I'm a bit late on getting a recap of this sermon up, but it's been an active week or so. So active that I actually ended up missing out on the live sermon. Making matters worse, the topic of the sermon was one that really piqued my interest. As a result, I'm going by the recording of it.

The title is illuminating enough, of course. Timely message, it seems, coming on the heels of two massive hurricanes. But the "storms" in our lives aren't just limited to the most devastating of natural disasters. We all have our hurdles in life to clear - a tough stretch involving work, family, friends, and pretty much anything else. But to get the ball moving forward here, let's look at the Scripture quotes Lisa highlights for us:

Acts 27:9-26:

⁹Much time had been lost, and sailing had already become dangerous because by now it was after the Fast. So Paul warned them, ¹⁰"Men, I can see that our voyage is going to be disastrous and bring great loss to ship and cargo, and to our own lives also." ¹¹But the centurion, instead of listening to what Paul said, followed the advice of the pilot and of the owner of the ship. ¹²Since the harbor was unsuitable to winter in, the majority decided that we should sail on, hoping to reach Phoenix and winter there. This was a harbor in Crete, facing both southwest and northwest.

The Storm

    ¹³When a gentle south wind began to blow, they thought they had obtained what they wanted; so they weighed anchor and sailed along the shore of Crete. ¹⁴Before very long, a wind of hurricane force, called the "northeaster," swept down from the island. ¹⁵The ship was caught by the storm and could not head into the wind; so we gave way to it and were driven along. ¹⁶As we passed to the lee of a small island called Cauda, we were hardly able to make the lifeboat secure. ¹⁷When the men had hoisted it aboard, they passed ropes under the ship itself to hold it together. Fearing that they would run aground on the sandbars of Syrtis, they lowered the sea anchor and let the ship be driven along. ¹⁸We took such a violent battering from the storm that the next day they began to throw the cargo overboard. ¹⁹On the third day, they threw the ship's tackle overboard with their own hands. ²⁰When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days and the storm continued raging, we finally gave up all hope of being saved.

    ²¹After the men had gone a long time without food, Paul stood up before them and said: "Men, you should have taken my advice not to sail from Crete; then you would have spared yourselves this damage and loss. ²²But now I urge you to keep up your courage, because not one of you will be lost; only the ship will be destroyed. ²³Last night an angel of the God whose I am and whom I serve stood beside me ²⁴and said, 'Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand trial before Caesar; and God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you.' ²⁵So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me. ²⁶Nevertheless, we must run aground on some island."

There are a few more ancillary passages that touch on aspects of this story from the sermon notes, but the story from Acts is a good enough foundation for the sermon. Lisa offers five lessons from this passage that offer comfort in weathering the storms of our life:

• In the storms of life, remember your purpose and your mission.
• In the storms of life, let Jeses be your Captain.
  • You have to allow the voice of God to dominate the voice of man.
  • If you will search your spirit you will recognise the Holy Spirit talking to you - and He will show you what to do and how to avoid loss and harm and disaster in your life.
• In the storms of life, get rid of any unnecessary baggage.
• In the storms of life, never ever give up hope. Lisa relates Hebrews 6:19 here, that hope is our anchor in such storms. Following up on that is Lisa's observation that when we give up hope, we give up on God. That's a strong sentiment, yet one that often is the first that goes overboard. As part of Saturday's Compass class, brother Cordell mentions that this is often one of the ways that we effectively use God's name in vain. In John Eldredge's "The Journey of Desire," we read about how our loss of desire and hope is reflective of a diminishment of our faith.
• In the storms of life, reach out to others. This relates to the message of sowing a seed in times of trouble that Pastor Joel is big on mentioning. The larger lesson of Paul's arrival at Malta after the storm in the next chapter of Acts tells of his reaching out to the islanders, to the point where Paul and his passengers (fellow prisoners) were greeted with unusual kindness, sending Paul along in greater comfort than they had originally set sail in. The chapter concludes Acts and notes how Paul, though still a prisoner under house arrest, is effectively preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ from the heart of the Roman Empire.

All in all, a powerful message that relates to all of us as we weather our own storms. In the spirit of relating this to myself, I'm immediately bogged down with the realization of "which story to use here" due to their being so many to choose from. Truth be told, there are probably lots of events in each of our lives where we've weathered storms both major and minor. Each one seems to teach us something. It's tough to retell many of these without really dwelling on them too much, so I'll leave this one "unrelated" for now. But yeah ... I can relate. All too well.