He's in the storm

We had a sermon at church yesterday about when Jesus calmed the storm.  It's a fairly familiar passage where Jesus is asleep in the boat after a long day of teaching, and a storm comes up while he's crossing the lake with his disciples.  The disciples are scared that they're going to drown, so they wake him up, and Jesus makes the storm stop.

The pastor made a point that I've always known, but needed reminding of: just because Jesus is in the boat with us, doesn't mean the storms won't come.  (I know, double negative, confusing sentence, sorry...)

It's not that I expect life to be easy all the time, but I think to a certain extent, there's an expectation as Christians that if we're walking with Jesus, the storms of life shouldn't be quite as bad as they end up being.  Anyway, it was a good reminder for me not to expect life to be perfect.

Then the sermon went on.  (You didn't think that was the whole point, did you?)

I half expected the sermon to be pretty cliche, focusing on how Jesus is with us in the storm, and we just need to trust him to get us through safely, but the pastor ended up taking us in a bit of a different direction.  He pointed out how after Jesus calmed the storm, the disciples were in awe and asked themselves, "Who is this?"

And so he talked about how Jesus is God, and that the disciples were afraid because they forgot that. 

He is God.

We might remember that Jesus is with us in the storm, but we also need to remember that this One who is with us is the All-Mighty Creator.  He has the power to calm any storm -- not that he will magically make all of life's problems go away -- but when we turn to Him and trust that He, the Lord of all, is with us, we don't need to be afraid of the storms.  He brings peace.

I was reminded of an old downhere song I've been listening to lately, "Calmer of the Storm".

"You rebuke the wind and the waves
Once again I find I'm amazed & the power of your will
Cuz I'm a child of little faith
I feel the wind and forget your grace
And you say, "Peace, be still."

There on the storm I am learning to let go
Of the will that I so long to control.
There may I be in your arms eternally
I thank you, Lord, You are the calmer of the storm."

We can bear the storms of life when we trust Him to bring us peace.  May you know that peace today, friends.