My wife and I recently had the privilege of staying with a dear preacher friend and his wife at a beach house right on the ocean in Massachusetts.  Hurricane Jose was lingering off the coast and the surf indeed was raging.  We had the opportunity to drive along the coast and took some pictures of the waves crashing upon the rocks.  There is such destructive power in coastal storms that can wreak such havoc to the shoreline and homes built along it.  During the night that we stayed in the beach front home, the tides were very high and the waves were rough.  A deck ladder that allowed the homeowner to go from the deck down to the beach was bent and twisted right out off the concrete!  It lay on the beach and rocks below, nearly carried out to sea.

I am reminded of the the destructive power of storms in our lives.  We all have times when the tempest of life is raging.  Storms come across the shores of our lives and at times can have a dramatic effect on us.  One day the disciples were on a ship with Jesus when a terrible storm came upon them.  As they panicked and feared for their lives, Jesus was in the back of the boat sleeping.  Luke 8:24-25 tells us what happened:

“And they came to him, and awoke him, saying, Master, master, we perish.  then he arose, and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water; and they ceased, and there was a calm.  And he said unto them, Where is your faith?”

When the storms of life come upon us, we need to remember that Jesus is always with us and is available to help us in the storm.  Someone once said that Jesus can either calm the storm, or calm you in the storm.  Either way, the question is the same:  “Where is your faith”  Faith in the Lord is the key to weathering the storms of life!  While we were in the beach house, we looked out onto the ocean and we saw an amazing site.  There were actually people out on the water windsurfing!  While others may have been intimidated by the raging waters, these saw the opportunity for joy in the storm.  I want to remember this the next time I face a storm in my life.  Will I see the storm as raging and about to destroy me, or will I stay calm in the midst of it and seize the opportunity to see God work and bring good out of tempest?  May the Lord help us to keep our eyes on Him!