And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” Mark 4:37-38 ESV
It is interesting that in generations past no one thought much about what to call a particular storm. But in 1953, the National Hurricane Center figured out that naming a storm got people’s attention. Since the point of their forecasting was to help folks prepare, they decided that naming was a pretty important thing! The same is true for our spiritual storms. One thing I have learned as I have gotten older is that we rarely face the same storm twice. Circumstances I faced as a twenty-five-year-old with toddlers running around our apartment were certainly different from waiting up late nights waiting for them to come home when they were teenagers. Today our children have children of their own who are teenagers and we lay awake some nights praying for them. Someone once said, “The more things change, the more they remain the same.” But the real truth of the matter is that our storms really do change both in kind as well as ferocity and the only thing that remains the same is Jesus. Even though it may seem that He is asleep while we are going through life threatening circumstances, the truth is that He knows what we are going through and He is ready to come and help when we cry out to Him. No matter what our storm is named today, we are never forgotten, or abandoned. Jesus gave His life on the cross as the sky darkened and the earth shook beneath His feet. But as the blood flowed down the timbers, from the nails that pierced His hands and feet, Jesus cried out, “It is finished!” The cross has finished everything we need to deliver us from our storm, to still our seas and to calm the trouble around us. No matter what our storm’s name we can know that He loves us, He cares about our problems He is showing us new ways to trust Him, no matter what name of the hurricane that lies ahead!
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Pastor Pete, you make a great analogy in this post. I’ll give a hearty Amen to the truth, “No matter what our storm is named today, we are never forgotten, or abandoned.”
When I was single, I was an expert on marriage… until I got married. Then I became an expert on childbearing until we had kids. Then I became an expert on toddlers until my kids hit the terrible twos. So then I became an expert on teens until they entered puberty!! Then I became an advisor to young marrieds… and told them an “ex-spirt” is a drip who dried up. Now I know, the storms are all different, even from one family to another. 😉
❤️&🙏, c.a.
That reminds me of the little sign on our friend’s refrigerator, “Ask your teenager, while they still know all the answer!” As your little testimony tells us, “knowing all those answers” is a lot like a can that just keeps getting kicked up the road a long way – until we realize we don’t!
Praise God that He knows the storms in our lives because He knows us so personally. He knows and cares. Beautiful and encouraging words, Pete!
Thank you Patty. Yes He knows and sees them far off but thank God He stays with us all the way through.
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