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In seminary I learned of the sad story of Homer and Langley Collyer. They were sons of a respected New York doctor. When their parents both died in the 1920s, the brothers inherited the family home and estate. The two men—both bachelors—were now financially secure.

But, instead of enjoying the wealth, the Collyer brothers retired into almost total seclusion. They boarded up the windows of their house and barricaded the doors. All their utilities—including water—were eventually shut off. No one was ever seen coming or going from the house except Langley, on his occasional midnight trips for food.

But on March 21, 1947, police received an anonymous telephone tip that there was a dead man in the Collyer house. What the police found was shocking. The brothers were hoarders. Their house was crammed full of broken machinery, auto parts, boxes, appliances, folding chairs, musical instruments, rags, assorted odds and ends, and incredible heaps of old newspapers. Virtually all of it was worthless. Enormous mountains of debris blocked all entries; the only way investigators were able to get in was by the upstairs window. Langley Collyer’s body was buried beneath a pile of rubbish just feet away from where Homer had died. It seems Langley had been crushed to death in a crude booby trap he had built to guard his home from intruders.

Homer and Langley Collyer make a sad but fitting parable of what happens when we live a life of fear. Although Collyer’s inheritance was sufficient for all their needs, they lived instead in unnecessary, self-imposed squalor. They cut themselves off from all else and treated their inheritance as a dump, carefully collecting and treasuring the world’s garbage.

General George Patton said this in his autobiography said, “I’ve learned very early in my life to never take council from my fears.” Today’s scripture passage gives us some insight into how we can overcome our deepest fears? Jesus calms the ragging sea, and the disciples turn to each other and say, “Who is this?”

That’s the million-dollar question. Because what we believe about Jesus will determine how we get through the storm. Remember, that in the storm we can rest in the LORD. The terrified disciples go from a great tempest in verse 24 to a great calm in verse 26. And they have this great storm and this great calm because they have a great savior.

How about you? Is your life marked by fear or by calm? That depends on what voice you listen to in the storms of life. The disciples were on the sea of Galilee when a furious storm arose. The word seismos in the Greek means windstorm; from this we get the word seismology the study of earthquakes. This storm violently shook the boat; the waves were so high that the boat was hidden from view. Imagine you are on a sea and the waves are rearing up so high that you lose sight of the shore. It wouldn’t take long for a full-scale disaster to hit.

Where was Jesus in all of this? Asleep. By the way this is the only passage in the New Testament that refers to Jesus sleeping. Why was Jesus asleep? The obvious answer is He’s tired. He’s gotten up early. He’s gone to the synagogue. He’s been healing people, casting out demons. It’s been a long day. He was tired, but I believe Jesus was setting an example for us. Because in the middle of the storm Jesus rested in the LORD.  And when we face storms of life, we too can rest in the LORD.

How can we rest in the LORD and wait patiently for Him? How can we possibly be at rest when our world is turned upside down? How can we lay down our lives for the LORD’s sake and be at peace with it? First – you must stay focused on the LORD, not your problems. We need to do things that focus our attention on God like reading the Bible, prayer and worship. When you start to praise Him, God changes you!

Next, submit to God’s will for your life. Resting in the LORD is not sitting around waiting for something to happen but conscientiously striving to keep the LORD and His Providence in the forefront of our minds.

Then cast your cares on Jesus. Know that God has our backs, and He will strengthen us during the storms. It’s important to push the pause button when everything is going wrong and say, “Wait a minute, who is the God I serve?” Start pouring out your cares & worries to Him. Peace doesn’t come from the absence of problems, peace come from the knowledge of the power of Jesus.

God is more powerful than any storm that comes our way, He makes a way when there is no way.  Philippians 4:6-7 says, “Don’t be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known to God. And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, will guard your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus.”

I love that passage, because it gives us a prescription to move from anxiety to peace. Peter walked on water, that is until he took his eyes off Jesus and doubted. By raising up your eyes to God you’re praying in the midst of anxiety and God brings you a peace that passes all understanding. That’s what happens when we raise our eyes from our circumstances to our Savior.

I will never forget that Sunday morning while I was driving home after my last service for the day. A snowstorm like I have never seen before covered most of Nebraska. Even though the snow was coming down hard, I had about 32 miles to travel home, so I risked it. But about 20 miles into the trip I wished I would have stayed at the church. The snow was coming down so fast and hard that it didn’t take long before the road was covered. I couldn’t tell where the road started and where the ditch ended.

It was one of the scariest times that I have ever driven. It was then that I saw the way, even though the snow was thick, the yellow line that divided the road from the shoulder caught my eye. I didn’t have to worry that I would drive into the ditch, all I had to do was keep looking at the solid yellow line.

When you are in the midst of a crisis, what you focus on makes all the difference in the world. Far too often we get caught in the minutia of God that we miss the magnitude of God.

Till Next Week When We Meet at the P.E.W.

(Pastor’s Encouragement Weeklly)

Pastor Joel