Day 9: The Perfect Storm: Where our hurt and our Healer collide.

Day 9: The Perfect Storm: Where our hurt and our Healer collide.

Read: Psalm 18:1-19, Romans 12, Hebrews 9:11-15, Mark 4:35-41, Luke 22:14-23

“I have heard a brother of the story-telling trade at Naples preaching to a pack of good-for-nothing honest, lazy fellows by the sea-shore, work himself up into such a rage and passion with some of the villains whose wicked deeds he was describing and inventing, that the audience could not resist it; and they and the poet together would burst out into a roar of oaths and execrations against the fictitious monster of the tale, so that the hat went round, and the bajocchi tumbled into it, in the midst of a perfect storm of sympathy." Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackery 1811-1863

"The Perfect Storm": It is is an expression that describes an event where a rare combination of circumstances will aggravate a situation drastically. The term is also used to describe an actual phenomenon that happens to occur in such a confluence, resulting in an event of unusual magnitude. (From Wikipedia)

It is the worse case scenario, it was the biggest catchphrase the financial crisis of the last 5 years. Perfect Storm: It is an overused phrase' one for which many wish it would just go away - never to return (the perfect storm of oblivion?). In the midst of the human condition, it doesn't just refer to the worse possible weather event that occurs at the worse possible moment like a nor'easter, a hurricane, a tornado, a blizzard for which we struggle to hide in our cellars from to live, survive, recover.

It seems to me to be that state of the inner and outer 'us' -- our lives -- when life happens so severely, so fast and so furious (please forgive the reference to the failed FBI operation of the same name), repeatedly hitting us from all directions at the same time that we feel as if we 'want to run away as fast as we can to hide in our cellars' to just to live, survive and hopefully recover. It is standing in the middle of the great whirlwind, the biggest tornado, the worse blizzard trying to wait it out while, at the same time, we feel like we are being torn 'limb from limb' and we can do nothing about it for we know not which direction to turn which will lead to life.

For me, it seemed like my whole life was lived in such a storm. Bullied from time I entered Elementary School, through Middle and Senior High, In the Navy, In the Army at work, and regretfully even in the home I grew up in by my Father. Day after day, I knew not what to expect except that someone was seeking to make my day one of sheer misery. From start to finish, day to day, I got to the point early in life (7 or 8 I believe), I expected nothing better than a ruined day. Everyday, I expected the worse case scenario to define the course of my life. I had no reason to believe the storm would go away. Even as the outer storms might come and go and I had intermittent periods of sunshine and gorgeous weather, it was the inner storm that raged within me -- sometimes I stood in the eye of the hurricane -- that I genuinely felt lost and generally forgotten about as happened in 6th grade when my teacher failed to notice (for 3 hours) that I was missing from his class in the middle of the day. "I'm sorry" he said later "I did not notice that you were gone." "I just forgot all about you." I was obviously used to it though for I just accepted the apology.

My relationship with my father deteriorated to where we would not speak to each other for extended periods of time. To say we were estranged from each other would not come close to the real truth of it. It is not that I did not love him - I did - but my father would just 'remove both of his hearing aids' when I tried to talk. First one then the other, in a progression that meant 'I am fast losing interest in this conversation and I am wishing you would just go away' to 'alright, now we are done, there is no more to say that I want to or am going to hear so GO AWAY!!!' On his deathbed when I tried to finally reconcile, he turned thumbs down. Barely one day before he died he utterly rejected me as his son! Even at deaths door, the perfect storm of life raged on. No longer within dad, now I carried mine and his.

For the Christians living under the oppression of the Roman Empire, the perfect storm was an everyday thing. Any day, someone could take exception to their very existence and make life an exercise in complete misery. Any day, their lives could be taken away - thrown into prison, out of their homes, out of their livelihoods and even killed. Everyday their lives were seemingly under some kind of threat. And this the atmospheric condition under which they continued to go on with their lives. Live your life as though nothing will happen knowing that at any time, and expect that the worse case scenario could show up at your door step - and that could be it!!

