The Guitar Case

After I play my new guitar, I always place it carefully back into its well-padded case, and close at least three of the six latches.  I would like to keep the guitar on a guitar stand or hang it on the wall, so it would be more readily accessible when I want to play it.  But I just can't bring myself to keep my guitar out of the case when I'm not using it--not anymore.

Two weeks before I graduated from Fairbury High School, my family moved out of the Hotel MaryEtta into a house, located just one block from the school.  For the first time in nearly thirteen years, we were going to live in a real house with a yard!  There weren't very many houses for sale in Fairbury at that time, since it was a booming railroad town, so Mom and Dad settled on a house that was a bit of a "fixer-upper."  We painted the walls and replaced the ancient carpet before we moved in, but a new roof and updated kitchen had to wait.

I played another new guitar then, my high school graduation present.  After working at The Stable (our family's new restaurant) every morning, I played my guitar on the front porch nearly every afternoon, that summer before I started college.  When I was finished for the day, I usually put the guitar on top of its closed case, which sat on the dining room window seat.  One evening, for some reason, I actually opened the case, placed the guitar safely inside, and latched the case shut.

That night, sharp lightning flashed across the black sky, the thunder roared, over and over, and the rain poured down.  It rained so hard that streams of water cascaded through the inadequate roof, soaking the plaster ceiling until it fell, with a crash, right on top of my guitar case.  
The moral of this story is obvious.  My guitar survived without any damage because I had taken the time to put it where it belonged--in the case that was meant to protect it.  And, of course, whether they wanted to or not, my parents had to pay to have a new roof installed right away, so the house and its contents would be protected when the next storm arrived.

I can't help but think that God is a lot like that guitar case or, even, like a roof.  The storms of life will come, no matter what, just as the rain poured through the roof of our house that night.  God is willing to protect us from the worst effects of life's difficulties, but he won't force us to take refuge in him.  Just as a guitar case protects my guitar when I remember to put the guitar inside, and just as a newly-shingled roof protects a home and its occupants from adverse weather, God guards those who place themselves under his protection.  We are eternally safe with him.


You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance.  Psalm 32: 7

The LORD will keep you from all harm-- he will watch over your life.  Psalm 121: 7



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