wind howled around us with dust and small pebbles blowing around, we were extremely thankful we had parked in a wide-open area with no trees around us!
We also both had a sense of peace. “This too shall pass” was the feeling. Perhaps it is because we know Who is ultimately in control. For the same reason, Jesus was able to fall asleep in the stern of the boat during a violent windstorm, we too could have the same feeling of peace. We know that He is there and has not abandoned us.
Just like on the Sea of Galilee, windstorms calm down as quickly as they spring up. Sure enough, within about two hours, the winds were calm, and it was time to take the dog out for his evening walk. From the beautiful blue sky and gentle breeze the next morning (image above) one would never have known how fierce the weather had been the night before.
This week’s Blessings, Prayer Requests, and Schedule are here.
