July 26, 2021: Calm in the Storm

“He calmed the storm to a whisper and stilled the waves. What a blessing was that stillness as he brought them safely into harbor!” (Ps. 107:29–30, NLT).

Since the time I was young, I have loved storms. Storms have so much power. Once when I was working at Camp Pugwash in Nova Scotia, Canada, a storm began brewing over the ocean. Camp Pugwash is situated by the sea, which makes it a great place to watch storms roll in.

It was nighttime when this particular storm came. In the distance, I could see orange bolts of lightning light up the sky. As the storm drew closer, everything grew quiet.

A friend and I went down to the beach to watch the storm come in. As we watched, we heard a distant roar. We didn’t know what it was. Suddenly, the wind picked up and the waves came crashing in. A few seconds later, a lightning bolt struck the water 200 feet from where we were.

We ran back up the hill from the beach as the rain started pouring down. We knew the camp horses would be spooked by the strong wind, rain and lightning, so we ran to the horse barn to calm them down. When we got there, each of us took a horse by the reins and began to stroke their necks, whispering in their ears that everything would be OK.

How many of us are like those horses? When life gets too difficult and the “storms” of life get to us, we get scared. We need to remember that Jesus is beside us, whispering to us every step of the way.

God, may we remember that, when afraid, You whisper in our ear that everything will be OK. Amen.

Todd Casey is the youth director for the Pennsylvania Conference.