Going Through the storms

Time just seems to be fly by this summer.  Life faces many challenges but Father God helps us through them all. 

As I left off last week dealing with storms in life.  This last weekend I faced a thunder storm on a motorcycle.  Last weekend my wife and I decided to go see our oldest daughter in Houston on the motorcycle. It was hot and humid that morning as we started out. The sun was shining with a few clouds. We stopped for breakfast and as we set out again the sky did not look so good. The forecast had only mentioned a slight chance of scattered thunderstorms popping up later that day. As we drew closer to Houston it started to sprinkle. Before I could get off the Hwy it began to rain. We pulled into a gas station and waited it out. It was a fast moving bad storm with a lot of lightning.

Then on the way back we faced another storm. This one was worse than the first one.  I tried to get ahead of it, but as we turned unto another Hwy, before we could find shelter we were it. Believe me there is nothing like a hard down pour while riding a motorcycle.  It slammed into my face and body. In no time we were soaking wet. We found a station pulled over and waited as it lightning, and thundered. After a bit I looked on my phone saw a clearing ahead, yet the storm seemed to settle in over us. I told my wife we are already wet and just up ahead we will be in the clear. We headed back out and made it home with clear skies.

That ride reminds me of life. We all face storms in life, some fear them, others beg God to deliver them, then there are those who just weather them and push through.  I don’t know if it is me or at times it seems there is a whole generation of people who have been so sheltered that they just can’t seem to weather storms. I have seen parents that do everything to keep their children from facing disappointment or lose.  It just seems like we have safety everything to prevent injury or pain. I am not saying it is all bad, but let’s face it life is full of bumps, bruises, storms, ups and downs, and disappointments.  We all have survived many a tragedy, or stupid choice.  For anyone to try to tell us that life does not have to have any bad in it is deceptive. In many a storm in my life I have had those who would try to tell me, I must of sinned, or I lacked faith.

I am reminded of the story in Matthew 8.  Jesus told His followers to go to the other side of the sea.  While in the boat in the middle of the sea a storm arose.  The story tells us that the boat was taking on water and these men were experienced fishermen. They feared for their life, but Jesus was a sleep in the boat.  They woke him and asked him if he cared that they were going to sink.  Jesus got up and rebuked them for their lack of faith or we could say confidence in his presence and command to get to the other side. 

You see it was not that they faced a storm, or just did note have faith. They just did not truly realize who was with them, and what his command to get to the other side carried.  If they truly had understood that Jesus was the true messiah, the son of God. They would have had confidence in knowing that just having him in the boat was enough to get them through the storm no matter what.

This is what was beginning to happen to me in those days.  I was discovering Father God, knowing who he was. The one true God and his son the man Jesus the messiah.  I was hearing His voice and I longed each day to spend time with him.  As I was going through those storms in my life, I was beginning to face them with new confidence.  I was beginning to see myself as He saw me, and I began to pastor with passion and confidence.  Each morning I asked Him to change me, change my heart, change my thinking, make me the person He desired me to be.

Pro 10:22  The blessing of Jehovah itself makes rich, and He adds no sorrow with it.

:23  To work out evil devices is as laughter to a fool; so wisdom is to a man of understanding.

:24  What the wicked fears shall come upon him; but the desire of the righteous shall be granted.

:25  As the storm passes, so the wicked is no more; but the righteous is an everlasting foundation.

Heb_4:16  Therefore let us come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Psa 23:4  Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

Next time, changes are coming

Storms of life

It has been a couple of weeks since my last post. For us in our part of Texas, life has been a little upside down.  We have had more than our share of rain and storms this last few weeks.  Starting with a couple of weeks ago a storm hit our neighborhood. It blew out the top of one of our trees and one large branch went through our roof. Then it blew out some of our fence. Needless to say we spent the rest of our weekend cleaning up our yard.  Then just this last week we were hit again, this time the next neighborhood over was hit with a tornado, with the whole area flooding from heavy rains.  Even the road in and out of my neighborhood was overtaken with flood waters from a creek. In many ways these storms and rain has infected those of us in our area in many ways.  So, before I knew it I have been busy and lost track of time.

