In 2007, international pop singer Celine Dion released an album called "Taking Chances." The title track, written by American Idol's Kara DioGuardi and David Stewart from the '80s band The Eurythmics, talks about a relationship at an impasse--go forward, or go away?  Life brings us moments we where we have to take action. No matter how much we plan and chart and debate, we can't always control the events and opportunities in our life. Sometimes, we're pushed to the edge and scared to jump because, like the song's chorus says, we don't know what we'll land on.

But while no one can orchestrate every minute of every day, we can control our reactions to them. The second week of September 2008 put my life on a collision course with disaster. Have you had one of those moments--you can see the storm clouds coming, but you know you can't outrun the weather which is on the way?  In my case, the dark skies really were storm clouds. Hurricane clouds, to be exact. You see, I live in Galveston, Texas, and on September 13, 2008, Hurricane Ike slammed into town.

At the beginning of that September, I lived my dream as a stay-at-home mom with a six-month-old who supported my husband as he ran our family's small business. By the end of the month, our home didn't have walls, our possessions had been ruthlessly dumped in a makeshift waste site on the edge of town, and the building which housed our business sustained enough damage that we couldn't reopen for six months. 

That same weekend in New York, Lehman Brothers began to collapse, sending gray skies across the entire country. Did the economic rain which started that weekend wash away your investments or your savings? Did lightning strike your job? Did the winds blow your home back to the bank?

The annual hurricane season will begin here in about six more weeks. I'm going through my life, making sure I'm prepared. Insurance policies, bottled water, flashlights and batteries all must be present and accounted for by June 1st. If you've had to look for an economic lifeboat the last two years in order to ride out the storm, no doubt you're wondering how to move ahead without looking back.

My advice is simple. Take chances. Do the things which scare you. Jump without overthinking the landing. Would you believe it if I told you that fourteen months after the hurricane we owned a new home and we opened a business in a location we'd long dreamed about? It wasn't easy. We had to make quick choices when God brought the opportunities to us. But we'd stayed in prayer during the long months of rebuilding. We knew God wasn't going to leave us in the wasteland of hurricane destruction forever. And we knew we needed to be ready to go when He said move. 

We made mistakes as we rebuilt our lives. Everything didn't unfold smoothly. Some days are still hard. Staying in prayer and listening for God's voice is crucial. But along the way, he's taught us some life lessons which have transformed my life forever. I call this collection of lessons and stories "Ike 101." They're the basis of a book I'm writing to help others going through life's storms know they're not alone and they can change their lives and rebuild. I don't have a guarantee that it will be published, although I work every day to try and make it a reality. I'm taking chances. 

I'm jumping off the edge of the past. I'm jumping into the future. I don't know if the landing will be soft or if it'll make my knees cry out for a bottle of glucosamine. But I've learned that the worst case scenarios aren't the worst things that can happen to me. The worst thing that could happen to me is to not learn the lessons and to not move on, changed and better for the hard times. I'm not the only person who's been pushed the edge of uncomfortable. The economic meltdown has touched most of us in some way. And if it's not Wall Street, maybe divorce, illness, or some other loss has driven down your street.

Are you at the edge today? Do you want to put one foot in front of the other and move toward the future? Do you need to know how to find the hope to rebuild from the storms in your life?

Is there a lesson you've learned leading you to a chance you need to reach out and take? That's it. Lean forward. Stretch. Grab the opportunity.

What do you say?


Kristen Ethridge is a wife, mommy, small business owner, and aspiring author on the Texas Gulf Coast. When she isn't perfecting the beach bum lifestyle with her family, she writes inspirational romances and is working on Ike 101, a book about the life lessons she learned after 2008's Hurricane Ike battered her home and business. Kristen is published in magazines and newspapers, and hopes to add books to the list soon, but until then, you can find her online at www.kristenethridge.com and on Twitter @kristenethridge.