Built for the Storm

/ pastorpete51 / 7 Comments 
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 4:39 ESV

Because its founding dates back to 1650, my home state of Connecticut, has many interesting historical sites, and one of my favorites is Mystic Seaport, because it shows how the old whaling ships were built. For me, the most astonishing things of the construction of those boats was the prow. Any good prow began its journey as the lower trunk of a large white oak tree, and rather than the usual practice of cutting the tree at its base, it was cut as far above the ground as possible. Then, the men would dig out the entire stump, and from that mass of roots and tree trunk an almost unbreakable piece was sawn for the prow.

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In today’s verse we see Jesus confronting a storm that had His disciples frightened to death. The waves had begun swamping their small fishing boat, and the wind was so wild that they had to shout to be heard. Terrified that they were all about to drown, they woke Jesus, who was somehow calmly taking a nap in the midst of the chaos. Maybe they hoped that Jesus would help bail or at least pray that they could survive. But what He did next, no one even imagined. Jesus calmed the storm with three words. “Peace be still!” His faith was like the prow of those ancient whaling ships. He had come from heaven’s throne to be born a stable and with all the universe under his rule he chose to grow up in a small village. Though Jesus could have made stones into bread, He fasted forty days in the wilderness and overcame every temptation of the devil. But more than even these things, Jesus was, just like that oak tree that was cut down, dug from the ground and fashioned into the forerunner of our salvation. He is the anchor of our soul, the Captain of our ship, the prow of the ark, which is His church, and our shelter in every storm!

The Doorway

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I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. 
John 10:9 ESV

The first door I remember
My mom opened up for me
And there I ate the things she cooked
And learned my A-B-C’s
Me and mom 1952
The next lead to a classroom
With a teacher waiting there
It was exciting meeting other kids
Though they whispered and they stared
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Past the third door was my family
And we journeyed through the years
As all of us grew older
We shared struggles, joys and tears

So now there is just one more door
But it I will not fear
Because under it shines a light 
And songs of angels sounding near

And God knows that we are wondering
When we must His schedule keep
But we can trust our Shepherd’s time
 For every blood bought sheep!

The Doorway
by Peter Caligiuri
Copyright 2023
All rights reserved

Waking Early With Christian

/ pastorpete51 / 12 Comments 
You will go out in joy
 and be led forth in peace;
 the mountains and hills
 will burst into song before you,
and all the trees of the field
 will clap their hands. Isaiah 55:12 NIV

Back in 1975 when our first child was just 14 months old, we used to read to him from a book titled, "Poems and Prayers for the Very Young". In that precious little volume, one of our favorites was Singing Time by Rose Fyleman. I read it so often that I eventually added a melody and wrote some verses to make it into a lullaby somewhat based on Isaiah 55:12.. Now in spite of the fact that I loved the tune, neither of our boys say they have any memories of it. But when I played it for our grandson Christian, he fell in love with the song and insisted that we record it together. This video has knocked around in my files ever since and each time I see I say, "I need to do something with that someday." Today someday arrived, and I hope that this simple recording will be fun to watch and maybe even a melody you could share with your own children or grandchildren. I did finally get the song copyrighted in 2015, but please feel free to use it with your own families as you wish. I'll send the chords and lyrics on request. Have a blessed day all!