Just as you finish snapping your seatbelt, you're thrown violently against your strap... the plane free-falls 1000 feet…. Suddenly, the dark plane seems to buck. A flash of lightning...After...3 minutes the dark clouds…brighten…suddenly blinding white light stings your eyes. The hiss of heavy rain stops. One…sharp bump... the plane flies smoothly again…. You're in the eye! Sound fun?

Identifying and monitoring the eye, the command center, of a hurricane is the key to understanding the storm. Some life storms have an "eye" as identifiable as that of a hurricane and as dangerous. Only the eye is not spelled "e-y-e"-it's spelled "I."

Some of you are going through a very destructive storm that has come your way through no fault of your own. But sometimes, you are the "I" of your own storm.

Here's how we can end up being the "I" of our own personal storm:

Storms Created by Sin
When we choose to make ourselves the center of the universe by ignoring the laws of God, we also make ourselves the "I" of a violent storm. The easiest way to keep this storm from developing in the first place is by living in obedience to God.

Storms Created by the Denial of Sin
Storms gain strength when we fail to acknowledge we've sinned. When King David committed adultery with Bathsheba, over 9 months elapsed between his adultery, having her husband Uriah killed, and his confession. After Nathan left David, "the Lord struck the child that Uriah's wife bore to David" (2 Samuel 12:15). So Bathsheba had already given birth to David's child by the time David was confronted by Nathan and confessed his sin.

Unconfessed sin was the cause of the storm in David's life-and he was the I: "My bones grew old through my groaning all the day long. Day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my vitality was turned into the drought of summer" (Psalm 32:3-4). Later he describes the joy which comes to the upright in heart when they confess.

First, don't become the "I" of your own storm by sinning against God. But if you do sin, impulsively or purposely, confess it immediately. That's the quickest way to let the air out of the "I" of a gathering storm.

Storms Created by Foolishness
Maybe we create a storm by establishing an unwise friendship…not getting counsel before making an investment…not properly disciplining a child. There are hundreds of ways we can become the "I" of our own storm by not following the simple, yet profound, precepts of the book of Proverbs about practical and skillful living.

Damage control caused by this kind of storm dictates doing the reverse of whatever you're doing wrong: Break off unwise relationships! Get counsel! Discipline your child! The Bible (Proverbs…) is filled with practical guidelines for avoiding the thunder and lightning from foolish living.

Storms Created by Half-hearted Commitment to Christ
With a true hurricane, the storm is on the outside and the calm eye on the inside. But with storms created by a half-hearted commitment to Christ, the outside can appear calm, but on the inside lives are being battered by the winds of compromise and carnality. The "I" of stormy lives is often disguised by religious activity and moral double-mindedness.

Give Jesus Christ full and complete access to the "I" of your stormy life. Only He can bring peace, calm the winds, and repair the damage. There is a door to the "I" of your life, and He stands outside knocking (Revelation 3:20). If you'll open that door and allow Him to come in and fellowship with you, you'll no longer be alone in the storm.

I'll never regret missing the thrill of flying into the eye of a hurricane! But I would always regret it if I didn't let Jesus keep me from becoming the "I" of any storm that could harm me or those I love.

With Jesus' help, you need never be the "I" of another storm!

### This article was excerpted from Turning Points, Dr. David Jeremiah's devotional magazine. Call Turning Point at 1-800-947-1993 for your complimentary copy of Turning Points.