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Who Is He That Even The Wind and Waves Obey Him

I was raised in a family of fishermen. As long as I can remember we fished out in the Everglades along the many canals. We fished from bridges and from the banks of both fresh and salt water. We also have had a boat for as long as I can remember.  

My brother got his first boat when he was a teenager and now he is a commercial fisherman. All this to say, the ocean and bay are not strangers to my family.

When I was in college, my brother and I were fishing off the Florida Keys and the boat stalled. No matter what he did, he could not get the motor started. It was getting dark and there was a storm coming. One the things he kept saying was that he did not know where we were, that we were lost.    

Now, that made no sense to me at the time because we did know where we were. We knew which Key we were fishing off from. I said, “We can’t be lost if we know where we are.” That really helped him regroup. What he really meant was he did not  know the water depth, location of shallow reefs, or where, if there was an emergency, we would get to safety. 

I had total and unconditional faith that my brother would handle the problem, and all would be well.  I was not worried about the storm or the oncoming darkness. I knew that my brother was in control and I had nothing to worry about. His knowledge of the sea, and the Keys, as well as his boat, would see us through. The one thing he lacked at that time was faith that God would guide him and give him wisdom,  and that is the one thing I prayed that God would give him. 

I am reminded of Jesus asleep in the boat when the storm arose. The Disciples were worried and eventually woke the One who could save them. Jesus rebuked them for their lack of faith and calmed the storm. Jesus was able to prove to them who He truly was.

Our faith in God should be the same. We may not know how a situation is going to turn out. It may be horrible and painful or it may be a small thing that is just bothersome, but we know the One who has all things under control.  

We are told to cast all of our cares on Him because He cares for us.  The book of Hebrews says, “Faith means being sure of things we hope for, and knowing something is real, even if we don’t see it.” (International Children’s Bible) 

If our faith is based only on what we see, or based upon what our outcome should be, then it really is not faith.

We did make it out. We swam the boat to shallow water where he could work on the motor. The storm bypassed us and he was able to make it into water he knew. We did make it to the docks after dark but he knew where he was, followed the lights and landmarks and got us home. 

It is a story we still talk about, how my faith in him as an experienced fisherman and faith that God would see us through. You aren’t lost if you know where you are. 

Pastor Greg

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FOCUSED

One of the casualties of aging to which I find myself a victim is the dimming of the eyes.  Ecclesiastes 12 counsels the young person to remember God, their Creator, in their youth before the aging process takes over and various faculties, as listed in verses 1-7, are diminished.

Clear eyesight when we are young may be something we take for granted. However, as we age the realization that our vision is not as sharp as it once was takes hold. “Readers” become standard fare for all intricate tasks. Our once keen laser sharp focus is now blurry and in need of help to restore its youthfulness. That restoration is found through glasses or some sort of rejuvenating surgery. Especially in the early stages of this degenerative eye problem we may be able to fake it and get by, but eventually we must relent and do something to correct the problem.

There is a parallel between physical and spiritual vision. “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus” was written in the early 20th century. The hymn writer, Helen Lemmel, was strongly influenced by the artist and later little-known missionary, Lilias Trotter. Miss Trotter started off as an aspiring artist but early on felt a call from God to reach the lost. She began her ministry by rescuing prostitutes from the streets of London. Later she went to Africa, without missionary funding, and served for over forty years. While there she penned a poem that would greatly influence the writing of the hymn “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus.”  The poem was entitled “Focused: A Story and Song.” 

The poem centers around focusing one’s attentions fully and completely upon God. She writes that Satan knows that if a person uses all their powers of concentration on being led by God’s Spirit, they will have a great intensity and impact upon those to whom they are called to minister. Lilias Trotter, writing in a more formal use of the English language than we are accustomed, shares some timeless insights which could very easily have been written today but with a different accent. She writes: “Never has it been so easy to live in half a dozen good harmless worlds at once—art, music, social science, games, motoring, the following of some profession, and so on. And between them we run the risk of drifting about, the ‘good’ hiding the ‘best’ even more effectually than it could be hidden downright frivolity with its smothered heartache at its own emptiness.”

The “good” hiding the “best” leads us to emptiness.  Could this be true of us today especially as American Christians? Have we sought the “good” while missing the “best”? The chorus of the hymn, which we will be singing in worship this Sunday, says it best.

                Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in His wonderful face,                                                                                                                                        And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.

Keith Pate

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