When Storm Clouds Gather

It was a great day for sailing. A steady six knot offshore breeze was just enough to keep us comfortable as we anchored a thousand yards out in the Mississippi Sound observing the sailboat races sponsored by the Pascagoula Yacht Club. 

Our boat was a twenty-three foot John Allmand, Ticonderoga we named “Myrioko,” meaning “attraction” or “fascination.” It had been my dream to own a boat, and then living on the Gulf Coast, my dream had become a reality. 

My crew that day consisted of a couple of friends and a Seaman 1st class from Coast Guard Station, Pascagoula. As an active member of the Coast Guard Auxiliary, we were on the rotation for patrol one weekend each month. This was our weekend and our assignment was to monitor the sailboat races. At about four PM, most of the larger sailboats had finished and their crews were back at the club eating and having some adult beverages as the children and youth continued tracing in their Sunfish and other smaller sailing craft. 

On such a beautiful calm day, what could go wrong?

The time it took from my spotting the wall cloud until it hit the race course was less than three minutes. We raised the anchor, pointed the bow into the wind and prepared to ride out the storm. The wind, rain, and hail rammed us like we had run into a wall and the temperature dropped twenty degrees. I climbed down from the flying bridge and took control in the cabin. 

The radio blasted a frantic message from shore, “Boats over - kids in the water!” The “Myrioku” held steady as the Chrysler 350 I/O  kicked in and held us straight on course to the first capsized Sunfish. As we pulled alongside and pulled the young sailor from the water, he appeared to be in shock as they wrapped him in blankets and lay him on bed. Then we received directions to the next boat. By this time the rain was so intense the wipers could not keep up, I was flying blind. We had to steer by compass and get directions from the crew on deck. I had never been aboard a small boat like this in such a storm. In fact, I am not sure I have ever been outside in that kind of storm. It was sheer terror all the while the storm lasted. The adrenalin was pumping, and we had a job to do. But I did not feel capable in handling it, nor was I sure my boat could perform. All I could do was pray, ask the Lord to guide me. and trust those around me.

When the storm had passed, I was proud of the “Myrioko” and how she had  stood up to the storm. On the other hand, I was a mess physically and emotionally. But we had done all we were asked to do with six scared young sailors on board, wrapped in blankets, and still shaking from the now chilly air or their extreme ordeal. We were headed back to the Yacht club, to reunite the kids with their parents, when we received a radio call to go help an eighteen foot catamaran that had been turned upside down close to shore, about a quarter mile away.

It was an interesting sight, this catamaran with its mast stuck in the sand and two would be sailors wading in the waist deep water. We got as close as we felt was safe and threw them a line. After a couple of unsuccessful attempts, we were able to right their ship and offer them a tow back to the club house as the winds had quit entirely. As true sailors, they refused a tow from a "stinkpot" and thanked us for our help. We returned to the Yacht Club with our precious cargo.

That was a day, I will never forget, and it taught me several life lessons:

1.  There will always be intense storms in your life.

2.  They will not last forever, they will pass almost as quick as they arrive.

3.  You do not know how strong you are until you are tested by the storm.

4.  You are much stronger than you believe you are.

5. When in the midst of a storm, keep moving into the storm. Meet it head on. If you try to run from it, or hide from it, it will hurt you.

6. Always, always have positive people around you that you trust to help, encourage, and support you.

I invite your comments.

Bill Johnson

Where is God When You Need Him?

Two weeks ago, our furnace went out while we were under a severe winter weather warning. After a couple of days suffering while a technician tried a number of fixes, they pronounced the furnace dead. The cost of the new furnace busted our budget.

This discouraging incident was very tough financially, but there are so many others around us who suffer so much worse things such as being homeless in freezing weather and the loss of a loved one. In difficult times we can often become discouraged and wonder why God seems so far away.

“Where is God when we need Him?

St. John of the Cross, went through a time of feeling totally separated from God, coining the phrase "Dark Night of the Soul." If you are seriously trying to follow God, you will go through your own "Dark Night of the Soul" at some time. What can you do in difficult times?

Adverse circumstances discouraged God’s chosen people.

