Storms and Boats

Imagine you were a boat builder. You wanted to build a boat that would be your last and would be your masterpiece. All the skills you had refined over many years of boatbuilding would be utilized for this, your best project.

You’d use the best materials and design. You wanted your boat to last. Not to be a showpiece in some fancy Sandton toys for big boys shop, but a boat that could go to sea, could withstand salt water, buffeting winds, relentless hammering waves. You’d make it strong.

Then you’d take your boat out to test it. You wouldn’t go on a calm day on a peaceful pond. A sea going vessel can only be tested on the sea and you’d thrill as it weathered storms and cut through the challenging waves.

We are living in perilous times. You only have to look around you to realize that. You only have to read a newspaper, listen to the TV or even talk to other people. Life is not plain sailing.

And God knows that.

I recently listened to a tape by Tom Inglis called “Born for storms.”

He says God created us for storms.

That made a lot of sense to me. We all know that life is full of problems and trials, challenges and setbacks. Even the bible says so.

2Ti 3:1 says, "but this know, in the last days perilous times will come"

If God knows everything, then of course He would have created us to be able to cope with whatever life will throw at us. I don’t think God intended us for a life of ease, with no challenges to overcome, no victories to celebrate.

What happens when there is a major disaster? Like the twin towers of September 11^th?
Stories of bravery emerged, stories of helping each other, of pulling together. Sometimes it takes a crisis to get the best out of people. With the recent outbreak of xenophobia, the ordinary people of South Africa were amazing in rallying round to do something to help the displaced people.

God’s plan for us is that we should be the best that He intended for us. He wants us to grow more and more like Jesus. He is more interested in our growth and maturity than in our happiness. He uses storms to grow us. Even Jesus had to face storms.

So God allows storms in our lives so that we can grow. But the good news is, the storms are tailored to our ability to withstand them.

! Cor 10:13 says “Every test that you have experienced is the kind that normally comes to people, But God keeps his promise, and he will not allow you to be tested beyond your power to remain firm; at the time you are put to the test, he will give you the strength to endure it, and so provide you with a way out.”

Isn’t that great? We are destined to be over comers. We are destined to win. The devil is destined to loose.

So God sends storms tailor made for us to emerge stronger and victorious.

So how do we handle storms? How do we handle all the bad stuff that comes up in our lives?

James 1:2 tells us:
“My brothers, consider yourselves fortunate when all kinds of trials come your way, for you know that when your faith succeeds in facing such trials, the result is the ability to endure. Make sure that your endurance carries you all the way without failing, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”

God never promised us that we would have no problems. What He did promise is that he would be with us. Psalm 23 says, “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for thou art with me.”

Let’s look at how the disciples handled a storm. Jesus had been busy all day, preaching, telling parables. The disciples had been involved too. At the end of a busy day, Jesus says, “ Come let us cross over to the other side.” Wow! a chance to go somewhere with Jesus. Let’s go.

The bible tells us they took Jesus with them. It is always a good idea to take God with you when you are going somewhere. Of course first, they had to leave the crowd. Why? Because the crowd didn’t want to go where Jesus was going. In general we will find we will have to leave the crowd to go with Jesus. We will need to go against what is popular and considered the social norm. The disciples were happy to do that.

Suddenly a strong wind blew up, and the waves began to spill over into the boat, so that it was about to fill with water.

Now most of this crew were fishermen. Don’t you think they had come across storms before? So they used the skills they had learned before. They took down the sail, angled the prow to the wind and started bailing water as it splashed into the boat.

But it wasn’t working this time. The water was coming in as fast as they were chucking it out. What to do?

Ah! We forgot. We have God in the boat with us. Quick, call on Him!

One of them is delegated for the job. He comes back in a short while.

“Guys, I have good news and I have bad news. God is in the boat with us.’Yay, all cheer! “ The bad news is - he’s asleep”

Well, go and wake Him ups for heavens’ sake, before we all drown. It’s amazing to think that these disciples really believed that they were all going to drown, God with them. So they wake him up. “Teacher, don’t you care that we are going to drown?’

This is an honest, desperate plea. No fancy words or polite phrases. It’s telling it like it is. So Jesus woke up and spoke to the wind. He addressed the storm. “ Be quiet, “ he said, “Be still.” Then He said to His disciples “Why were you so frightened? Have you still no faith?” The disciples were filled with awe. They had not realized how powerful the one with them was.

Did the disciples learn from the experience anything of value? Anything that they would not have learned if there had been no storm?

You bet! They learned how mighty Jesus is. They had had a life changing experience. Their faith and their trust grew in leaps and bounds.

Was it a comfortable experience? No way! They were wet and soggy, bailing to exhaustion, pitching and tossing on an angry sea. They were really frightened and had got beyond their ability to cope.

God is not interested in our comfort, but in our growth. If any of you have watched survivor, how many of them said it was an experience of a life time. Yet were they comfortable? Not in the least. It was much worse than they expected. But God’s rules of the universe decree when you face storms with the right attitude, you grow.

