Thought for January 17, 2024

•  1912: Robert Scott arrives at the South Pole, one month after Amundsen
• 1916: Rodman Wannamaker hosts a lunch to discuss forming a golf association--later PGA
• 1946: First meeting of UN Security Council
• 1984: Supreme Court says VCR recording for later personal use does not violate copyright
• 1991: Operation Desert Storm begins
• Born: Ben Franklin, Al Capone, Muhammad Ali, 
• Died: Rutherford B Hayes, Juliette Gordon Lowe, T.H. White, Bobby Fischer

Thought:

Does your life ever feel like a bad storm. Dark clouds, wind blowing you in every direction. Lightening striking nearby. Rains creating floods that seem to overwhelm you. For some, the storm is at work. A challenging boss, a temptation to cheat, a difficult ladder to climb, a customer or clients who vexes you.  For some the storm is in our family--children rebel, parents get older and are challenging to help, in-laws create conflicts, spouses disappoint. For some the storm is disease, injury or illness--ours or a loved one. For 6 or 8 weeks last fall I felt that storm as I moved from one illness to the next. 

Today, I am reading the story in Matthew 8:23-27 and Mark 4: 35-41. Jesus and his disciples are on the Sea of Galilee. The advertisements are out for the movie "Boys in the Boat" a great book. Here is a story about the boys in the boat with Jesus. A fierce gale arose, winds were pushing and shoving the boat, waves were beginning to fill the boat, the disciples were in a panic. Jesus was asleep. Look at the exchange with me:

• Disciples: Don't You care that we are perishing? Save us! Have you ever reacted like that in the middle of life's storms? Lord, do You really care? Lord, do You realize what's going on. Think about that. I ask the One who died for my sins if He really cares about me. I ask the One who knows all if He is aware. Those are words from Satan--God doesn't know, God doesn't care. Or maybe the disciples thought Jesus is asleep so He doesn't know. But the Lord of all the earth does not sleep, neither does He slumber. Jesus in the flesh needed sleep, but Jesus King of Kings never sleeps, never takes a day off. 
• Jesus: Matthew says Jesus rebuked the wind and sea and it became calm. Mark says he simply said "hush." Ever thought about the word "rebuke"? To speak firmly and sharply to reprimand, disapprove, correct. Makes me wonder if there were storms when God created and declared it all to be very good. Did sin trigger the storms of nature just like it triggers the storms in life? If so, perhaps Jesus was saying "that's not the way I intended you to act." That's not the way I created you. I think that because that sounds like my parents--that's not how we raised you, that's not how we taught you. So maybe it sounds like God speaking to me when I sin, get off the path, "Larry, that is not how I saved you, that's not how I made you to act, talk, think." 
• Seas and Winds: They became perfectly still, perfectly calm. Is that how I react when Jesus speaks in the middle of my storms. I hear His voice, recall His promises, praise His character and power, and then my fears subside, my spirit calms, my doubts disappear.
• And perhaps this story is meant to remind me that if Jesus is in the boat with me, I can trust Him for my safety, security, and life. In the storm I should be able to sleep, because he is in the boat with me. 

This year, whatever the storm, just make sure Jesus is in the boat with you. Don't be timid, have faith. He loves you with an everlasting love and He has the power to change storms into peace--even sometimes He gives you peace in the eye of the storm.

Blessings

Larry