Hi ,
Trust you're doing OK with our latest extended lock-down.
Can I encourage you to continue using this time praying for our Nation and those struggling during these challenging times, the World we see on our screens and the widespread COVID impact, and countries like Afghanistan. Prayer has POWER TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE.
If you are doing it tough or in need of any assistance or prayer, please do contact me at holts@bigpond.com or 0419 248 724.
This week's Articles ( printed with permission from Max Lucado.com) for your encouragement are both focused on STORMS and stormy times in our lives : The Storm Walker and Where to Stare in the Storm.
Many blessings
Ken
The Storm Walker
A wall of water eclipsed Peter’s view. A wind gust snapped the mast with a crack. Peter shifted his attention away from Jesus and toward the storm, and when he did, he sank like a brick in a pond. Give the storm more attention than the Storm Walker and get ready to do the same. Whether or not storms come, we cannot choose. But where we stare during a storm, we can.
God’s call to courage is not a call to naïveté or ignorance. We aren’t to be oblivious to the overwhelming challenges that life brings. We are to counterbalance them with long looks at God’s accomplishments. The scripture says, “We must pay closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it” (Hebrews 2:1 NASB). Today do whatever it takes to keep your gaze on Jesus.
Where to stare in the storm
“‘Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.’ So He said, ‘Come.’ And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus” (Matthew 14:28-29).
Peter never would have made this request on a calm sea. I doubt Peter would have ever stepped out of the boat. Storms prompt us to take unprecedented journeys. For a few heart-stilling moments, Peter did the impossible. He defied every law of gravity and nature.
Matthew moves us quickly to the major message of the event, and that is where to stare in a storm. “But when [Peter] saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, ‘Lord, save me!'” (v. 30). Focus on Christ, you can do the impossible. Focus on the storm, you begin to sink.