Our Pastor is preaching a sermon series right now called "Peace in the Storm". We're studying the book of James verse by verse over the next few weeks and this first one focuses on the storms in our lives. You know that old saying...."If you're not in a storm, then you either just left one or you're heading towards one." Isn't that true in life? I'm also reading the Max Lucado book, "In the Eye of the Storm", so I've got this big theme going on in my life. And you know how this goes...if you preacher decides to preach on it and you begin to study it or read about it, you just mind find yourself faced with it. And I can give an AMEN right about here. What was I thinking when I was telling people that January is my down time...things are so calm for me right now... Can you hear me laughing as you read?
Storms are inevitable, right? The Bible gives us such a great storm example of the disciples in a boat, WITH JESUS, and He's sleeping. And of course, this terrible storm kicks up on the sea of smooth sailing and they find themselves being tossed to and fro and scared out of their brains. Funny...they've got the Master of the Sea right in the boat with them. But not knowing fully who He was and what He could do, they wake Him up mad! "Jesus, what are you doing? Sleeping at a time like this?" Hey, have you ever felt this way? You're in the middle of a storm and you're positive the boat is sinking, and it feels like Jesus is no where to be found. You call out and He doesn't answer you. Is He asleep? Well, in this story, Jesus, fully God and fully man was sleeping, but He was there and completely in control of that situation. And when they woke Him up with a panic in the middle of their chaos, He spoke a word and the storm obeyed and fell to a peaceful calm. Can you imagine this with me? What? Do that again...oh wait, that would mean we'd need another storm. Nevermind...but wasn't that a miracle. At the spoken word, Jesus calmed the raging sea and brought them peace in the middle of their panic and calm in the middle of their chaos.
It got me thinking that this is always my choice in the middle of the storm. I can run around, screaming, yelling, crying, PANICKED...or, I could choose to trust that My Lord is never far and if He brought me to this storm, He's gonna bring me through this storm. The choice is mine, "Peace or Panic? Calm or Chaos?"
I know you're like me and you want to choose right, peace and calm. So, let me leave you with another of my favorite sayings, "When you're waiting for the storm to pass, learn to dance in the rain."
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