The Blowing Storm.

It is an interesting title despite the fact the days have been quite sunny with very little cloud coverage. Rain has become a memory as the season has progressed into the summer heat of southern California. But my mind has focused on another storm. One I read about from time to time. A storm where faith or vision was tested.

The night was dark as the storm clouds erased all signs of heavenly lights. The wind whipped the boat through the choppy waters beneath its floor. The men are frantic in their attempt to guide the ship to shore, safely and securely. Yet the driving rain slashes at their faces and hands; the wind whistles around their ears. The hearts are dropping in fear while adrenaline pushes them to attempt a landing, not caring which shore. They just want land.

In the midst of the pressing storm, a vision is seen across the waging waves. The men blinked their eyes in disbelief, wondering if they were reaching the point of exhaustion and delirium. They could barely contain the truth what their eyes saw, a man walking on the surface of the water. He was steady and straight. The waves did not harm him.

One of the men in the boat called out in a hopeful voice as his mind grasped the truth of the man's identity. The man was Jesus. With faith that is beyond comprehension, he called out to him, asking this man for permission to come to him. Jesus told him to come and without hesitation in the midst of the storm, Peter took his steps to His Lord.

The wind whipped all around him, tearing at his clothes. The rain continued to slash at his face and body as Peter stepped forward again and again. The storm raged on, but Peter had eyes fixed on one sight. His Lord. His Savior. His Messiah.

Lately, my mind has been wrapped around the concept of the storm that raged that night of Peter's step of faith. No matter how many times I have read that passage, I still have yet to read that Jesus calmed that storm. No, despite Peter's faith to walk to the Lord, the storm raged on in the midst of this journey. Peter hardly noticed the storm until he took his eyes of Jesus. Then he saw the storm. And he was overwhelmed. His eyes left Jesus and only saw the storm.

Sometimes I think about my life. So many ups and downs. Some calm days and some stormy days. The calm days are easy. The stormy ones can wan my strength and courage. Many times the storm continues to rage, day after day without relief in sight. Then some days the storms are gone, or they just seem like they are. I look back on those days and realize that the storms had not diminished in their raging. I just fixed my focus on another sight. On another source of strength.

I am discovering that when I place my faith in Christ and take the step towards him, He does not always calm the storms of my circumstances. Sometimes, those storms rage on with might and power, doing everything it can to knock me down. No, I look back on those days and realize that the storm Jesus calmed was the one inside me. The peace came to my fearful heart and anxious mind. The peace steadied me to continue my walk towards Jesus. The storms still raged at times, but the storms were not in me.