Those who have faced adversity often ask the question, how can we sing songs of joy in a strange land? How can we sing when it seems like our experiences have left our tongues cleaving to the roof of our mouths and throats tightened?

After the storms that ravaged Alabama last week, many of us are feeling that we have been left without a song. Material things were lost but in time they can be replaced; but most importantly, lives were taken and those who survived have been altered forever. What do you say to an individual, a family, community, or state when they have experienced one of the worst storms in history? Possibly it can be found in the familiar story of Chippy the parakeet.

Chippy the parakeet never saw it coming. One second he was peacefully perched in his cage singing, when suddenly he was sucked in, washed up, and blown over. His problem began when his owner decided to clean his cage with a vacuum. She stuck the nozzle in to suck up the seeds and feathers that had collected at the bottom of the cage, when the phone rang. Instinctively Chippy’s owner turned to pick it up. She’d barely said ‘hello’ when – sswwwwPPPP! Chippy got sucked into the vacuum. Immediately Chippy’s owner gasped, dropped the phone, and turned off the vacuum. With her heart in her throat, she unzipped the bag. There was Chippy—stunned but still alive, covered with heavy black dust from head to toe. She grabbed him and rushed to the bathtub, turned on the faucet full blast and held Chippy under a torrent of ice-cold water, power-washing him clean. Then she did what any compassionate pet owner would do; she snatched up the hairdryer and blasted the wet, shivering little bird with hot air. Did Chippy survive? Yes, but he doesn’t sing much anymore. He just sits and stares a lot.

Here is the good news. We all know that birds do not sing all of the time.  I have never heard a bird singing during the storm. However, birds love to sing at the dawning of a new day. It is recorded in the Bible that “weeping may endure for a night but joy comes in the morning.” King Solomon said, “the time of singing of birds is come.” Although the storm may have taken possessions, it cannot take your song. We have our song everywhere we go. Storms will come, lightening will flash, and thunder will roll, but we won’t allow them to steal our song.