Since 1953, NOAA has been naming hurricanes and tropical storms. Some of these storms have created some of the greatest devistation in history: Harvey, Katrina, Andrew, Wilma...the list goes on and on. Even years later, the recovery continues in many places, not only the physical damage, but the emotional damage. There's sometime psychological about names given to things. In ancient times, storms were given names as well, but they were named in order to give it a name that would elicit calm, as if the name would change the course of the storm.
The Sea of Galilee was always prone to bad storms. They could create massive damage of villages and fishing boats. It could be a place of forboding. According to these people, the sea represented chaos: Darkness, wind, churning storms. But, in the midst of the chaos, God came in with order. He separated the bad from the good. He brought light to areas that were dark. God's Judgement and God's Grace used Noah, for example, to bring order to the chaos of the Great Flood. The same was said for Moses parting the Red Sea. The same was said for the questioning Job. The same was said for the story of Jacob, the story of Jonah, and the story of Jesus. It's about bringing people through the rough waters to something that is cleared and making new.
Did you notice that when a storm struck a boat carriing Jesus and His Disciples, Our Savior was asleep? When the Disciples tried to wake Him up, He simple stood up and rebuked the wind and the rough seas. Jesus is Lord over all chaos, calamity, and evil. Jesus put a muzzle on the wind and brought calm to the waters. The Disciples were worried and afraid. Jesus asked them why they were afraid; He wanted them to have faith. He's saying that He was in the boat with them. The same goes for Jesus in the turmoil of our lives.
In the storms of your life, Jesus Christ is the calm of the storm. Name your hurricane and allow Jesus to command it. Some have experienced Hurricane Cancer, Hurricane Divorce, Hurricane Grade-Point-Average, Hurricane Child Illness. Even in these storms, Jesus is in the boat with us! Where is Jesus when the lightning strikes? When the tall waves crash? When the torential rains come? He's in the boat with us. Jesus will command those storms in your life.
The world is not our home. Jesus wants to remind us that the chaos will always be here because we don't belong here forever. We go through seasons of peace and seasons of chaos. If Jesus went through them same thing, we can certainly expect to go through the same. But, God isn't simply with us; He's in us. He makes residence in us and makes us His Dwelling Place.
