Many people are familiar with the modern advertising theme “Keep Calm and (Fill in the Blank)…” It originated in the year 2000 with the rediscovery of a World War Two poster at a bookshop in Alnwick, England.
That poster, displaying a crown with the words “Keep Calm and Carry On” beneath it, was a rare surviving specimen of a motivational campaign undertaken by the British government in 1939 in preparation for World War II, intended to raise the morale of the British public, which was threatened with imminent air attacks from Nazi Germany.
These days, the phrase “Keep Calm and … ” has been applied to most every imaginable situation, not just by advertisers, but by the creators of innumerable internet memes worldwide. A simple online search will produce any number of examples. But sometimes, one encounters the phrase in the most unlikely of places. Such was the case for me earlier today.
After having gone down to Alabama to visit my sister over the weekend, I made a trip to the local carwash this morning in order to wash the road spray and dirt off of my truck. Now, I have used this car wash on multiple occasions. Perhaps you are familiar with the concept. Pulling into the building, one places his or her vehicle in neutral and allows it to be pulled through the lengthy tunnel, wherein it is first soaped, then scrubbed, then rinsed, and finally (if additionally purchased) waxed, being blown dry by giant wind machines just prior to exiting.
For my part, I pretty much know the routine by heart - so much so that I often pay little attention to the actual process. But today, things were different. After the soaping and the scrubbing, the rinsing of the windshield allowed me to see far enough ahead to notice that the back door of the tunnel, a garage door of sorts, was actually closed! That’s right… I was inexorably being drawn toward a large closed door!
Immediately, my stress level rose. What was wrong here? Did the operators of the car wash not know that the back door had not been opened? How could they possibly open and operate the car wash and not have the back door open? Did they not know the peril I was now in?!
No sooner had these thoughts gone through my mind than I had my answer. A sense of relief washed over me just as surely as the rinse water washed over my truck as the windshield cleared and I read these words emblazoned on the rear door: in large letters: “Keep calm. The door will open!”
I chuckled as I realized that the cold weather obviously necessitated the closing of the rear door so as to keep the cold air out of the car wash tunnel in order to protect the equipment. But my laughter turned to reflection as I considered what the Lord was obviously saying to me.
You see, the whole reason my truck was now dirty and needed washing was because my wife and I had gone down to Alabama to see my sister. She received the devastating news this week that, after five years, her cancer has returned. As a family, we have just spent the last three days processing this news together. And quite frankly, it feels like we are being inexorably drawn toward some dreadful place.
But the message I took from my experience this morning was this: “Keep calm and carry on. While it may not be clear to you at this point just how this will all turn out, rest assured that the Lord Himself will provide a way for you. In His time and in His way, He will open a door in order to provide a way out and a path forward into the future for you!
Until then, all He expects of us is that we keep going forward, that we keep trusting in Him, and that we keep believing that He is in control! In Isaiah 43:19, the Word of the Lord affirms, “I will make a way…” I for one am confident that the same God Who gave and then fulfilled that promise to the children of Israel so long ago will now do the very same thing for my sister and our family in this day! May He be praised for that great truth!
POSTER SOURCE: https://www.keepcalmandcarryon.com/.
SCRIPTURE SOURCE: https://biblehub.com/isaiah/43-19.htm.
These days, the phrase “Keep Calm and … ” has been applied to most every imaginable situation, not just by advertisers, but by the creators of innumerable internet memes worldwide. A simple online search will produce any number of examples. But sometimes, one encounters the phrase in the most unlikely of places. Such was the case for me earlier today.
After having gone down to Alabama to visit my sister over the weekend, I made a trip to the local carwash this morning in order to wash the road spray and dirt off of my truck. Now, I have used this car wash on multiple occasions. Perhaps you are familiar with the concept. Pulling into the building, one places his or her vehicle in neutral and allows it to be pulled through the lengthy tunnel, wherein it is first soaped, then scrubbed, then rinsed, and finally (if additionally purchased) waxed, being blown dry by giant wind machines just prior to exiting.
For my part, I pretty much know the routine by heart - so much so that I often pay little attention to the actual process. But today, things were different. After the soaping and the scrubbing, the rinsing of the windshield allowed me to see far enough ahead to notice that the back door of the tunnel, a garage door of sorts, was actually closed! That’s right… I was inexorably being drawn toward a large closed door!
Immediately, my stress level rose. What was wrong here? Did the operators of the car wash not know that the back door had not been opened? How could they possibly open and operate the car wash and not have the back door open? Did they not know the peril I was now in?!
No sooner had these thoughts gone through my mind than I had my answer. A sense of relief washed over me just as surely as the rinse water washed over my truck as the windshield cleared and I read these words emblazoned on the rear door: in large letters: “Keep calm. The door will open!”
I chuckled as I realized that the cold weather obviously necessitated the closing of the rear door so as to keep the cold air out of the car wash tunnel in order to protect the equipment. But my laughter turned to reflection as I considered what the Lord was obviously saying to me.
You see, the whole reason my truck was now dirty and needed washing was because my wife and I had gone down to Alabama to see my sister. She received the devastating news this week that, after five years, her cancer has returned. As a family, we have just spent the last three days processing this news together. And quite frankly, it feels like we are being inexorably drawn toward some dreadful place.
But the message I took from my experience this morning was this: “Keep calm and carry on. While it may not be clear to you at this point just how this will all turn out, rest assured that the Lord Himself will provide a way for you. In His time and in His way, He will open a door in order to provide a way out and a path forward into the future for you!
Until then, all He expects of us is that we keep going forward, that we keep trusting in Him, and that we keep believing that He is in control! In Isaiah 43:19, the Word of the Lord affirms, “I will make a way…” I for one am confident that the same God Who gave and then fulfilled that promise to the children of Israel so long ago will now do the very same thing for my sister and our family in this day! May He be praised for that great truth!
POSTER SOURCE: https://www.keepcalmandcarryon.com/.
SCRIPTURE SOURCE: https://biblehub.com/isaiah/43-19.htm.