July 27, 2008

From: Gary West Sent: Sunday, July 27, 2008 9:23 PMSubject: Storm walk

The storm rages,
Inside and out,
The vessel is battered,
The waves they rise,
The winds they howl,
The rain is flung,
The lightning pops and sizzles
The clouds invert dumping their contents
They spread and swell like a wild fire,
The white plumes of water are driven in hurricane winds
The thunder is all around, near and far.
The streaks across the sky form like instantaneous spider webs
Cracking and drawing ever closer
The salt burns the eyes, the mist, the spray, the rain, the darkness blot out the vision
The fear is gone, only trust remains
The maker of the universe strolls out to show His dominance, to enjoy the show.
He is the ultimate surfer, no board required.
He feels the surge of electricity at each bolt.
He created the bolts,
He sees the sea rage, the waves rise; He knows they all answer to His voice.
He is looking for trust, coupled with courage.
A rare combination, He knows the depth of the water, the height of the waves.
He knows the depth of the heart, the height of our faith.
Yet we are called…
Out into the storm, out to the place where we haven’t been before.
He beacons us, come…
The vessel we are in is sinking; the promise of its security is withered and dead.
Then we call out…He answers with a request. Step out and walk.
Walk to him.
The trade of a known death for an unknown life.
By faith we step, we focus, we stride, we surf the swells, and we lather in the sea mist and inhale the salty flumes.
Then we lose our vision, our focus is encumbered.
Suddenly we are ankle deep, and then knee deep, then thigh deep, soon we are to the belt, the chest and then we remember to cut our eyes back to Him.
He is there, waiting for us to take His hand. Waiting for us to see Him as He is.
The maker, the creator, the breath of life, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. The beginning and the end.
We are in a constant state of submission to His Lordship. The waves, the rain, the thunder, the lightning, they all submit.
We surface in His grip; we are secure in His grasp.
When we doubt…we sink, when we trust …we rise.
We must truss in what we cannot see to rise above what we can see.
The turmoil, the storm, the fear, is all real.
But when our vision of Him is held firm, our faith rock solid… then we can rise above the substance of our fears.
As we experience the rise from the depths, the sea, the storm, the wind, the rain, the turmoil try to draw our attention.
They try to distract us. The culprit is found in distraction, the weakness is not in our inability to stop the storm but in our inability to stop studying it. To stop focusing on the mess around us.
God please help my focus, please forgive my stare at the circumstances.
Let me only see you.
Let me only hear you.
Let my fear only be of you.
Let my love only be for you.
gary