Seventy years after the Jewish nation was taken into Babylonian captivity, a remnant returned to their homeland. These were not bad people, they were a holy remnant. Hundreds of thousands had been taken to Babylon, but only fifty thousand returned to Israel. These were the ones most committed to the Lord and to the restoration of Israel. 

Their work was hard to rebuild and restore after 70 years of neglect.  They didn’t have a lot of money or manpower. They suffered crop failures, hostile enemies resisted their work, and they remembered easier times in Babylon. Each of these circumstances made them feel that God was far away.

Eighteen years after they returned they had made little progress due to any number of difficulties and setbacks. They were completely discouraged and wondered, "Where is this God we are serving? 

"Why was He so far away? Where is God?”

We have to remember that God has not moved! He may be waiting for you to do something.

Return to Me

The Lord responded to their questions through the prophet Zechariah.

"Therefore say to them, 'Thus says the Lord of hosts: "Return to Me," says the Lord of hosts, "and I will return to you," says the Lord of hosts." [Zechariah 1:3 (NKJV]

God assures them that He is not distant. If they would return to Him, He would return to them. In all of Scripture, this is the one prerequisite to receiving God's blessings and is stated in various ways; "Seek the Lord while He may be found," "Call upon Him," "Turn to Me with all of your heart," "Return to Me and I will return to you."

Turning back to the Lord is repentance. Personal repentance is always a prerequisite for fellowship with the Living Lord. Once they returned to Him, they would receive the spiritual blessings promised to Israel in Zechariah’s the eight visions that follow these words of God.

This is one of the strongest and most intense spiritual calls to repentance to be found in the Old Testament. God would not bestow comfort on unrepentant hearts. God's covenants with Abraham and David rendered certain the fulfillment of His purposes for Israel. But these covenants did not nullify the need for each generation of Israelites to be obedient to God in order to experience His promised blessings.

In today's church, there are some who would say, “We are New Testament Christians, that is Old Testament law and is no longer applicable.” But Zechariah’s words remind us of the words in the New Testament book of James;

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. [James 4:8 (NKJV)]

4 Steps to Back to God

James 4:7-8 (NKJV) Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 

1.     SUBMIT  to God

There are too many that believe submission is letting people walk all over them. Submission is not being a “Doormat.” Submission is being an “Elevator."

 Jesus submitted to the Father out of His Strength. [Phil 2:5-8] In the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus submitted to die for the church.

We submit to the Lord by elevating Him above ourselves - Putting His agenda above our own, His will above our will, and His desires above our desires.

2.   Draw Near  to God

For many of us, it is extremely scary to come near to God, the creator of the universe, the all-knowing, all-powerful, and always present. We come near with trepidation, fearing He will strike us dead. Jesus provided us a way into the holy of holies, through His cross. We do not need to fear His wrath. Our fear is of losing contact with the one who loves us more than any human can love us and wants to help us.

Prayer, fasting, scripture reading, meditation, and other spiritual disciplines are all ways in which we come near to God.

3.    Wash your hands

We rebel because we want control over our situations.  There may be areas of sin that we do not want to give up. Or there may be areas of our strength where we do not think we need God. Sinfulness keeps us from fully repenting. How do we deal with our sin? Confession and repentance from sin! After healing many Jesus told them, "Go and sin no more."

1 John 1:9 (NKJV)  If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

James 4:4  Every list of sin in the New Testament begins with sexual sin.

4.    Purify Your Hearts

We touch two separate kingdoms - the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of this world. You do not become purified by ceasing to sin. We have a problem obeying the "Ten Commandments" let alone following Jesus' "Sermon on the Mount." We purify our hearts by being So filled with God that there is no room for anything else. Worldliness is being so full of the world there is no room for God. Check your calendar, where do you spend your time? Check your checkbook. where do you spend your money? Check your heart and mind, where are your thoughts?

Return to Him

Sometimes we might wish that God would force us to return to Him, instead of wooing us to return out of our own choice. Nevertheless, God wants our freely given love, so He prompts us to choose Him and return to Him.

