Sleeping When The Winds Blows

Sleeping When the Wind Blows
David Langerfeld
May 22, 2008


Years ago a farmer owned land along the Atlantic seacoast. He constantly advertised for hired hands. Most people were reluctant to work on farms along the Atlantic. They dreaded the awful storms that raged across the Atlantic, wreaking havoc on the buildings and crops. As the farmer interviewed applicants for the job, he received a steady stream of refusals.

Finally, a short, thin man, well past middle age, approached the farmer. "Are you a good farmhand?" the farmer asked him.

"Well, I can sleep when the wind blows," answered the little man.

Although puzzled by this answer, the farmer, desperate for help, hired him. The little man worked well around the farm, busy from dawn to dusk, and the farmer felt satisfied with the man's work.

Then one night the wind howled loudly in from offshore. Jumping out of bed, the farmer grabbed a lantern and rushed next door to the hired hand's sleeping quarters. He shook the little man and yelled, "Get up! A storm is coming! Tie things down before they blow away!"

The little man rolled over in bed and said firmly, "No sir. I told you, I can sleep when the wind blows."

Enraged by the response, the farmer was tempted to fire him on the spot. Instead, he hurried outside to prepare for the storm. To his amazement, he discovered that all of the haystacks had been covered with tarpaulins. The cows were in the barn, the chickens were in the coops, and the doors were barred. The shutters were tightly secured. Everything was tied down. Nothing could blow away. The farmer then understood what his hired hand meant, so he returned to his bed to also sleep while the wind blew.


MORAL: When you're prepared - spiritually, mentally, and physically - you have nothing to fear. Can you sleep when the wind blows through your life? The hired hand in the story was able to sleep because he had secured the farm against the storm. We, as believers in Christ, secure ourselves against the storms of life by grounding ourselves in the Word of God. We don't need to understand, we just need to hold His hand to have peace in the midst of the storms.

One redeeming quality...

Last year we bought a dog. Yes, I gushed all the way through that post about how cute he was and how special he was. Now...the dog and I aren't the best of friends...heh

He chews everything. Digs up our yard. Gets too rough (in MY opinion) with the boys (although they love it).

But last Saturday he may have redeemed himself. Well, a little bit anyway.

The boys came running in the house from the backyard yelling "Freddy caught a rat!!" Thank the LORD Mike was home. We went out back and Freddy didn't have a rat in his mouth, but he was rooting in the grass trying to get SOMETHING.

Sure enough he pulls a MOLE OUT OF THE GROUND!! So, Mike then jumps into action and gets a shovel and tries to get the mole out of Freddy's mouth. He eventually drops it and Mike takes care of the problem.

After talking to our neighbor we find that he put mole away in his yard. Great. Well, at least we have our own Mole Catcher now. :)

Ramblings of my Overdriven Life...

Jackson is running a fever. Poor baby. He had his shots yesterday and was up ALL FREAKING NIGHT! I MAYBE got 2 hours TOPS...oh well...it's not like it's EVERY night. He's a VERY good sleeper usually.

I'm about to take boy #2 to preschool and then swing by boy #1's school to register boy #2 for Kindergarten. If I didn't have the baby I'd probably be balling my eyes out today. Where did all of the time GO!?!?!?!?!?!? I'm not going to be able to handle this if the school years continue to fly by so quickly. UGH!

Boy #1 has been doing a BIT better in school lately. He's still struggling with his behavior. I think a lot of the stress around here may be trickling down on to him and he doesn't know how else to handle it...sigh. He's doing GREAT academically and I'm considering having him tested for the gifted program. My only concern is that his teacher will nix it DUE to the fact he won't stay on task. I believe he's bored.

Boy #2 has been throwing temper tantrums lately. Who knew we'd bypass the toddler years with no problem only to have him pitch fits when he turned 5!?!?!? He's still way too cute though. He had to have shots yesterday too. He was such a big strong boy and would NOT let the nurse see him cry. LOL. After he was done (he went first before the baby)he went and sat in a chair in the corner and teared up a bit, but he was VERY brave.

Boy #3 is growing like a weed...well, a slow growing weed I guess. They told me yesterday he's not gaining weight fast enough. But all of my boys were that way. So I'm not really worried about it. Blake never outgrew it...Ryley did.

The man has a new job working at Lowe's. He's only part-time right now and he's doing the construction stuff on the side when his boss has work for him. He's such a hard worker and does such a good job trying to support his crazy family. Now, if we could do something about this crappy economy we'd be alright...heh

Me? I'm looking for a job still. I had to postpone an interview I had scheduled (due to afformentioned fever) for this morning. I'm meeting with a lady who would like to hire me to teach group piano lessons for preschoolers. It's right up my alley and I really hope it is something that I can consider doing. The problem is it is 30 minutes away and I don't know what the pay rate is yet. So pray that it will be enough to warrant me going back to work. My mil is kind enough to come up in May and stay through June to help us out so we don't have to pay child care. This will help us catch up on bills and what not too.

Anyway...this is my crazy overdriven life. But I love it. I didn't even mention church activities, T-ball games, spending time with my family. Oh the list goes on, but I won't wear y'all out with it...that's MY burden to bear ;)

I'm HERE!!

OMIGOSH! Can you BELIEVE it!?!?!?!?!?

It's my THIRD DAY of posting in a FOUR day period! I must be improving :P

Mike is working all morning and then coming home to sleep b/c he's got to do some tile work tonight at Bubba Gump's. I'm PRAYING he'll get to bring me home some coconut shrimp!! YUMMO! He'll be there from 1am til around 5am and then he'll go straight to Lowe's to work until 10am. Then he'll probably come home and crash...good luck with three kids in the house. LOL

Things are good here. Really, really good. I've decided that I will NOT be looking at my bank page every morning like I have been for the past month. I refuse to. God is bigger than my bank statement.

Today I plan on getting Jackson down for a nap (he's usually asleep by now but is fighting tooth and nail) so I can run on the treadmill while I listen to some Francis Chan. My friends and I are doing a study on the Holy Spirit based around a sermon series he did last year. I'm too lazy to link it right now, but I WILL. It has been incredibly eye opening and I DO believe that God has me listening to this RIGHT NOW for a very specific purpose. I do not rely fully enough on Him. I am changing that. I have to.

Love you all. Have a wonderful and productive day!!!!!!!

Reason #5,734 not to let your kids wear flipflops

They'll flip them off their feet in the middle of Factory Card Outlet and you'll have to dig it out from among 300 rolls of wrapping paper.

*sigh*

I would hope that God would allow my patience to grow exponentially before Ryley turns 10. Please pray with me that that would happen LOL!