Wesley United Methodist Church, Orange TX

What a beautiful picture of a flower in bloom and one getting there. I don’t know which I like the best the flower in full bloom or the one that looks like a perfect five pointed star. These flowers are out in front of our church and Rickey Johnson was out in front watering the flowers for me and he said look at the star. We again stood in awe of the beauty that God has built into nature for us.

In our Matthew Scripture from Chapter 14:22-33 we see just how God can use the weather to give us beauty in the scriptures. A storm blows up while the disciples are crossing the Sea of Galilee. They become afraid and rightly they should. Jesus knows their dilemma and comes to them, tells them not to be afraid and invites Peter to go for a walk on the water with Him. Peter is inspired and steps out of the boat and for a few moments he actually walks on the water. Peter then allows the turmoil going on around him to distract him and begins to sink into the water. His focus on Jesus is moved to the world around him and off of Jesus. Jesus reaches out to him and pulls him up out of the water and they climb into the boat. The storm is calmed and they complete their journey to the other side of the sea.

Fear, anguish, insecurity and perhaps other emotions were plaguing the disciples. It doesn’t have to be on a boat in a storm for us as disciples to feel such emotions. This world can bring us many trials and tribulations that we can be fearful about. If we listen to and look for Jesus during these storms He will lift us up and calm those storms. He will remove the fear and anxiety if we will just call on Him. His heart is peace and tranquility. He will share those traits with us if we let Him. The troubles may or may not go away but our travel through those troubles with Jesus will be much easier when we allow Him to share His peace and tranquility. He calms the storms by giving us the strength to face them with an inner peace that can only come from God. His way is the way of truth and life. It is the good life.

Have a great week filled with peace,

Randy

This entry was posted on August 4, 2011 at 9:37 pm and is filed under Pastor's Ponderings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.