My family sometimes has a sick sense of humor and it often comes out at weird times. This instance took place Wednesday night at Villiage Inn where we ate supper. There were only three of us. The other two were participating in school activities, so it became a rare moment when we parents could spend time with the youngest.
Eventually, after ordering and some light chit chat, the conversation turned to school. I asked Stephen how school was and Mike asked him more specific questions about his classes. Apparently in science that day, the class had talked about weather. In this discussion, the teacher talked about Hurricane Andrew, the third most powerful storm to hit the United States. Stephen, who is really interested in the weather, was full of little tidbits of information, including that some animals from a zoo had died.
“Do you know how the ostrich died?” Mike asked, with that gleam in his eye that meant some type of fabrication was coming.
“How?” Stephen asked, between bites.
“He buried his head in the sand with his butt in the air and the wind sandpapered the feathers right off his butt.”
I snorted. Stephen resumed inhaling his dinner. Apparently, Stephen didn’t get it so Mike asked him how high the winds were.
“About 175 miles per hour,” Stephen said.
“So, if you were an ostrich with your head buried in the sand and your butt in the air, and the wind at 175 mph ... he’d get sandpapered so bad he’d bleed to death.”
Stephen raised his eyebrow and subtly answered, “Or, he could have died because the wind blew him over and snapped his neck.”
All three of us laughed at that. Mike and Stephen exchanged high fives.
See? We have strange senses of humor, but out of that came a thought. If we’re too busy hiding our heads in the sand from fear when a storm is approaching, we will not survive. The storms of life can be just as brutal as Hurricane Andrew and we need some good solid ground on which to stand so that we won’t cave in to the pressure.
Do you remember the parable Jesus told about the wise man who built his house upon the rock? The rains came down and the floods came up, like the Sunday school song says, and the house on the rock stood firm. What happened to the house built on the sand? It went splat! Jesus is likened to that rock and I know that during times in my life when I’ve been afraid, Christ was always there to help me face that fear rather than bury my head in the sand like an ostrich. Jesus will help you face your fears today. Just let him.
