August 16, 2010 Calming Life's Storms 1

One day Jesus said to His disciples, "Let's go over to the other side of the lake."

Good Monday Morning, my dear brothers and sisters. It is a beautiful morning here at the Southern Location of the North Pole. Would you believe it, would you believe it, August is halfway over and school opening is just around the corner. High school sports teams are back at practice. Wait a minute, is something backwards here... What would be said if school districts would call in teachers early and say we are having two weeks of practice in Reading, Math, and English and sports would start later? Oh, silly me, that is right, education of our kids in Reading, Math, and English comes after sports and all those activities. Anyway, it is Monday and the day we pray for our leaders, our veterans, military, police, firefighters, and all others who work hard to help us including our doctors, nurses, etc.. Today let's add a few more groups to this. How about all those who work in retirement homes and nursing homes, those fine men and women who don't make much money but work to keep us going in our senior years? And just a few more groups, let's add in our trash people, you know those folks who show up rain or shine and grab your stinky can (the one at the end of the driveway, thank you) and haul off your trash. And today let's pray for Sue who for a long time wrote a daily for the Mountain Movers warriors. Sue has cancer and is need of our prayers... Add her to Ron and others who have cancer.

Calming Life's Storms: 1 Luke 8:22 - One day Jesus said to His disciples, "Let's go over to the other side of the lake." (NIV)

You more than likely remember this passage and how when Jesus and His disciples were out on the lake a storm came up and it looked like it was going to swamp the boat. The disciples got scared, woke up Jesus who was napping and Jesus calmed the storm. According to the Bible it went like this.

Luke 8:23 - As they sailed, he fell asleep. A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, they were in great danger. 24 The disciples went and woke Him, saying, "Master, Master, we're going to drown!" He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm. 25 "Where is your faith?" He asked His disciples. (NIV)

Now let's put this into our own lives today. We get up in the morning and we start with prayer, right? We talk to God for a while and we get ready to do what we are going to do for that day, some going to school, some going to work, some maybe in today's market going job hunting, others of us taking care of animals and our mates in life. Whatever your plans for the day, the day looks great, everything is going perfect and then the storm comes up. Folks, we cannot always hide from life's storms and do we know when they are coming? A few years back there was a storm that came in down in New Orleans; it was called Katrina and it was big, and people had a lot of notice to pack up and get out of the way, some did and some did not, and some who did not lost their lives. Some back then turned to the Lord for help and others turned to the government, some might have turned to both. Then some strange things happened, people were given lots of money by the government and they spent it on things other than replacing their homes... the governments also spent money on setting up all the gambling places and all those bad houses, etc. Maybe, just maybe, that is why God did not calm that storm in the first place. I don't know that for sure, but the people were warned to get out.

Now you heard a lot about that storm, but did you hear about this one? In Harrisburg Pa. there is a street called Cameron Street that in 1972 went under water, most people got out what they could and a lot of the businesses came back. Some like the city bus company at the time left all their buses instead of driving them to higher ground. Now let's go to last Thursday afternoon. We had some thunderstorms pass by, Harrisburg Pa. had one that really dumped some rain, over three inches of it in just a short amount of time. A railroad bank caved in and the coal dirt and mud came over a bank and went through the doors of Strawheckers Auto Glass, a company that went through the flood. They had time to move things in 1972, this time no warnings, and the shop is all but totaled. I know the family that runs this business and I am sure when they went to work in the morning the last thing they expected that day was a flood that would shut down their business. After all it had been very dry and the river which went to 36 feet in 1972 was just over 3 feet. But it was not the river that caused the storm. Meantime, the owners said they will work all weekend and be open by today.

Now why did I bring this out? You see, when we get up in the morning and start out we just never know when we might have a storm hit us or our family or friends. It could be a minor storm or a major one, and folks, what might be minor to one person could be a major storm in the life of another. We don't know and each handle a storm differently. We do all have one thing in common, we all have our Lord Jesus we can turn to in times of storms or troubles. Will Jesus calm the storms of our lives as He did in the boat that day with His disciples? Well, maybe not the exact same way, but He does calm us when we have storms if we just let Him and all so often after the storm in our life, we find we are much better off, for we have learned how to lean on our Lord and how to work with Him... Jesus had said, "Where is your faith?" to His disciples, and I do believe He asks us that more than once. Where is your faith, Jesus will get you through the storm if you just trust and believe and moreso trust and obey. It does amaze me sometimes and I was like this for a long time in my life, but it still amazes me how we can turn our backs on Jesus day after day and then when we do have a storm in our life, we might ask, Jesus where were you? After my motorcycle crash in 1990 when I was hit in the rear while sitting in traffic, some people who knew that I had now fallen in love with Jesus asked me. Where was your Lord Jesus and why did He not protect you? Well, Jesus did protect me, I was injured, not killed, I was down but not out, and if you know that scripture called -

Romans 8:28 - And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose. (NIV)

Now I loved and still do love Jesus, and when I look at my life then and now I know that although I have a lot of pain, I am now working for Jesus full time, not part-time and things are better. So, indeed Jesus did calm that storm, but I had to wait and watch for not all storms are calmed at once... Amen. We will be working this subject this week... Has Jesus calmed a storm or two for you? Will you share one with us?

Dear Father in Heaven, we do not know when we get up if we will have a storm in our lives or not, but we do know this, you will be there to help us get through it if it comes. Lord, bless all those on our prayer list today. Be with all those who work hard to keep us healthy, safe and free. To You Jesus, the calmer of all storms, we give You the honor and glory for another day... In the name of Jesus, Amen.

Now go forth, sharing your blessings with others and helping Jesus calm the storms in the life of others. love ya, Pastor Dan.