Shelter from the Storm

Last week and again tomorrow I will be teaching the students at The Vail Academy and the Charter Academy how to build snow shelters for winter survival. For most outdoor programs it is beneficial to have good weather, but for this I am actually hoping for a storm. Lots of heavy, wet snow. The kind that soaks your clothes but makes perfect snowballs - this also makes perfect shelter. In thinking about this and lessons from it, and by personal experience, I have seen that the very thing which the storm is driving at us could kill us, but it is that exact thing which can save us from it as well. The saying goes that when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. When the storm gives you snow, make shelter, if you are lonely - make a snowman or woman. If you are thirsty melt it and drink. What storm is life hammering at us today? Is there something to be snatched from the storm and used to make us stronger or potect us? Don't get beat down by it instead be delivered. Let the wind and snow give us a place to go to get away from wind and snow. Ecclesiastes 7:12Wisdom is a shelter as money is a shelter, but the advantage of knowledge is this: that wisdom preserves the life of its possessor. We will gain wisdom if we can weather the storm, it may not be the Ritz but the storm has given you what you need to make it through another night.