What about the mindset of someone living out their lives in the midst of the perfect storm? What goes through their head when you try to live as 'normal as possible' when the 'normal' is the unrelenting raging storm? Your mind becomes transformed by the storm to try to survive the storm. The reality of your thoughts are governed by the bounds of the perfect storm you are struggling to live in everyday. Let go,Let God.

You have heard the phrase "Don't tell God how big your storm is but tell your storm how big your God is (Psalm 18:1-19). As Paul tried to emphatically convince his Christian audience to do: strive to place more of Christ the healer in your mind and focus on Him who said to the storm: "Peace, be still!" Strive to live more each day believing that the the power of God's grace and the love of the risen Jesus Christ is stronger and more powerful and the comforting presence of the Holy Spirit is there to gently remind you of all this when the raging storm rages harder in response to your struggle finding your port, your haven of rest (Psalm 18:19).

The perfect storm exerts great influence but Scripture states that the perfect storm of Father, Son and Holy Spirit exerts an even greater influence counter to that of our storms. This place of confluence, where two perfect storms meet - is the place to find the most perfect storm of the 'Healer' the 'Great Physician, sitting at the right hand of the Father - Christ the Risen Lord - the perfect mediator of all of our perfect storms. He is the Way, the Truth, the Life and the place where our hurt meets our healer. Here is the place our storms would rather us not to venture towards. For it is here where it knows with the greatest certainty it is going to lose its vast power.

I have no idea where the epicenter of your 's or anybody else s might be. I do not know if it is an onrush of college or professional board exams, overwhelming and serious medical concerns, change in health status, life or death decisions that beckon you, transitioning to a new job or trying to get promoted in your current one, and the list grows and changes with each individual. However, I am certain that God knows the Good News - He will always know exactly where your greatest needs are.

He will always place before you opportunities for you to take time out from the storm to see that there are better days ahead. While all storms seem to find a way to do some temporary or even long lasting memories and personal grief, God says "Peace and be Still." "Peace and be healed." It is potentially a very long journey to recover filled with all range of feelings an emotions. I encourage you pray often to give your hurt to Healer of all things. Allow Jesus Christ the opportunity to transform you from the inside out so that your true self maybe revealed unbounded and unchained from your many hurt's. Hurts that have been growing over a long, long time.

Right now, for myself, these devotions and prayers that I am writing have given me a glorious opportunity to put some troubling issues to rest. For me, the perfect storm of my hurt is encountering the perfect storm of my healer, Jesus Christ. His perfect storm of grace, love and forgiveness is diminishing the great winds that continue to buffet me, continue to try to give up and accept the storms arrayed against me. My confidence is in the Lord who commanded the storms of my life to "BE STILL!!"

My prayer for those of you who are reading this is that you give God permission to come to your side. I pray that there will be a time when you can give yourself permission to accept the Light of Jesus Christ into your chaos and darkness. I pray that there will come a time when you will accept the guidance of the Holy Spirit to help you navigate along a different course towards a growing and maturing peace.

Let us Pray:

Dear Lord,

When storms of life are raging
and doubt reaches my way,
remind me of Your love, dear Lord,
to keep my fears at bay.

When all I see is failure
and mountains hard to climb,
just whisper in my ear, O Lord,
that You are still sublime.

This life may disappoint me
and so may people too.
Dear Lord, show me Your faithfulness
and keep me true to You.

When tears do fill my eyes Lord,
and I'm seemingly blind,
walk with me Precious Yeshua (Jesus),
and ease my tired mind.

Take me by the hand, O Lord,
when roads are washing out.
Provide me with protection
and keep me from all doubt.

When I'm getting real tired from
struggling day and night,
hold me tight dear Yeshuah,
Please be my guiding Light.

- Author Unknown

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqBMNSuDf7g

MercyMe - The Hurt & The Healer with lyrics

www.youtube.com

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