With all that I have said about the storms we have experienced, I have been thinking and praying about my own life's  journey of healing  and the storms in life I have endured. I know we all have experienced hardships and storms in our lives. Some a little harder than others.  The other morning, I was praying and talking to Father, thinking about our storms. Then a question came to me in my thoughts.  Why do some endure more storms than others and why do some seem to survive while others completely loose it?  The scripture in Matt.5.45, the sun shines on the just as well as the unjust, and so does the rain. Simply putting it life happens to us all, some just seem to have more storms than others. Like people who live in Oklahoma seem to have more than their share of tornadoes, but statistics prove otherwise. 

A couple of words came to me, perspective and faith.  This has had a lot to do with me and my life growing up and finding healing.  If I have learned anything in life, it is storms will come. Let me give an example of what I want to say. In the aftermath of last week’s tornado, on our local news they showed a video of the storm by an individual that stood outside while the funnel cloud went by. He was a bystander that did something dangerous to capture an event. While almost right next door a house suffered great lose and damage.  The guy taking the video saw it as a thrill, while just doors down someone suffered lose.  Then later that night one of the kid’s friend came over from that neighborhood. He told us he was in his home I believe gaming, and did not even know a tornado had passed by his back yard until his father came home and told him.  He then looked out his back door and saw damage and fallen trees.

All three of these people, the video person, the person who lost, and the one who had not even known, all experienced the same storm.  They all had a different perspective and view of the same storm.  It was simply who they were.  How we perceive storms has a lot to do with how we deal with them.  Then there is the person like my daughter, that take our pets and herself into the middle bath tub.  I am not condemning any of these people, they all saw and experienced the same storm, but it’s effects on them was all different.  It is kind of like the glass halve empty or halve full. 

Dealing with my journey of healing, I have found that storms have come and gone and how I dealt with each one has had to do with how I perceived them and where I placed my faith.  There is where I wanted my God to do a work in me.  I was drawing closer to God my Father and began to seek for deeper truths and to know who I was.  I will not say that I have always had a good perception, or properly put my faith where it needed to be, squarely on my Father.  Then even still today I have to work at it and stay focused on the Father to have good perceptions and faith in God.

You see every storm has two sides.  It can be destructive and well as cleansing.  It brings disaster to some and blessings to others.  In an economical down turned community a storm may damage one’s home and at the same time provide a job for another.  The scripture in Romans 8 comes to mind.   Rom 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.  Then in those days as I began my journey of change and healing many scriptures became a part of my life.

Psa 27:1  Jehovah is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? Jehovah is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?  Psa 27:2  When the wicked, my enemies and my foes, came on me to eat my flesh, they stumbled and fell. Psa 27:3  Though an army should camp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war should rise against me, in this I am trusting. Psa 27:4  One thing I have desired from Jehovah, that I will seek after: that I may dwell in the house of Jehovah all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of Jehovah, and to pray in His temple. Psa 27:5  For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His shelter, in the secrecy of His tabernacle He shall hide me; He shall set me up on a rock. Psa 27:6  And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies, my encirclers; and I will offer sacrifices of joy in His tabernacle. I will sing; yea, I will sing praises to Jehovah.

I began to journal my daily times with my Father. As I learned more about him and discovered new truths. I found myself in need of changing.  I was coming to the place where the things I used to believe in were changing, and there were very few people I could share what I was learning and experiencing  with and often could not even  ask anybody questions. For often many would misunderstand what I was trying say or figure out. One time I asked a couple of pastor friends of mine about something I was discovering in the gospels and they took it wrong and it was long time before we ever had fellowship again.   I was learning that my world needed to change, and my perspective and faith needed to change as well.  I had come to the conclusion that as a pastor I had no power to change others, not even my own wife. So every morning I began my time in prayer asking God to change me.  Father change me, make me a better man, a better husband, a better father, a better pastor. Every morning I would ask God my Father to change me. The psalm of David began to have a great impact on my life   

Psa 51:10  Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

Psa 51:11  Cast me not away from Your presence, and take not Your Holy Spirit from me.

Psa 51:12  Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.

Let’s continue with this!