If I’m Going To Blow Away

Have you ever been blown away? Sharri Kerkoff reminds us of the One who offers the safest companionship in such a moment. 

Elisa

If I’m Going To Blow Away …

By Sharri Kerkoff

It was a windy spring day in the Midwest.

The kind of windy day that only Great Plains dwellers can appreciate. It took one's breath and balance away. It was steady and sustained, not gusty or short-lived, and was settled in for several days.

Nevertheless, my young children and I were out and about on a day of errands. As I parked the minivan van at our last stop, the wind made it sway slowly from side to side. We all paused to look at each other via the rear-view mirror, knowing that even opening our doors was going to take a fit of strength. 

I told the kids to quickly do that and meet at the rear of the van where we would grab hands and hurry into the store. There would be no time for instructions once outside.

On the count of three, we put our heads down and barged into the hostile outdoors. When I reached the back of the van, my 4-year-old daughter ignored my outstretched hand and, instead, wrapped both her arms around the top of my leg in bear hug.

"If I'm going to blow away," she said, shouting above the wind, "I want to blow away with you!"

The wind was more than her 40-pound frame could withstand. It had knocked her down twice that day already. She had resigned herself to the fact that the wind may, indeed, totally sweep her off her feet at some point.

I hobbled all of us into the store. Once inside, I squatted to her level.

"Did you really think that the wind would blow you away?" I asked as I tried to untangle her long, blonde hair for the 100th time that day.

"Yes, Mommy," she said bluntly. "But if you came with me, I wouldn't care."

As her older and wiser 7-year-old brother recited a Discovery-Channel documentary on wind and how it wouldn't really blow her away at these levels, I had a moment of awe. Awe at her resolve. Awe at her clarity. Awe at her complete devotion and trust.

What she did not know was that I was feeling as if I everyday life was about to blow me away. Its pressures and stresses were like the wind outside -- turning what should have been a sunny, wonderful day into a climate in which I could barely stand. 

For months, I had felt like at any minute, I may be knocked down by the sheer force of it. I was grieving my mom who died suddenly at the age of 59. My kids were barely in school, and I wasn’t ready to do life without her. The void was vast. I struggled to believe what I knew to be true: That God is as much our Heavenly Mother as our Heavenly Father. 

When my daughter wrapped her arms around me with complete faith in my ability to get us through the wind, she reminded me that I, too, had something to cling to in times like these. Most of all, she reminded me of the child-like faith with which I can grab onto God.

That night, after the kids were asleep, I rediscovered the comfort of the cross when I prayed, "Lord, if I'm going to blow away, I want to blow away with you."

Sharri Kerkhoff is a Midwest farmer’s-daughter-turned-journalist from the last century (just ask her Gen Z children). She intentionally diminished her professional journalistic role as she parented two neurologically spicy and talented children with chronic illness. She stumbled into writing five plays and countless skits for the church stage, became a published lyricist, and created practical training for women’s ministry leaders. Women, especially mothers, have Sharri's whole heart. She still lives in the middle of corn fields in a flyover state with her husband, Harrell. They celebrated the birth of their first grandchild in early 2025.