Business On Great Waters

For me, I embed truth further into my heart by writing about it or sitting down and sharing it with someone. Last night, Mark was beating baseball gloves with a sledge hammer, while I sat on a dirty, concrete block; sporting my yoga pants, CRS sweat shirts, and these days--my ever present glasses.

*Clunk*
Sledge hammer hits baseball glove

"You have to listen to this! This--this is rocking my world!"
*Clunk*

I began to read the passage, and then I began to walk Mark through my thoughts.
*Clunk*

"Isn't that amazing? Do you see it?"
*Clunk*

The further along I went my voice got louder, more passionate, more decisive.. (imagine that, me passionate?!)
*Clunk*

Sitting became standing, standing became pacing. Talking became speaking, and speaking became preaching. (imagine that, me preaching/!)
*Clunk*

Mark, thoughtfully listening and taking in all the fireworks displayed in front of him in the form of his wife, finally says, "And, and... tomorrow when you share this on your blog you can add this part. 'As we search for the missing plane, we know less about the square footage we are covering in the Indian Ocean, than we do about the surface of the moon!' "

*Silence*

Me, looking a bit confused.

Mark, "the ocean is HUGE!"

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Psalm 107: 23a
Those who go down to the sea in ships, who do business on great waters;

Many years ago, I entitled the series about my sweet Mama's battle with Alzheimer's, "Living In The Storm". I had no idea at the time how profound and beautifully articulate that title was, for what was headed our way. It was a storm with gigantic magnitude and eternal implications.  A storm that had the potential to wreck havoc in so many different ways and in so many different lives. A storm that threatened to overcome us with some of the waves we swore we were going to drown in.

There are moments, in the privacy of my heart, when I replay the movie of that storm, I shake my head and say, "how did we survive?" And while I am happy to give you a pre-packaged Sunday School answer, you should know by now that is not how I roll.

Often times, a lot of times, the majority of the time... in the this precious journey we call Christianity, we are called to take the ships of our lives and do business on great waters. I have yet to meet a person whose name has been left off the roster of 'Life's Storms'.

Some of you are convinced that you keep getting re-enrolled in this course because you have not mastered the criteria for passing out of the storm and into calm waters. Can I just plead with you to protect yourself from that lie Satan is spewing all over you?! God does not throw his beloved children into the middle of the raging sea to document whether or not our PFDs (personal flotation device) will withstand the storm.

All through out the book of Psalm, we are told time and time again why we are asked to enter into the raging seas of this life. And the answer is so simple, but so extraordinary, I just weep when I think about it.

Psalm 107:23b
They have seen the works of the Lord; and His wonders in the deep.

Did you catch that? The people who are being tossed and turned, beat up and beat down, bleeding out and vomiting because of the torture of the sea..... THESE PEOPLE SEE THE WORKS OF THE LORD!!!

They find Him. The God of the universe reveals Himself in this awe inspiring way in the depths of the sea. In the middle of DEEP darkness, pain, uncertainty, calamity, depression, strife, injustice, suffering, brokenness, sleeplessness, hopelessness, fear, and death, God shows UP!!

For those of us, who are doing business on the great waters; God, specifically, intentionally, and dramatically opens the eyes of our hearts to see His WONDER.

If you flip back to Psalm 77:19 it reads this;
" Your way is in the sea, and your paths in the mighty waters."

Do you want to know why God is calling us into the great waters of the sea?
Because that is where HE IS DOING HIS BUSINESS!
BOOM!
His way is in the sea.
BOOM!
The paths He has laid for us are found in the mighty waters.
BOOM!

Our God is so in love with us, so motivated to action by us, so moved to enter into our junk, and so crazy about His beloved children, that He cannot help but want to be close to us, and reveal to us on the most intimate level who He is. No book, no Sunday school lesson, no sermon, no seminary, no amount of theology and no length of church attendance, can substitute the encounter our Abba Father has with us when He meets us in the sea of this life, full of disaster, and draws us onto Himself. He shows us His glory, and all that is left on our putrid lips to say is, "Savior! Savior! Savior!"

You want to know how we survived the storm of Alzheimer's..... Because He met us there, He sustained us there, He upheld us with His mighty hand as the waves crashed about us, He and He alone was our refuge. And in a way I could never describe to you with words, He showed Himself to us.

'We would have despaired unless we would have believed that we would see the goodness of the Lord'
Psalm 27:13

Dear friends, do not fight against the raging seas of this life, for in them you will find your God, and a blessing with gigantic magnitude and eternal implications. And just like Psalm 107:29 says, "He caused the storm to be still!" And so He will in your life!

'As we search for the missing plane, we know less about the square footage we are covering in the Indian Ocean, than we do about the surface of the moon!.......The ocean is HUGE!"

Here's to the business HE is doing on great waters!
~Sara