Feb.9th Jesus Calms the Storm

What storms do you remember?

Have you ever been in a scary storm? I have been in a few. Once when my son was only two we were stuck in a museum washroom during a very intense storm. Others in the building were sheltering in place, but it wasn't safe for us to leave and join them. The wind wailed. The rain lashed the window. My son asked me, "Mommy, are there dinosuars walking outside ?" He was little enough that he imagined dinosuars stomping instead of wind and he wasn't scared. Oddly enough, I wasn't scared either. Sometimes in really scary situations where you know that there is nothing you can do, you call on God. I knew that whatever happened, God was with us. I had a feeling of peace even though nothing around me was peaceful.

Once the storm was over and we could leave our small room, we saw that the hallway was flooded with ankle deep water and the roof was off in many sections of the buildling. After the building was secured, police officers and museum staff escorted us outside. Tall hydro poles had been knocked down like the were toys.

Several years later my son and I were in the car on the way to his swimming lesson. We were caught as a tornado passed over us. The sky went from being a sickly green to black. The wind was so strong that trees were bending onto the road and we had to drive over small branches and swerve to avoid big ones. When we reached the town, the power was out everywhere and we could hear sirens wailing. We made it to the pool and sheltered with others until it was safe. There were no swimming lessons that day. Just like the first time we were caught in a storm, we found ourselves moving from fear to peace.

Sometimes storms are real - like those two and the one in our video. Other times a "storm" might just mean a difficult time in our life. For many people, the pandemic is one of life's storms. It is scary for those who are without jobs, those who are sick or those who are the essential workers. Maybe it's scary for you - either because you have to wear a mask to school and learn in a new way or because you are at home learning virtually and you miss your friends.

Like the children in the story today, we don't always know what to do during a storm. Sometimes it takes us a while to gather ourselves together. Sometimes we have to rely on others to help us through the storm. No matter what though, we know that God is with us.

Jesus Stills a Storm (NRSV)

³⁵ On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” ³⁶ And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. ³⁷ A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. ³⁸ But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” ³⁹ He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. ⁴⁰ He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?” ⁴¹ And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”