My Word

THE BARN:

A REFUGE FROM THE STORM

If you haven’t read the first “barn story, please read that first. All of these stories about the buildings on the Gibby farm are true and each one teaches a “life's lesson.”

Thunderstorms coming upon the farm were often severe and unexpected. The Hiawassee river formed the western border of the farm and just beyond the river stood the Qualla Ridge.

Beyond the crest of the ridge there was no other view of the horizon to the west, from which most of our stormy weather came. Often when working in the field we would be caught by surprise and would be unable to get to a shelter before getting wet. This is exactly what happened one day as we were out there about one thousand feet from the barn, the barn being the closest building.

The five people in the group represented a broad span of years and life experiences. My sixty year-old dad being the oldest, a farmer and sawmill businessman. Then there was dad's brother, Uncle Troy, age fifty, who along with three other brothers went off to war and the “killing fields” of Europe in WWI; “the war to end all wars.” Well, so much for that idea! Their earlier years were so very much different from dad's. Dad was spared from the war so he could care for his aging parents and a house full of sisters. Third, was an employee of dad's, whose name I do not recall. Wayne who was five years my senior and getting restless on the farm and would soon be off to the Army to discover the world and find himself. I was the younger of the group and didn't know that I needed to be looking for myself. Wayne and I were experienced in little, except farm work, but we were expert at plowing, planting cultivating, and harvesting. We worked in all kinds of weather and so had the others but on this day a raging storm sweeping across Qualla Ridge would send us  running for shelter.

Younger legs always get you there quicker. Wayne and I, like a deer escaping a predator found refuge first. Then came the hired hand with dad and Uncle Troy winded and gasping for breath. We all stood in the large doorway looking out at the driving rain, the dangerous lightening bolts and the darkening sky as the thunder orchestrated nature's rage. We were glad for the refuge and retreated further into the barn and found a place to recline on the hay for warmth because our clothes were wet.

There is a “life's lesson” to learn here. This life is full of storms and they aren't all in the form of weather. If you aren't in one now, one is in your future. Job, that famous Bible character who knew suffering was familiar with this truth, “Man, that is born of woman, is of few days and full of trouble.”

When that storm comes do you have a refuge? The songwriter knew when he wrote: Rock of Ages, Cleft for me, let me hide myself in Thee.” My family and I are in one of those storms and we are running to the Rock. The Rock Jesus.  If you have no refuge from the storm, meet us there.