The Storms in our Lives!

  I am glued to the television set these days waiting to see if the storm hitting the United States right now, called Tropical Storm Isaac, is picking up speed or changing its course.   Some predict that it will turn and hit New Orleans on the 7th anniversary of Katrina and some are wondering if the Republican National Convention will be held on schedule in Tampa.  Weather commentators are predicting today that all people in the area should prepare for a Category 2 Hurricane and they say that the massive storm surges will cause a wall of water above the land 6 to 12 feet.

Weather affects us in so many ways.  Airports are shut down, people are called upon to change their daily lives and even the best weather people are stymied about the paths of the storms.  In the meantime, we sit and wait and pray that the area will escape.  Right now the storm is "barreling" to the Gulf of Mexico.  States of emergencies exist in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Florida  and they are preparing to ride out the storm in their life.  Bad things happen to good and bad people;  sometimes they just live in the path of a storm.   And sometimes they are a part of creating their own storm!

One of the most poignant stories of storm-coping, to me, is found in Mark 4:35-40.  Christ had been teaching all day on the Sea of Galilee, preaching from a boat to people on the shore.  A furious squall came up and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped.  All this while, Christ was in the stern, asleep on a cushion.  The desperate disciples awakened him and one said, "Teacher, don't you care if we drown?"

Christ arose, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet, be still!"  Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.  Christ said to his disciples, "Why are you so afraid?   Do you still have no faith?"

The winds of storm fall upon us, in many ways, and he promises us that he will give us the strength to cope with every disaster in our lives if we only have faith.