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"Crossing Seas" Part 1 "The Storms of Life"

by Jerry Ousley  
5/10/2013 / Christian Living

I will never forget the first time I really saw the ocean. I had witnessed the mighty Gulf of Mexico once as a boy, but in the eyes of a child everything is huge yet nothing is big enough. We were more interested in going swimming than in the magnificence of the ocean. But a couple of years after Deb and I were married we took a trip to Folly Beach South Carolina. Then it wasn't as built up as it is now and we checked in to Betty Boob's Motel just across the road from the ocean. We could hear the crash and pounding of the waves against the shore but because of a huge sand dune the water was out of sight.

We couldn't wait. After we checked in we immediately put on our swim suits and headed across the road to see this magnificent Atlantic Ocean. Once we cleared the sand dune I stopped dead in my tracks. As I looked out over the vastness of this mighty body of water suddenly my breath was taken away. I couldn't believe it. To this day I am always struck with awe when I see the great gulfs and oceans on this planet.

Of course the awe was short-lived; Deb and I decided to lie on the beach for awhile and after only one hour our Southern Indiana white bodies were suddenly as red as lobsters! We spent the rest of the trip rubbing ourselves down with lotion! Oh, our burning skin!

The Sea of Galilee is only a tiny spec on the globe in comparison to the mighty Atlantic Ocean. But even this tiny spec is huge in its own way. This body of water is approximately six miles wide and sixteen to eighteen miles long. In our modern era of motor propelled machines, that doesn't sound like a long way. But if you're pushing a boat through the water using only oars, well then that's got a way of making it very big in no time.

In John 6:16-21 we read the account of the disciples crossing the Sea of Galilee without Jesus. He had gone to a mountain to pray and had apparently instructed the disciples to go on across Galilee without Him. I guess they figured He'd catch up to them later. I want to remind you that many of these men had been fishermen. They had experience on the water. They had spent many nights in many stormy situations. They knew what they were doing and they were not novices.

They rowed for several hours and had now come about three and a half miles when they were caught in a ferocious storm. Night had fallen and they rowed hard against the waves seeming to be making no progress whatsoever. It seemed the storm would overtake them and these brave, brawny fishermen became scared. It took a lot to scare them. This had to have been one doozy of a storm.

The waves seemed like mountains swelling on the sea; the lightening was crashing on all sides, and the wind whipped them around until they had lost sense of direction. Except for the lightning crashes the sky was black with clouds. They felt they were going to die and wished for the day. Just one sliver of light in the eastern sky would have given them hope; but hope did not come.

We may not be caught in a storm on the sea but the storms of our lives are certainly as bad. It seems that the mountainous waves of trouble come one after another, and the sky is dark with problems. We long for an answer as the disciples longed for the day and it doesn't seem to be coming. Are we going to die? Will our problems and the stormy life circumstances that we are facing completely destroy us? What of our wives, husbands, and children? How can we ever provide for them in the face of this terrible storm?

I want you to know that the Master of the storm is coming. Hold on. Keep believing. He is on His way. One more wave, one more lightening strike, one more gust of wind; if we can just hang on in the storm of life, He'll be here soon.

Jerry D. Ousley is the author of ?Soul Challenge?, ?Soul Journey?, ?Ordeal?, ?The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional and his first novel ?The Shoe Tree.? Visit our website at spiritbread.com to download these and more completely free of charge.

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