Cyclone Stupid Cancer

A cyclone is brewing off the coast.
It started as wispy white trails of cloud and slowly it builds. It may become a raging giant or it might just wander out into the ocean, a big blob of white on a map.
Locals don't really ever know if the storm clouds that roll in off the sea will become the cyclone that shuts down the city.
They hope for the former.
They build for the latter.
If you have a house in this part of the tropics, you make sure it's cyclone proof long before its cyclone season.
If you are building a dream home, you ensure the roof is going to withstand cyclonic conditions.

I read a quote the other day and it stuck with me. It was on a mug in a gift shop.
"You can't fatten the pig on market day".

You can't cyclone proof your dream home after the winds begin to howl.
You can't fatten a pig on market day.

It's all in the steps before the moment.
The building.
The preparing.
The feeding of that pig on all the days leading up to market day.

I have had the privilege of being built up and fattened on hope and incredible, life sustaining faith on many moments and days leading up to these ones we find ourselves walking through.

My house of hope, standing internally, is built to withstand the cyclonic winds that Cyclone Stupid Cancer whips up.
I have gorged myself at the table of faith, feasting on the assurance that the One I serve is holding us close.

In the blue skied moments of life, it is imperative to build the structures of hope and faith to cyclonic wind standards.
When the winds whip up and the storm clouds develop into category 5 monsters, shelter in security and safety. Know that although the wild wind roars, nothing of true value will be blown away.
The master builder has prepared us for this storm season.
He has not left us to be thrashed and flattened.
I have been fed on the good stuff... The countless words of encouragement and truth have fattened us up for this season.

We are ready.
We are market ready.

So... Though the wind blows powerfully and the storm rages indefinitely - we rest easy.
It's not always easy to rest easy.
Anyone who has sat through a cyclone knows that it's not easy. If you have built to specific recommendations,you know the roof will withstand but you still might cast furtive glances upwards, putting your trust in the capable hands that completed that work.
That's what resting easy really is. It's being confident in the stability of the structure in the most uneasy of moments.

We fly south tomorrow. Away from one storm that sits sulking off the coast and straight into the force of one called Treatment.

We are ready.
We are storm ready.