So what can we learn from this? First of all, if we are facing a storm right now, know that we are overcomers. God made us for storms. We will get through. We are destined to be victorious. We need to do everything in our power to help ourselves. We can use all the coping skills that we have learned in the past, seek help if necessary, rely on our support system.

Secondly, always go with God. Take Him with us in the boat. Sure, there are times when he seems to be asleep. The situation just gets worse and worse and it seems like

our prayers are falling on deaf ears. Remember, God will not allow us to be tested beyond what we can endure. Persevere.

Wake him up. Be honest. Tell Him you are afraid. Tell Him you are angry with Him because it seems like He doesn’t care. Storms are a time for fellowship with God. Almost anybody you meet who has got through some kind of struggle will tell you how they got closer to God through it.

Then, trust Him. Just leave it up to Him. There is nothing really else that you can do anyway.

One version of James says, “Count it all joy when you face various trials.”

Don’t moan, don’t complain, don’t grumble. Count it all joy. You will overcome.

Broken

This morning I picked up my porcelain doll from the chair where she sits and, with a clinking sound, the top of her head came off in 8 or 9 fragments. She had looked fine. Nobody could have carefully arranged the pieces to stay together so I must conclude she did not drop on the floor. Perhaps something fell on her head or she was hit by an idle broom or something.
I love that doll. I made her myself about 10 years ago. She is the size of a newborn baby and she's got a soft body which is very cuddleable.
I am hoping that with a bit of strong glue and a lot of patience I will be able to mend her and perhaps hide the cracks under her wig.

Aren't we all like that? We are broken. Circumstances which were beyond our control have worked together to break us in some way or other. Sometimes we can hide the cracks and we pretend we are whole but sometimes it is beyond hiding. We are surrounded by other broken people, all hiding their cracks and pretending till we think we are the only broken one.

It brings to mind a strange dream I had last night. I dreamt I had a baby boy who had fairly big ears. He also had the capacity to open his ears and one could see the earhole opening wider. His father didn't like his big ears and flicked him painfully around each ear and told him to stop opening his ears. Such a look of pain crossed that baby's face that it still brings tears to the back of my eyes. Then slowly and painfully he started retracting his ears into his head until there were no signs of an ear at all. I knew that he would never hear again for the rest of his life and he was only 6 months old. That was a broken baby.

They say that we are all the characters in our dreams. What does that say about me? Broken I know about but deaf?

I believe in the Bible

What do I believe about the bible? I believe it is the inspired word of God. Not the dictated word of God. I believe it consists of different kinds of writings - history, poetry, motivational talks, theological debate etc- and should not always be taken literally in the same way that the decorative trim on a bridge is not meant to take the full load. I like the analogy that Nicky Gumble gives. God inspired the bible, but he didn't write it. Sir Christopher Wren designed St Paul's Cathedral. It took him a very long time. Nothing was done in the building process that was not part of his plan. Yet in all those many years, he never laid hands on one stone or lifted one beam. Other people did that. He was the designer. I believe that God is the designer of the bible but people wrote it. In their humanness they might have inserted something of themselves in it. For instance the writings of Luke show more of a scientific mind while John goes for deeper meanings and symbolism.

I believe that the choosing of the Canon (the books that were to be included in the bible) was under the guidance of the Holy Spirit even though comittees and councils did the actual work and recording. Comittees never wrote books of the bible - they decided from all the writings available what would be included in the bible and what would be left out.

I don't see a conflict between the bible and science. The bible teaches that God made everything (very few scientist really believe that everything came about by chance) and that he set up the laws and rules of the universe. Man has broken his rules. The Old Testament is an account of how God made a Covenant with His people but they always broke the terms of the contract. I have an open mind as to whether the world was created in seven days or seven periods of time. It does not matter. The world was created. It is. That is the important thing.

The New Testament is much easier to read but it has more meaning in the light of the Old Testament. I believe the accounts of Jesus on earth are historically correct and I believe in the miracles as they are set down. The parables on the other hand were just that - illustrative stories from every day life to impart a spiritual truth. The letters were just that - letters from a Spirit-guided church leader/founder to various churches relevant to the times and situations they found themselves in. Revelation is a deep symbolic book and different people have different ideas about the various symbols. The basic thrust however is that God is on the throne, this world as we know it is going to end traumatically (that's what scientists and environmentalists tell us too) and that Christ will come again and gather his people into a new world/life where there will be no more death, disease, sadness or evil.

I believe in the words of Paul to Timothy, "All scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the woman of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." I also believe that the bible is a very powerful way in which God communicates with us. How often hasn't a verse come alive to me, speaking straight into the situation in which I found myself even though it was written to somebody else nearly two thousand or more years ago. It is not the only way God communicates with us, but other forms of communication, especially dreams, visions, prophesies, words of knowledge, should always be checked against scripture because God will not contradict Himself and it is so easy for us humans to get it wrong or to misinterpret what God is trying to get through to us.
I believe the bible is God's written communication with us, like love letters, instruction manuals, inspirational thoughts, and that if we want to get to know God better, we need to get to know the bible better.

