| The Calm Before THE Storm Everything seemed perfect – good job, loving spouse, new home and perhaps best of all, expecting a new baby. How could life get any better? Sitting back, I looked at where I was in my life and felt that finally, for the first time in a long time, all of my affairs where in order. Have you ever felt that way? Have you ever felt that just about EVERYTHING in your life is going just the way it’s supposed to go? I hope you have. It’s often at those times in our lives that some of life’s greatest challenges come our way. I refer to this as “The Calm Before the Storm”. This is when we think WE have control over our destiny when in reality we control so very little. The Calm The day we left to go to the hospital for the long awaited arrival our new little one, I was in my comfort zone. Why shouldn’t I have been? After all, it had been a trouble-free pregnancy and we had attended all the new-parent classes in which we could enroll – once again “WE” had covered all our bases! As the day progressed, all of our family members and friends anxiously awaited the arrival of our son. Yes, a son. We wanted to find out what gender the child would be so that we could be prepared – the baby’s room needed painting and decorating. Knowing we were having a son helped us to pre-purchase necessary items for our little boy. WE had everything under control: planned and ready. The Storm The delivery was going well until late in the day when the so-called “normal” delivery fell apart. The baby’s heart stopped and he was not breathing. How could this be? Everything had gone as planned from the first time we found out we were having a baby! The next thing we knew, we were being rushed to an emergency operating room with nurses and doctors literally running through the halls to assist with an emergency C-section. Surely, everything would be “O.K.?” The baby had to be O.K. – we had done EVERYTHING we were supposed to do! With the new baby boy delivered there was still no heartbeat or breathing. Minutes seemed like hours when at last I heard “We have a heartbeat!” A few more minutes passed and I heard “He’s breathing slightly!” This is where God really made his presence felt. We had planned everything down to having the right view looking out the baby’s room while rocking him. All this was done before he was even born. Now, as soon-to-be parents, we of course prayed for God to bless us with the child He wanted us to have. I’m proud to say we never asked for the “perfect” child. In the back of our minds though, we did (as most parents do) look forward to a “normal” healthy baby. On that day, all of our planning went out the window and God’s plan took over. The Rainbow Thanks to God’s plan, we now have a wonderful, beautiful baby boy who we love so much and of whom we are so very proud! However, something I learned again through all this is that just when we think “WE” have everything under control, “The Storm” rolls in. This is not all bad though. “The Storms” that pass through our lives should make us stronger. As in my case above, this particular storm led me directly to God for his guidance. Without that storm, we may have gone home as a happy family thinking “See, everything went just as WE had planned it!” It’s not to say we shouldn’t plan for the future, but we should be sure God is a major part of that planning or “The Storms” will definitely be more devastating. By Steve Patterson, 11/17/2001 © Copyright 2001, by Steve B. Patterson |