Storms. January 21, 2022

      Do you enjoy storms?  Well, it depends upon the severity and situation.  Sometimes a snowstorm or a thunderstorm can be relaxing, beautiful, and an exciting event.  But when a storm crosses the threshold of safety and becomes a danger, that’s when I don’t enjoy storms.
       I remember one winter night while driving in the mountains of Southwest Virginia I encountered a “white out” snow storm.  The visibility out my windshield was almost nonexistent.  I tried everything:  headlights on high beam and low beam, rolling down the window and putting my head outside to see if that would help.  Nothing helped!  I admit it was frightening.  Eventually a truck passed by with headlights strong enough to penetrate the snow.  I immediately pulled my car behind the truck and followed it out of the snow storm.  I’m sure the driver of the truck was aggravated to have someone following so close on their bumper, but I was so very thankful to have them lead me out of the storm!
       Jesus was once caught in a storm.  It happened as he and his disciples were crossing the Sea of Galilee.  As they made their way across the lake a storm suddenly arose.  The storm was so violent that everyone’s life was in imminent danger.  The disciples woke Jesus from his sleep and he rebuked the storm, bringing the sea to an immediate peace!
       Jesus faced many types of storms in his life, just like we do.  Once when Jesus visited his hometown of Nazareth the citizens became so angry at his teachings that they decided to kill him!  They took him to a cliff outside the city and were going to throw him over to his death.   The Bible tells us that Jesus miraculously walked through the angry crowd to safety!  Wow!
      Can you identify with these stories of Jesus’ life.  I bet you can, because life was no different then than it is now.  Life, all life, everybody’s life, will include storms.  I guarantee it!
      The Bible gives us an assurance that Jesus will not leave us in times of storms.  Jesus is not a “fair weather” friend.  Jesus is a true friend.  I invite you to join us Sunday morning at 10:00 AM as I preach a sermon entitled “Jesus, A Faithful God In Times Of Storms”.  You can join us in the sanctuary, on Facebook or YouTube.  🙂
-Pastor Jeff Carico