Peace Be Still!

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?” And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. Mark 4:38-38 ESV

Once my wife and I were invited to a get-together, at a house we had not been to before in an unfamiliar part of town. This was long before the days of GPS, so I started off listening carefully as my wife called out the directions that our friends had given. I turned left then right despite the fact that were getting increasingly further from town, I kept going, thinking that perhaps this was some sort of shortcut. Finally as we were instructed to turn onto a dirt road, I began to get an uneasy sensation in the bottom of my stomach that something was wrong. My concern was soon confirmed as we came around a sharp bend in the dirt road and it suddenly came to an end in the middle of a cow pasture!

We still laugh when we remember that day, but when more serious events of our lives begin to resemble getting lost in a cow field there is nothing funny about it at all. Events sometimes frightened us to the core. That is how those wet, weary disciples felt in the storm. They had obediently followed Jesus step by step, but the directions he had given seemed to have led them into a storm with no way out. They cried out thinking that Jesus was neither aware of or even cared about their situation. But Jesus did know and He did care both about their storm and ours. He has actually chosen this crazy situation that we are in to show us that He always knows and that He always cares. He has led us into this storm. As a nation a church, a family and an individual Jesus allows storms, so that we can learn to trust in Him – and when we fully trust, He calls out over the roar of the wind and waves, “Peace be still!” and a then great calm from heaven will come.

Now More Than Ever!

The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life. Of whom then shall I be afraid? Psalm 27:1 KJV

When I go for a quiet walk in the park or wade in the waves at the beach, peace seems an easy concept to get a hold of. But with our nation in crisis, and people lining up for miles just hoping for a plane ride out of Afghanistan, peace sounds more like a fairy tale than a reality. In Psalm twenty-seven, King David found himself in a similar circumstance, surrounded by an army, as powerful and deadly as the Taliban. His enemies had already wiped out nearly every man woman and child in the town of Anathoth, for simply giving him and his men a few loaves of bread and a single sword. But on that evening as David looked down at the encampment of blood thirsty men, God asked Him what he was afraid of and on David’s darkest night, the answer came. “The Lord is my light and my salvation. Why should we be afraid?” Just as in David’s day, the Lord remains our light and the only one We can depend on to help us through. Our current state of helplessness does us the favor of reminding us that He alone is true strength!

So what are you facing? What challenge is on your path this morning? God has allowed this situation. At times like these people often say, “God is still in control.”. While that of course is true, it would be even more accurate to say that, “God is more in control now than ever: because we are not!”  He wants us to see that now more than ever, He is our hope and our salvation and we don’t ever need to be afraid!

Are You Washed?

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 1 John 1:7 ESV

Recently we enjoyed watching the old film, “Annie” She reminds me a lot of my early life, when I was living on the streets. Of course you do not need to be homeless to want someone to rescue you, love you and be willing to include you in their family. The story of Annie could be the story of every person looking for God. When I first became a Christian, the song, “Are You washed in the Blood?” was popular in our church. I loved it because it was lively and easy to sing, and it expressed the joy I had in my new found life. It is strange to think of blood washing something, because as anyone who does laundry can tell you, blood stains are some of the hardest to remove. Even when bleach or other cleaners are used, they still show up under ultraviolet light. But God doesn’t do things according to our way of thinking. In His plan, the blood of Jesus Christ is the perfect cleansing solution for the sin stains on our hearts. But how does it work? How can the blood of Jesus wash away my sin?

Today’s verse explains that we have to begin by walking in the light. In other words we must be honest with God. We need to come to God without pretending and confess our sins to Him. He knows the truth anyway and sent Jesus to die so that we could be forgiven. Secondly we learn that when we are honest with God, we can begin to walk with Him. Since God always tells us the truth, if we will tell Him the truth, we begin our new journey with Him. Last of all the Bible tells us that walking with God means more than just trying to keep up with him like a toddler rushing after His parent. It means having fellowship with Jesus Christ. He is the one whose blood washed away our sin because He wanted us as His children and friends forever. Since we have His promise that He wants to have a relationship with Him, what are we waiting for? As we drove home recently through rural South Carolina we noticed a sign on a small church with a great question:

Photo by Jimmy Chan on Pexels.com

“Mosquitoes know there is power in the blood. Do you?”

Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing pow’r?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Are you fully trusting in His grace this hour?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?


Are you washed in the blood,
In the soul-cleansing blood of the Lamb?
Are your garments spotless? Are they white as snow?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?

Are You Washed in the Blood? by Elisha Hoffman 1878

I hope you like this throw back video of Earl Scruggs playing it the way I learned it back in the day. Be blessed, tap your feet and sing along!!