We've had a number of storms here over the last three weeks, starting with a rather abrupt one that knocked over trees throughout our area and tore the roofing off of several homes and local businesses. We haven't had too much damage to our own home. I have some shingle damage to contend with, a few downed branches and a bent rain gutter that altogether won't require much time or effort to repair.

Sudden storms in life are something we can't necessarily be prepared for in the physical sense, but in the spiritual arena, we're supposed to have our ducks in a row. In Matthew, chapter 7 beginning in verse 24, Jesus tells us;
“Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: 25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock."

He goes on to tell us that whoever hears His words and doesn't do them will be pursuing a negligent and foolish course that will only bring calamity. This is one of those no brainer things where our Savior tells us something that should be glaringly obvious to us, but apparently isn't, because He did have to tell us. I don't know about you but I need continual reminding from the Holy Spirit.

In Matthew 8, Mark 4 and Luke 8 we can read the accounts of how Jesus, with his disciples began to make a crossing to the region of the Gadarenes on the eastern slope of the Sea of Galilee, and fell fast asleep on a pillow in the stern, or the back of the boat. He had just spent the day teaching in a village and now he was taking some of his closest followers out for some field training.

The Sea of Galilee is bordered by hills, some reaching 2,000 feet, while the lake itself is 680 feet below sea level. The warm and moist, even tropical air of the low level lake and the cool air of the hills above can interact and rush down the hills toward the center of the lake and cause sudden, very violent storms like the one Jesus was sleeping through.

We read about how one of theses sudden storms overtakes the passengers in the boat, and how it begins to fill with water. It's such a violent storm that the disciples fear they are going to die. They were even so afraid that they asked Jesus if He cared if they died or not.

Jesus awoke and calmed the sea with His words and their fear of the storm vanished, but a newfound, reverential fear of the Lord in their hearts began. Only He is capable of calming the storms in our spiritual lives and allowing us to weather them. Only He is worthy of the kind of awe and inspiration the working of His hand in our lives and His glorius Word deserves and evokes.