Scripture
The disciples…were so shaken that they cried out in terror.
~Matthew 14:26, REB
Quote
Faith is triumphant because it knows no defeat or fear.
~Herbert Booth
Can you relate to the terror of total darkness? F.B. Meyer, the famous English preacher, said, “Life is made up of brightness and gloom, shadow and sun, long tracks of black clouds and then glints of sunlight; and amid all of this divine justice is working out its own scheme.” Most of us have experienced a little terror that comes from the darkness but we have to remember–God uses the darkness to draw us to Himself and to teach us. Jesus commanded His beloved disciples to get in a boat and cross the lake. I’m not sure they were thrilled with His command but they obeyed and then got caught in a horrific storm. Although the Sea of Galilee is no wider than 11-13 miles, these storms were very frightening and dangerous. So there they were, in the darkness and in a storm.
What went through their minds as they battled the storm? Where is Jesus? Does He know we are in danger? Can He get to us since we are on the sea and He is on the land? Has He forsaken us? Are we going to survive? Why did He command us to cross the sea alone? Since we were obeying Him, why did this happen to us? Think about it for a moment, have you ever battled such doubts and fears? I have and on more than one occasion. Storms are a part of life. It took the disciples a while to realize it but Jesus was in the storm with them: they were not alone. I don’t know what your storm is but you keep looking for Jesus: He is in your storm and you will learn far more from the storms than you will during smooth sailing.
All in all, we had a great CHRISTMAS. Of course it was not perfect but what is this side of heaven. I certainly have no complaints. I don’t know if there will be a blog tomorrow or not but I’m fairly certain I will not blog next week. We have a busy day planned…of course you never know what a day will bring but LORD willing we are going to Athens to have breakfast with siblings. Then we have Roger’s COLS at 1:00, then some sermon prep and packing for the trip. I sure hope you had a good CHRISTMAS.
I tried to do some research on Rupert Murdoch {owner of Fox News and one time friend of Trump} but I reached no conclusions. Fox News does seem to be in a mess. There is infighting and lawsuits galore. Either Murdoch or the powers to be at FOX make an about face during the election. Who knows, the Washington Mafia probably has something on them. It does appear that my original hunch about Murdoch was wrong. Imagine that!
I did stumble across some comedy: Someone has listed the presidents according to IQ. You will not believe their top ten; they are all progressives or founding fathers. Thy have John Quincy Adams as the most intelligent with an IQ of 175 and Jefferson and Madison also at the genius level. Everyone else falls below but get a load of this, Slick Willy is number 5 with an IQ of one 159. They have him right by Kennedy who is four. More shocking is that Jimmy the peanut farming Carter is 6 with a reported IQ of 156. Sorry folks, but there is no way that man is smarter than myself and I am no where near 156. Of course all the republicans are at the bottom along with General Washington. It tells me one of two things: either they have skewed the fact in order to make libs look good or smart people make horrible presidents. Folks, Carter is on the bottom. If he’s not it is Obama or Slick Willy.