storms

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!

What is the Name of Your Storm?

/ pastorpete51 / 6 Comments 
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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The Storm is Passing By

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Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for in you my soul takes refuge; in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge, till the storms of destruction pass by. 
 Psalm 57:1 ESV

In the treetop Hawk sits silently
While the thunder crashes round
And the Sparrows flit into the barn
Where the Chickens huddle down

The Cranes stand in the rushes
In her house the Blue Bird sleeps
While the Chickadees are twittering
In the thickets dark and deep

But Eagles fly up to their nests
When their children cry
And shelter them with wings so strong
While raindrops start to fly

Can you and I do less than birds
Who know the place to hide
And fly to God our refuge
When the storm is passing by

The Storm is Passing by - by Peter Caligiuri copyright 2021 all rights reserved
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