Growing up I recall a few hurricanes that came rolling through our area. As a child we were taught that when it got very calm outside we should remain indoors because it was the eye of the storm passing over. Turbulence would soon re-emerge and we should remain protected. It seemed so odd to have that oasis of peace in the midst of a raging hurricane.
One of the most turbulent times in my life was when I began to realize I was gay. I could not even utter the words to myself. I had hints and a great amount of fear. I tried to maintain calm and my spiritual training helped a great deal. Still I saw a sea of hurt, turmoil and intense mental anguish all around me. I know what it is like to think that suicide might be an option. Every turn seems full of negative possibilities.
Around this time, in the midst of therapy and prayer, I reached out for more guidance and for role models that might know what it was I was going through. It is thus that I began to see the hero of Bishop Gene Robinson. He too had gone through a storm of sorts, much worse than mine. His book In the Eye of the Storm was very calming to me.
I wonder what allows us to have any semblance of calm in the midst of life's adversities. Had it not been for role models and my deep faith, I might easily have succumbed to the evil temptation that suicide was a viable answer for me. The fact was, while I could see the turbulence all around me in a way I may never be able to fully explain, it would have been much worse had I not the faith in Christ.
So the Apostles are terrified at the storm and Jesus remains totally calm ( asleep even! ) in the midst of the storm. Jesus commands even the winds, the storm around them. Can we command the storms too? I would dare say yes in Christ's name.
If faith does not take away the storms, faith at the very least puts things into perspective. You realize what is truly important and what is smoke and mirrors around us. Hurricanes, personal or otherwise are pretty extreme examples of life's ill winds. Can we see stop our spinning in the much simpler things that befall us on a daily basis? What is truly important? What really matters and can we put the nonsense aside knowing what truly matters?
One of the most turbulent times in my life was when I began to realize I was gay. I could not even utter the words to myself. I had hints and a great amount of fear. I tried to maintain calm and my spiritual training helped a great deal. Still I saw a sea of hurt, turmoil and intense mental anguish all around me. I know what it is like to think that suicide might be an option. Every turn seems full of negative possibilities.
Around this time, in the midst of therapy and prayer, I reached out for more guidance and for role models that might know what it was I was going through. It is thus that I began to see the hero of Bishop Gene Robinson. He too had gone through a storm of sorts, much worse than mine. His book In the Eye of the Storm was very calming to me.
I wonder what allows us to have any semblance of calm in the midst of life's adversities. Had it not been for role models and my deep faith, I might easily have succumbed to the evil temptation that suicide was a viable answer for me. The fact was, while I could see the turbulence all around me in a way I may never be able to fully explain, it would have been much worse had I not the faith in Christ.
So the Apostles are terrified at the storm and Jesus remains totally calm ( asleep even! ) in the midst of the storm. Jesus commands even the winds, the storm around them. Can we command the storms too? I would dare say yes in Christ's name.
If faith does not take away the storms, faith at the very least puts things into perspective. You realize what is truly important and what is smoke and mirrors around us. Hurricanes, personal or otherwise are pretty extreme examples of life's ill winds. Can we see stop our spinning in the much simpler things that befall us on a daily basis? What is truly important? What really matters and can we put the nonsense aside knowing what truly matters?
Matthew 8:18-27
Now when Jesus saw great crowds around him, he gave orders to go over to the other side. A scribe then approached and said, ‘Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.’ Another of his disciples said to him, ‘Lord, first let me go and bury my father.’ But Jesus said to him, ‘Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.’
And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. A gale arose on the lake, so great that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. And they went and woke him up, saying, ‘Lord, save us! We are perishing!’ And he said to them, ‘Why are you afraid, you of little faith?’ Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a dead calm. They were amazed, saying, ‘What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?’
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