Caught in a Storm

Meteorology has always been a fascination of mine.  I would watch the TV and check out the internet websites that forecasted major weather events like hurricanes and snowstorms.  Weather storms are an interesting meteorological event.  Storms can be predicted but never do they present themselves as the weather forecasters predict.    Every summer and fall, hurricane predictors try to figure out how many major storms will hit land.  As we have seen from hurricane Katrina, storms can catch us off guard and teach us that we must be careful how we prepare for storms.

I think I loved weather events as a kid because that meant that there would be no school.  I guess I still have a little of that still in me, except I do not go to school anymore.  I remember one storm that hit the Mid-Atlantic with so much ice they closed school for days.  The storm iced everything with a half inch of slippery,cold ice.  All of the kids in the neighborhood broke out their ice skates and we skated all over the roadway!  The only way you could get anywhere was on ice skates.  We loved it because everything was shut down and we were stuck, which meant the school buses could not pick anyone up.

In this week’s readings, we read about two storms: one on land and one on the sea.  In the first storm, we read about David, the young anointed one in 1 Samuel 17.   David comes to the front line of the battle to face the giant Goliath.  This little shepherd boy is mixed up in this battle just as the armies meet.  Nobody thinks that David can beat Goliath, who represents the strength of the Philistines.  David is caught in a political storm as these two nations meet.

In the Gospel reading from Mark 4, Jesus and the disciples are caught in a boat in the sea.  The waves begin to swell as the wind blows and the wind beat the boat.  The disciples are frantically trying to save their lives.  They look for Jesus and find him sleeping.  How could someone sleep in a time like this?  The disciples were freaking out!  Jesus wakes up and calms the storm.

No doubt our lives are filled with personal storms of loss, grief, broken relationship, finical trouble, and addiction.  So many people look to so many self-destructive  things to guide them out of their storm, but often if the plan does not include God the result is less than desirable.

We need to seek God to calm the stormy seas of job loss, the emotional devastation of broken relationships, health challenges, worries over children, fear of being alone, and death itself.  We must cling to scripture, worship, prayer, and Christian community.  When we seek these God filled things during the storm we can weather the storm and even be guided out to clear skies.

What kind of storm are you in?  Who is at the helm?  How can you navigate to calmer seas?

REMEMBER: We start worship at 9:00 a.m. THIS Sunday!