Just some early morning thoughts from me to you…
“That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat… A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat…Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion.
The disciples woke him and said to him, ‘Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?’
He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, ‘Quiet! Be still!’
Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.?
He said to his disciples, ‘Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?’
They were terrified and asked each other, ‘Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!’”
Mark 4: 35-41 (NIV)
We’ve all been there.
Maybe more than we can, or care to remember.
Dead center in the middle of a storm, just like those disciples were.
Feeling all alone. Frightened.
Not having a clue what to do, and uncertain what will happen.
Many in Cuba, Florida, in the Carolinas and beyond had that experience hit them this past week through the unrelenting force of the deadly, destructive hurricane which ravaged those areas.
A weather-induced storm of massive proportions.
And we hung on for dear life.
Just like we do in other storms which hit us.
Storms which rise within our families, relationships, in business, in our marriages, careers and in the never-ending concerns of financial security.
And we hang on for dear life.
Often without a clue of what to do.
The disciples were there, too.
Ravaged by a storm bigger than their ability.
Then Jesus rose up through the storm from the back of the boat.
Stillness, quiet and calm replaced the storm’s fury.
And God’s peace was there in the aftermath to guard their hearts and their minds and direct their next steps.
We’ve all been there.
The truth is that we’re either coming out of a storm, are in one, or sometime in the future we will find ourselves in the middle of one.
Where the rains will come, winds blow, lighting strikes, waves crash, darkness falls and fear fills every moment and fiber of our being.
And we won’t know what to do.
And then out of the storm we will see God rising.
Calling us to rise with Him.
To move on with Him.
Beyond the storm.
Always and forever.
In His Name–Scott