Peace

Even the Wind and Sea

/ pastorpete51 / 2 Comments

And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”
Mark 4:41 ESV

Have you ever noticed that even when we think we’re headed in the right direction life is rarely routine for long? Here in this little story the disciples were doing exactly what Jesus had told them to do and yet everything went wrong. Worse yet, Jesus seemed unaware of or unconcerned about their life shaking problem. But the interesting thing is that when the Lord did get up and take care of the storm that they were not at peace. In fact God’s very method of saving them made them fearful of what they had just experienced. Does the Lord allow circumstances that shake our world to just force us to run to Him, or is He aiming for something more? Maybe He has been stirring up our comfortable routine to get us to ask life changing questions that only He can answer. After all life is not so much having the right answers neatly tied in a bow as in seeking Jesus for the answers and finding them in Him! Have a wonderful Sunday and may God speak a peace into your heart just as He did so long ago. Take a moment alone and ask Him to answer your deepest questions. Maybe this quiet praise from Emu music will help you rest in Him.

Unfailing Love

/ pastorpete51 / 18 Comments

How precious is your unfailing love, O God! All humanity finds shelter in the shadow of your wings. Psalms 36:7 NLT

Two nights ago I spent a mostly sleepless night alternately praying and worrying about our two daughters in law. On the same day one was going through major cancer surgery while the other was diagnosed with Covid-19. I know, because I have taught about prayer, faith and trust in God that He has them in His hands. Yet the human side of me struggles and silently repeats over and over the same requests.

So last night when I woke at 2:30 gripped again with fears and anxiety I prayed not just for them but for God to help my faith to grow. Of course the answer did not immediately jump out at me like toast popping up. But I followed my dad’s advice on sleeplessness and got up and changed the subject. I grabbed a bowl of cereal, put my earbuds in and listened to the Bible. Then as I relaxed my mental grip on the situation (partly from exhaustion partly faith) I could feel God’s heavenly wings around me and I knew that He can handle this. His plan- and unfailingly love is enough no matter what my fears. In the words of the song, I stopped all negotiations with the God of all creation” and I found my rest in the Father’s hands. If some nights you are also caught in that anxious crossfire between worry and faith then stop and take a deep breath. Change the subject just long enough for those mighty yet gentle wings of God to cover you and then find your rest in the unfailing love of our Father’s hands!

Peace Be Still!

/ pastorpete51 / 2 Comments

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.