Hey Everyone,

     In Matthew 8:18-34 Jesus and His disciples head out across the Sea of Galilee. As you are probably familiar with the story, they are leaving a multitude behind.  The part of this story that really hit home this morning is the concept of great storms or winds arising suddenly and us not knowing how to handle them. 

     Jesus' disciples were not fearful men and had even been fishermen before this great storm.  I suppose they could have lost their knack for their trade, but I rather assume they maintained their bearing on the sea.  For such a tempest to cause such a fit in these men emphasizes the magnitude of such a storm.  Furthermore, these men had been with Jesus for a while.  They had seen his power and beheld his miracles.  But in this story we find them fearful for their lives. 

     There is great parallelism here for mine and many of your lives.  So often I find myself in a storm of homework, inspection, exaustion, and failure.  As with the storms in Nature, we cannot control these, but we can choose to stay inside.  For me that means staying inside of God's promise of faithfully providing me the Grace to go on. 

     Thank you all for your prayers, God is working through them I promise.  I miss everyone back home so much and can't wait for the next time I see you all.  Hopefully you will have your own stories of God's faithfulness in the midst of life's storms.

~Chris