Are people today any more heavenly inclined than those of Zechariah's day? No, we - like the people in Zechariah’s day - must be responsive to the lessons of history if we do not wish to be destroyed:  

God is genuinely and deeply concerned about the state of His people. God solemnly promised to restore Jerusalem and the cities of Judah. This was an especially comforting promise considering the lowly condition of the cities of the "Promised Land" in Zechariah’s day. About four years from the time of this prophecy the temple was rebuilt. The Jewish people took the prophecy seriously.

As we prepare for the birth of that child in Bethlehem, let us prepare ourselves by returning to the Lord! 

Do not get caught up in the worldly activities surrounding Christmas, but become caught up of the anticipation of God coming.

Set Yourself on Fire

In an organization or in your personal life you come to times when you have to make a choice. Sometimes it feels like you are in a cold, dark cave. You know that you need to do something, but you are too tired, too cold, and really do not know what to do. St John of the Cross called it the Dark Night of the Soul. Organizations such as businesses and churches can also have a "Dark Night  of the Soul"

What you do next with your situation will determine your future. Your choices are: 1) You can curse your circumstances and give up, believing there is no escape; 2) You can wrap yourself in a blanket, get comfortable, and wait to be rescued; or 3) You can light a fire, make a torch, explore the cave, and find your way out.

Both individuals and organizations can find themselves in difficult circumstances that feel cold and dark with no apparent way to escape. Your business may floundering, you service organizations may have lost its way, or your church continues with rituals but is without the manifest presence of God.

We have witnessed many who made their choice; they curse the darkness and give up, they wait for someone to come and rescue them, or they light the fire. There is no "Book" answer that guarantees escape. But, to me there is only one reasonable response to the dilemma we face in the dark, “Light the fire.”  

Light the Fire

Fire is dangerous, just look at the wildfires in the West during the dry season. Fires in homes and businesses destroy lives and careers. But in the time of darkness and cold, a warm fire is a place of peace and joy.In the Boy Scouts we learned start a fire with simple things. All we needed was tinder, kindling, fuel, and a means to ignite the tinder.

Find the tinder

The first step to lighting your fire is to find some tinder. The Boy Scout will use, dry pine needles, pine cones or dried grass, all items which are easy to light.

The first thing you must do is find the most flammable issues in your life or your organization. What is your passion? These very sensitive places and things evoke the most discussion and emotions. Many of us are fearful of opening old wounds lest they destroy the organization. But when old wounds are not opened they cannot be cleaned and cauterized so healing can occur. Unopened wounds will just fester and hurt causing division and discontent.

Tinder also includes unmet dreams and desires, and unused or underused gifts. We need to find out where we have fallen short of our personal or corporate goals and dreams. These unmet dreams make for the tinder needed to start the fire.

John Wesley the 18th Century reformer was asked how he attracted such crowds to hear him preach. Wesley responded, "I just set myself on fire and people come to see me burn."

By setting ourselves on fire, others will not only watch, they will be drawn in to follow.

We have Ignition

Since tinder is easily ignited it doesn't take a lot of fire to get it going. As a Boy Scout we learned to ignite the tinder by rubbing two sticks together – friction causes heat. The easiest way to create friction is to begin to do something that has not been done before. Any time you have movement the friction between two objects results in heat. You must do something to cause friction resulting in heat.

Again, managers are afraid of heat because it disrupts the process, but our purpose is to escape the dark, cold cave, by lighting the fire. The leader is not afraid to start a fire to transform the organization.

Another trick I learned as a Boy Scout was to use a magnifying glass to focus the light of the sun on a dried leaf and watch it burst into flame. Solar plants have used mirrors to focus the sun’s rays on a target to generate electricity. We can easily ignite the tinder by focusing attention on a particular tinder, bringing it under the light of inspection. With much scrutiny, the tinder will ignite.

Feed the Flame

Most tinder ignitions fail because there is insufficient fuel to sustain the fire. Even before ignition we must gather enough fuel to keep the fire going. An organizational fire must be fuelled by increasing the number of people who care that the fire needs to continue and grow. Some however will yell, “Fire” and run for the extinguishers. Unfortunately there are many who feel they are firemen and their responsibility is to put the fire out.

As the fire begins to burn, more and more fuel is required to take it over the top.

Bill Johnson