Psalm 107:25-29 “For He commanded and raised the stormy wind,
which lifted up the waves of the sea.
They mounted up to heaven; they went down to the depths;
their courage melted away in their evil plight;
they reeled and staggered like drunken men
and were at their wits’ end.
Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble,
and He delivered them from their distress.
He made the storm be still,
and the waves of the sea were hushed.”

As I write, a tremendous storm has just finished battering the coast of Texas. Ike is currently a category two hurricane and has caused more destruction than 1998's Hurricane Charlie and Ike is bigger than Hurricane Katrina, spanning over 275 miles in radius. Ike was and is a dangerous storm. It is the storms that occur throughout life that mold and make us. It is the storms which test us, and it is the storms which show who we really are to others.

During the evacuation from Galveston, Texas immediately prior to Ike's landing there, traffic was gridlocked on the roadways out. The coast guard and army brought helicopters and began ferrying people away from Galveston. Finally the winds grew too strong for the helicopters to remain. They only had room for one more flight, and they would have to go. There would be eleven cars full of people who would have to be left behind. A Baptist evangelist and his family volunteered to stay, as did 10 other cars. As the last helicopter was taking off, instructions were given to the people left waiting, “Go to high ground and write your social security number on your body.” After the helicopter left, the evangelist turned around and invited all the others to go back to his house for the storm. After the storm, none of that group was damaged or injured, but they had had an amazing praise and prayer service.

The Lord will bring storms into our lives that threaten to wreck us and destroy us. The storms wreck all the others around us, but when we plant our strength in God and draw sustenance from Him, suddenly the storm isn't so bad. Suddenly all the worries and fears just fade away like the hype of a sports tournament. Sure the winds are damaging and the waves are punishing, tearing off the mast of our little boat and splintering the rudder, but we don't really need those anyways. God will get us to where we are going. And then the winds die out and the waves quietly subside at the moment when our little craft is about to be capsized or crushed.

Our breaking strain is known, and Christ is there with us to bolster us. We need only faith, but let us not forget the other important aspect. We need to take our worries and our fears to Him. We must cry out in all honesty and littleness of faith, “Lord! Don't you know that we are drowning? Please do something!” and He shall at the right time and in the right place. The winds and the waves heed His voice, as also the angels and the demons obey Him. Let us do likewise. The storm which blows so rapidly in will show who we really are. The storm will remove whatever veneers we have and display us for all to see. For myself I fully intend to show Christ.

Till the storm passes over, till the thunder sounds no more,
Till the clouds roll forever from the sky;
Hold me fast, let me stand in the hollow of Thy hand,
Keep me safe till the storm passes by.