No Storm Too Great

~~~ Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time ~~~

~~~ 1 Kings19:9A, 11-13A ~~~ Psalm 85 ~~~ Romans 9:1-5 ~~~ 

~~~ Matthew 14:22-33 ~~~ 

....After the fire there was a tiny whispering sound. 

God sent Elijah to the mountain top to wait for the Lord to pass by,
but every time he thought it was the Lord he was wrong.
The Lord was not in the wind, the earthquake or the fire;
the Lord was in a soft whisper.
The unexpected unobtrusive; this is the manner
 in which the Lord chose to reveal himself. 

This is recounted for the Book of Kings.

Jumping into the gospel of Matthew we find the Lord, Jesus,
coming on the waves of a turbulent storm...
fierce winds were blowing...the boat was being tossed about.

In the distance Jesus was calmly walking
 toward the boat of fearful apostles.

Jesus was the calm among the violent winds
 and waves of the storm.

Jesus must also be the calm for us
when we find ourselves caught in the inevitable storms of life.

We may not be able to completely avoid the turbulence if life,
but we can always cry out to the Lord to save us.

Today every news report is a wake up call
to keep our focus on the Lord.
The waves can be crashing around us but the
Lord is coming out to meet us.

Peter may have acted impulsively
when he jumped into the stormy waters,
but he had his gaze fixed on Jesus.
He called out to Jesus to save him he did not give up.

Do you think Jesus would have let him drown?

I think probably not, but the conclusion would have still been the same.

Jesus would have scolded him for his lack of faith.

There is no storm too great for Jesus to come out to meet us.
There is no storm too severe for us to call out to God to save us.

He is most likely the only one who can brave
the terrible storms to reach us.

Jesus is the source of all calm and peace
 that we long for when tossed about in a storm.

We are Blessed...
for when we call out to him
 he is already on the way to our side.

Peace, do not be afraid.