One of the homework assignments this week  in the study of the Apostle Paul centered on his voyage to Rome. Paul’s “Umbrella of Faith” in the storm covered all that were on board the ship and all the lives were saved when the ship was destroyed as it ran aground on the island of Malta. After that, many on the island became believers and were healed.

I have an umbrella. For the most part, it rides in my car behind the seat. Often, when it’s raining, I leave it in the car and dash to the building hoping I don’t get drenched or I carry it without opening it, because it’s really not raining that hard.

How often do we treat our faith that way? We have it; we just don’t use it like it is meant to be used. We carry it along in case it’s needed but we never open it. We jump out in the middle of a storm, thinking we can handle it  on our own or we think it’s not bad enough to bother Jesus about.

We need to open our faith umbrellas! Rain or shine. They cover us when life is raining down on us and they keep us cool and calm in the sunshine.

The beginning of faith is like a little paper umbrella in a fancy drink. It’s not very big. Then, as we study God’s Word and we place it in our hearts, the umbrella of faith grows and begins to cover us.  Soon, we notice that our umbrella is quite large and we have family members, friends and even a stranger or two under there with us.

This made me think of my church. When it’s raining or, like last week, sleeting, you can see volunteers walking out, with large umbrellas, offering protection from the elements to those coming in and going out. What an awesome metaphor of how our church family covers each other and those we come in contact with, in faith.

Umbrellas: I don’t think I will ever look at them in the same way, ever again.