Survival Guide To Storms In Life Series

SURVIVAL GUIDE TO STORMS IN LIFE MRK.4.35-41.

NATURAL STORMS LIKE TSUNAMIS CAN LEAVE WHOLE COMMUNITIES AND COUNTRIES RIPPED APART IN THERE WAKE, LEAVING SURVIVORS BEREAVED AND HOMELESS – AND COUNTRIES WITH HUMANITARIAN CRISIS ON THEIR HANDS.

BUT TONIGHT I DON’T WANT TO TALK ABOUT NATURAL STORMS - BUT THERE OTHER TYPES OF STORMS THAT RAGE IN THE LIVES OF PEOPLE ALL AROUND US, MAYBE YOU ARE IN THE MIDDLE OF A STORM RIGHT NOW…. YOU LOOK FINE ON THE SURFACE – BUT YOUR TREADING WATER JUST TO KEEP YOUR HEAD UP ABOVE THE SURFACE IN AN ACT OF NORMALITY.

THE STORM YOUR FACING COULD BE ANYTHING FROM A EMOTIONAL SCARS – DUE TO ABUSE, RELATIONAL PROBLEMS WITH YOUR WIFE/HUSBAND – PARTNER YOUR CHILDREN, A FINANCIAL CRISIS WITH THE PERVADING CREDIT CRUNCH, PHYSICAL STORMS WITH ILL HEALTH DIAGNOSED AND A FUTURE BLEAK, SPIRITUAL STORMS AN AWARENESS THAT THERE IS MORE THAN THE PHYSICAL – AND YOUR SEARCHING.

TONIGHT I WANT TO HELP AND GIVE YOU A REAL TRIED AND TEST SURVIVAL GUIDE TO STORMS ONE THAT CAN ENABLE YOU TO RISE ABOVE ALL STORMS AND ENTER INTO REAL PEACE IN YOUR HEART, WHATEVER SITUATION YOU FIND YOURSELF IN.

• SURVIVAL GUIDE 1 ‘TAKE TIME OUT’ V35 -36 .

HERE WE HAVE JESUS AND HIS DISCIPLES ABOUT TO TAKE TIME OUT TO SAIL OVER THE OTHER SIDE OF SEA OF GALILEE, THEY WANTED TO BE AWAY FROM THE DEMANDS OF THE CROWDS , THEY WANTED TO BE ALONE, THEY WERE TIRED AND SO HE CALLS HIS DISCIPLES TO GO OVER THE OTHER SIDE OF THE LAKE BY BOAT, TO TAKE TIME OUT, TO REFLECT ON ALL THAT HAS HAPPENED TO RECHARGE THEIR BATTERIES.

THE DEMANDS WERE PILING UP FOR JESUS AND HIS DISCIPLES IN PARTICULAR FOR JESUS HE HAD DONE SO MUCH IN SUCH A LITTLE TIME (TEACHING, DISCIPLING, HEALING) HE WAS WORN OUT! IN FACT WHEN HE GOT INTO THE BOAT HE WAS SO EXHAUSTED HE FELL FAST ASLEEP.

THE STORMS IN OUR LIVES CAN BRING US TO THE POINT OF EXHAUSTION, MAKE A POINT OF GETTING AWAY FROM THE DISTRACTIONS OF EVERYDAY SITUATION - PAUSE FOR THOUGHT - TAKE TIME OUT TO REFLECT – GET OF THE TREADMILL. TAKE A WALK TO BRADGATE PARK SIT ON TOP OF ST JOHNS MOUNT – TAKE A WALK ALONG THE CANAL – SPEND SOME TIME ALL ALONE – SWITCH OFF FOR 5 MINUTES. BE IN A PLACE WHERE YOU CAN JUST WIND DOWN FROM THE DISTRACTIONS OF EVERY DAY LIFE .

• SURVIVAL GUIDE 2 ‘EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED.’ V36. V37

HERE THEY WERE SAILING ACROSS ALL WAS CALM, IN FACT THEY WERE NOT THE ONLY ONES SAILING THAT DAY, V36 THERE WAS ALSO OTHER BOATS ENJOYING THE EVENING UPON THE LAKE. V37 TELL US THAT IT WAS ALL ABOUT TO CHANGE THE UNEXPECTED WAS ABOUT TO HIT THEM BETWEEN THE EYES.

FACT: THE SEA OF GALILEE IS A HUGE LAND LOCKED LAKE 680- FEET BELOW SEA LEVEL IT IS THE WORLD’S LOWEST FRESH WATER LAKE, WHICH IS FED BY THE JORDAN RIVER. 13 MILES LONG, 8 MILES WIDE, 150 FEET DEEP. SURROUND BY STEEP CLIFFS AND MOUNTAINS EXCEPT ON ITS SOUTHERN SIDE. AS A RESULT OF THIS MOUNTAINOUS RANGE IT IS KNOWN FOR COOL WINDS, WHICH RUSH DOWN THESE SLOPS AND OFTEN STIR UP VIOLENT STORMS ON THE WARM WATERS OF THIS LAKE.

FOUR OF THESE DISCIPLES APPLIED THEIR TRADE ON THIS SEA – THESE FOUR NO DOUBT TOOK ACTION AND ENDEAVORED TO DEAL WITH THE STORM (MAYBE AT FIRST THEY THOUGHT IT WAS JUST A STORM IN A TEA CUP) FIRST STORM THEY FACED , THEY HAD TO DEAL WITH STORMS BEFORE. THEY KNEW ALL ABOUT THEIR SITUATION AND THOUGHT THEY COULD HANDLE IT. SO OFTEN WE TRY TO DEAL WITH STORMS OURSELVES, AND SOMETIMES THAT MIGHT BE POSSIBLE, BUT SOME STORMS WE CAN UNDERESTIMATE ITS MAGNITUDE.

FOR INSTANCE A YOUNG STUDENT WHO WAS TO PICK UP HER 1ST CLASS HONORS DEGREE STUDENT AT THE AGE OF 21 SUFFERED A BRAIN HEMORRHAGE/ THE NIGHT BEFORE HER GRADUATION/ PROUD PARENTS INSTEAD OF ORGANIZING A BIG CELEBRATION WERE ORGANIZING HER FUNERAL. HOW DOES ANYBODY DEAL WITH THE DEATH OF A CHILD? SO UNEXPECTED YET IT HAPPENED. YOU MIGHT BE SAYING “THAT WILL NEVER HAPPEN TO ME!” ONE THING I HAVE LEARNT ABOUT THE “UNEXPECTED IS TO EXPECT IT!”

• SURVIVAL GUIDE 3 - ‘DON’T UNDERESTIMATE THE STORM.’ V37

PETER, ANDREW JAMES AND JOHN WERE EXPERIENCED FISHERMAN, AND TO BEGIN WITH THEY MAY WELL OF BEEN IN THEIR ELEMENT, IN THEIR OWN BOAT AND SHOWING THE OTHERS HOW TO SAIL, LETS FACE IT I DON’T THINK LEVI THE TAX COLLECTOR WOULD HAVE HAD A CLUE ABOUT SAILING. IT WAS ON THIS VERY SEA THAT THE FOUR APPLIED THEIR TRADE AS EXPERIENCED FISHERMAN. WELL AWARE OF STORMS BEFORE AND KNEW HOW TO HANDLE THEM. BUT THIS ONE WAS DIFFERENT!