What would you like me to do for you?

I was reading in Mark 10 today. On two occasions Jesus asked somebody "What do you want me to do for you?" The first was to James and John who asked him to do for them whatever they asked, I assume it was the equivilaent of asking him to do them a favour. They wanted to be at his right and left in his new kingdom. This is not necessarily a bad request. It meant that they wanted to be near him, involved with him, believed in his cause and were willing to put in the necessary work for him. What they probably also envisioned was to get a bit of the glory, a bit of the fame, to be seen as leaders in the new kingdom.
Their request was denied.

The second was blind Bartimaeus, son of Timaeus. He asked to be able to see. He asked for the removal of the genetic or accidental defect that prevented him from living an abundant and full life. He did not ask for fame or even for the privilege of being close to Jesus or for any kind of ministry. His request was granted. Nowhere does it say he spent the rest of his life living for the lord, perhaps he did and perhaps he didn't but he lived a more abundant life and the glory of God is man fully alive. He got fame too. Wherever the gospel is read his name is mentioned - after more than 2000 years people know something about him.

The question is, if Jesus stood in front of you and gave you his full attention and asked "What would you like me to do for you?" What would be your answer?

Stuff Happens

Yesterday the little girl who lives next door to us was killed. A taxi mounted the pavement and knocked her down.

This morning I found Amos, her father, standing on the pavement outside with tears running down his face. I cried with him. I assured him that his little girl was in heaven. But I can't be sure of that. Christians believe that the only way to get to heaven is by faith in Jesus Christ and His atoning death. I have lived next door to Amos for almost 19 years but I don't know if his daughter believed in Christ. Shame on me! I don't even know if he goes to church. How could I have been so uncaring for 19 years and just gone about my own business?

Yesterday we heard at school that one of our fellow teachers had been attacked and robbed in her house by panga and gun wielding assailants. She is lucky to be alive.

Last night I heard that one of our fellow Gideons had found her lift-club friend dead and hanging from a rope. She had committed suicide.

Stuff happens. All the time. Guaranteed. Isn't it time we lived with an eye on eternity and not just in our own little business in front of our nose?

Light of the world

In South Africa at the moment we are suffering from a shortage of power. As a result, we have been subjected to "load shedding" which means that at certain times your electricity can be cut off. In January it was extremely haphazard and you didn't know when you would suddenly be without electricity. It got so bad that there was talk about mines closing down because they couldn't guarantee the safety of their workers.

I bought myself a rechargeable camping light. I couldn't wait for the next power cut. During February we had some respite. Only once was the power cut in my area. It was a stormy afternoon and as the black clouds gathered at last I could use my camping light. Not for long, however, because the electricity came on again at about 5pm.

This month, March, there are threats of power cut but more on a planned basis. Blairgowrie, my area, is due for power cut on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays between 6 and 10pm. At last my lamp can be used. Yesterday, as I left for work, the electricity went off. When I came home, it was on again. So I still have not had a chance to use my nice expensive rechargeable lamp. Sigh.

Then I got to thinking. A lamp is not much good when it's not dark. Jesus says we are the light of the world. For a light to work effectively, there must be darkness. Well, there sure is darkness in South Africa. The crime seems almost out of control. It is not safe for school children to walk home from school – there are muggings and rapes. It is scary to come home at night to your own driveway. Nearly everybody you talk to has been hijacked, or robbed in their home at gunpoint. Only the most violent and scary cases are reported in the newspaper which makes everybody live in fear. AIDS is rampant and the morality of the general population of teenagers does much to help it spread. If ever there was a dark place, it is South Africa. Jesus called us to shine in this dark world.

Yet, some of our best potential lights are emigrating to other countries where it is not so dark. There is surely an accumulation of good South African Christians in Australia, Canada, the UK, New Zealand and America. Don't get me wrong, they are shining their lights brightly where they move but because there's not so much darkness, it makes less of an impact.

Those of us that are left, remember all the darkness in the world can't overcome the feeblest light. Shine for all you're worth!

Left arm

I am a left arm. I am reasonably talented. I can bend my fingers, manipulate my thumb, swivel at my shoulder and bend and rotate at my elbow. Despit all this, I have always been a second class citizen because my opposing member, the right arm can do all these things better than me. I was side-lined. It was Righty who was taught to write while my challenging task was merely to support the page. Righty learned to hit a tennis ball with a tennis raquet while I only played ball boy - something like a clay pidgeon dispenser. My tasks were always menial and unappreciated.

Recently Righty developed tendonitis. Here was my chance to shine - to be appreciated! Do you know what? Because I was previously disadvantaged, my best attempts were not good enough and I was cursed for my clumsiness. My unco-ordinated fingers took half an hour just to get a contact lens into the right eye. I don't have enough strength to cut steak with a knife and my artistic attempts at hair-combing were rediculed. I took much longer to complete tasks than the more accomplished and talented Righty. Although I am getting more proficient at lots of things, let's face it, I will never be a right arm. I was destined to be a second class limb. Is life fair? Of course not.