What a Refuge!

Have you ever had to flee?  The first time that I really moved away from home, I moved to New Orleans Seminary.  I had lived in a dorm in college but came home quite often.  My stay at New Orleans was the first real time that I had packed the Honda Civic and moved 600 miles from Momma.   It was a big deal.  I got there in late June or early July, when folks usually don't move in.  I wanted to get a head start. 

I was not there long when I saw someone that I vaguely knew.  David was a friend of a friend but he soon became a friend.  He had his own family and I was single, but he gave me a warm welcome at a lonely time in a strange place.  God planted him there, no doubt.  His sister-in-law had been a dear friend of mine in middle school.  She came to see them that summer.  It was a good reunion with an old friend.  That is until Hurricane Andrew hit in August.  New Orleans was to evacuate.  Where was I to go?  Limited resources and a long way from home.  The only folks I knew had to leave too.  The only ones they knew were in SC too.  Therefore we headed out.  Three cars in a pack headed north.  We stopped in Hattiesburg, MS hoping to share tight quarters for one night (six of us pile in and manage).  They were  all booked.  I remember riding in the heavy rain in heavy traffic wondering what I was to do.  When Hattiesburg was booked, we just decided to go back to SC.  We drove all night.  If I am not mistaken, I spent about 24 hours with Mom and Dad and then headed on back. I was no more than a refugee seeking refuge from a storm. 

Katrina would come later but Andrew was not a Katrina to New Orleans.  Other parts of Louisiana suffered greatly, however, and I made new seminary friends helping with the cleanup one Saturday.   I remember Hurricane Andrew for the long night's drive and the wonderful refuge of my old bed at Mom and Dad's.  I remember Hurricane Andrew for the friend, David Wike, that gave some order to my chaos, some company in my storm.  

Thank God that although we face storms of all kinds, we have a refuge in the midst of our storm. 
http://www.lifejournal.cc/bible/  Hebrews encouraged me this morning by reminding me of my refuge.
Hebrews 6:18-19 is talking about how God has made us an unchanging promise in Christ so that "we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.  We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain,".
No matter what may come we have a refuge in Christ who is an anchor in the storm and gets to the heart of the matter.  When the storms of the day hit us, let's pile up and convoy to Jesus and rest in the reassuring Anchor of our souls.