Coming home early this week from a brief family vacation to celebrate my parents 55th Wedding Anniversary, we ran into a terrible storm. You could see the dark clouds and rain coming for a little while, but the wind and the torrential rain that followed were a major surprise and brought almost everything to a stand still. Pat even remarked that it was the hardest rain that she had ever driven through.
In our Gospel lesson for this Sunday (7.9.06), Mark 4:35-41, the disciples faced a major storm … a furious squall. As sailors, they should have had some familiarity with the storms that would quickly form on the Sea of Galilee. But this was a big one that I believe even surprised them. They were following Jesus’ request, and even had Him along for the trip … and yet the storm was so great that they despaired of their own lives.
As this account unfolds … there are so very many lessons and encouragements for anyone who is …
- in the midst of a storm in life, or
- coming out of one, or
- is aware that sometime, they too will be facing a “furious squall”.
Having faced some major storms in the last years personally, realizing that many of our members are being tossed by some severe storms, and knowing that Our Savior Lutheran Church has faced some and will, I found this Scripture lesson full of God’s council for me as a child of God, for so many others, and for this wonderful church as it also moves forward in our proposed relocation as the body of Christ.
I would look forward to exploring this Word of God with you this Sunday. Perhaps you could read and study this lesson a head of time and be moved by God’s Spirit to even celebrate storms in your life. God is sooo good!
Blessings!
