As my four-year-old son and I recently watched a fictional movie about tornadoes hitting a Nebraska town, I was quite pleased with something my son said to me. Just as the first tornado hit a home where two teenage boys and an infant were alone at the time, my son piped up, "They should pray to Jesus. If ever I see a big storm coming to our house, I will pray to Jesus." I was delighted with his immediate reaction to facing trouble. My husband and I had often told him that Jesus is taking care of him, but his statement made me realize that he truly believes us. And it is a wonderful feeling to know that your child not only believes in Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God, but that he also knows that Jesus will help him in times of trouble.

I readily agreed with my son that the boys in the movie should pray. And, indeed, they did pray . . . but when? Not when they first heard the tornado warnings on the television. Not when they heard the actual tornado arriving. Not even after nearly being sucked out of a window or after falling down a flight of stairs as the house's exterior walls were disintegrating around them. It was only when they had nowhere else to run for cover, as they huddled underneath a blanket in a bathtub in the basement (which, too, was falling apart), that they finally pleaded in prayer for God to deliver them from the storm. And it was readily apparent that the boys were not used to praying.

The boys in this movie would qualify as "fair weather friends" to God. For, in the midst of crisis, they had pleaded for help from God. But once the crisis had passed, they did not thank God, nor did they tell others what God had done for them. When they needed God, He came through for them. But when they could have witnessed for Him, they didn't utter a sound.

How often are we like those boys? Do we wait until we're in the midst of a crisis before we seek God's guidance in prayer? Do we stop to give Him genuine thanks when He delivers us from trouble? Do we witness to others about how God has blessed us? Let us strive to never be "fair weather friends" to the Friend who is always faithful. 

Copyright © 1997 Kimberly B. Southall.  All rights reserved.