Don’t let the hail catch crying

Even though I was dead tired from fishing all day yesterday, I had a tough time sleeping last night. Actually I have a tough time sleeping every night and even the slightest sound can awaken me, but last night I was especially tired from being in the hot sun, the wind, and the waves for some twelve hours as we ran to the Bahamas, fished, and came back in the same day only to have to clean the boat, wash the rods and reels, and clean the meager quantity of fish that we caught when we finally got back home. It was a long grueling day. Ughhh

When I finally succeeded into drifting off to sleep last night, my wife awoke me. She was as sound asleep as a dead man. She had her hand on my shoulder and was uncontrollably twitching like she had some severe nerve disorder or something. I angrily slung her hand off me and had to shake her and push on her for five minutes to get her to roll over and stop twitching and get her away from me. Finally she rolled away and returned to her coma.

I muttered a few choice words and after about another hour I finally drifted off again, only this time I was awakened by my own snoring. The snort that awoke me sounded like someone who laughs too loud and then loudly snorts for air through their nose. Arghhh! This time “I” was the one to roll over and after another hour or so I finally dozed back off into a deep sleep again.

I was peacefully dreaming when all of a sudden I dreamed that it started hailing like crazy. I was standing out in the open and began running for cover as fast as I could run. Large goose egg size hail stones were landing all around me including bouncing off my head and my back. I ran up under the tin roof of a car shed and it continued hailing for quite some time and the hail was deafening as it hammered on the tin roof. Hail was landing everywhere and the yard was full of it and it piled up about a foot deep for as far as I could see.

Lumps were forming on my head and I was rubbing my aching head in an effort to soothe the pain. Somehow I knew that the significance of my dream was that all of those hail stones were ideas that God had been trying to give me for some time, but I had not been listening to Him. God had finally begun to get frustrated with me as He waited for me to open my eyes and ears to His many suggestions. Suddenly a wry grin appeared on His face and then a much wider smile. Now He started bouncing all of the ideas off my hard head in the form of hail. He was belly laughing as I ran for cover. Now I could see all of the thousands and thousands of unused ideas just laying around on the grass everywhere. I woke up in a “cold” sweat.

Hmmm. So much for trying to catch up on a little sleep.

I don’t need Daniel or Joseph to interpret my restless dream for me. I have been struggling with coming up with a creative way to organize my book. I think I have probably spent more time worrying about it and whining about being frustrated about it than in actually thinking, praying, or working my way through it.

I have preached from this very platform about this subject on numerous occasions, but apparently do not heed my own advice. When we have a problem, even a serious problem, we should know that the solution lies in work and not worry. I can worry about it until Al Gore regains his sanity or the cows come in, but that will not solve my problem. Even worse is wasting time whining about it. Assuredly no one wants to listen, and it does no good except perhaps generate a little sympathy in my mind for “poor little old me”.

Ladies and gentlemen I need to “work” my way out of my dilemma. God gave us two eyes, two ears, and one little mouth, (albeit some are bigger than others – No smart aleck letters please). We should look and listen four times as much as we talk and God gave us a large brain that should be used to think. God can supply ideas for eternity and a day, but if we are too busy whining and worrying and feeling sorry for ourselves, we will never hear a single one.

There is an excellent solution for every problem this old world can throw our way, including all of yours and mine. We just need to look deeper, pray more often, listen, and work harder to find it sometimes.

Don’t ever doubt the Lord or think that possibly He has forgotten about you. Look, listen, learn, pray, and have faith that He will have mercy on you and of course work hard. And whatever you do, “Don’t let the hail catch you whining!” (Nice title for a song, eh?)

Psalm 100:5
For the Lord is good;
His mercy is everlasting,
And His truth endures to all
generations.