Our youth group returns from Impact today and Impact is a youth retreat that started because of these kinds of storms. It was 1995 and 3 youth groups had plans to camp together at the Creation Music Festival but the week before Creation central PA was inundated with rain. The storms weren’t serious, but they were steady and so at the last minute the Creation Festival was cancelled because the grounds were flooded. I was the pastor at 2nd Ave. in Altoona and we were one of the groups who was all ready to camp at Creation. Literally, we were all set, we had all our food cooked, frozen and ready to go, the youth had brought their sleeping bags, tents and clothes to the church and we were ready to leave the next morning - and then the call came. Creation was cancelled. It wasn’t the end of the world, but it was a frustration and huge disappointment.
After a few phone calls we decided to get the groups together at Greene Hills Camp and have our own mini creation that we called Impact. I lined up a local Christian Band, we planned some morning worship services, we asked some people to speak and share their testimonies and in 24 hours we were set to go. The weekend was so good and God moved in such powerful ways that we decided to keep the event going and for 17 years Impact has grown to what it is today – reaching close to 1,000 youth every year with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
What’s interesting is that as I was working on this message on Thursday, Impact was getting a storm that was a frustration. It didn’t cause major damage but it did disrupt the event and made them cancel Thursday night’s activities, but for our group the set back was an opportunity to be see God’s hand at work. They found a church to sleep in for the night and were able to see God provide in times of need. When a storm is just an frustration and causes disappointment because our plans have to change, we are faced with a choice, we can allow our disappointments to make us upset, angry and bitter or we can find God’s purpose and plan in the storm. Our youth made the right choice. They didn’t get angry or bitter, they found God’s plan and were blessed through the storms. These are the kinds of choices we face often because life is full of disappointments and frustrations. I don’t know if you have noticed, but very few things go exactly as we have them planned, so when minor storms come up we need to learn how to rejoice in what we have, look for the opportunities that God is giving us and give thanks in all circumstances.
Now more serious storms face all of us at times and that’s what we are going to look at in the stories of Noah, Jonah and Peter. They each faced very different storms and we learn different truths from their survival stories. The storm Noah faced was the storm of all storms. If you remember from last week, God was angry with the condition of the world and the corruption and violence he saw in the hearts and actions of the people so God decides to destroy humanity with a storm that would flood the earth. As God is making this decision, however, his eyes fall on Noah, who is righteous and faithful, so God instructs Noah to build an ark which will save Noah, his family and all the animals of the world.
What Noah teaches us is that we survive storms by staying in the boat. What’s important to understand is that in the early church, the boat was a symbol of the church and even today the main part of a sanctuary that leads to the altar is called a nave which is the Latin word for ship and where we get the word navy. So boats are symbols of the church, which means that Noah teaches that we survive storms by being part of the church. The church can be a place of protection and peace in the midst of life’s storms and we find this protection and peace not in the physical structure but in the people and in our times of worship and fellowship.
One of the reasons we encourage people to be part of worship on a regular basis is because when we come together for worship we hear God’s truth and the promises God makes to us and one of those promises is that in the midst of the storms God is here to be our rock and refuge. Listen to these psalms…
Psalm 18:2-3
Psalm 31:2-3
Psalm 62:1-8
Psalm 71:1-3
Whether it is through God’s word or the songs that we sing or times of prayer – worship reminds us that God is here to help us through the storms and that we can depend on him for support. But the protection and peace we find in the church doesn’t just come in worship it comes from the people as well. The relationships we build with one another and the love and encouragement we can find here also provides the support we need. When we are part of the church we are surrounded by others who sometimes are going through the same storm we are, or they have been through similar storms so can give us hope, guidance and encouragement.
Now while Noah survives by being in the boat, Jonah survives by being thrown out of the boat. To go back, Jonah was a prophet in the 6th century BC who was called by God to go and preach to the people of Ninevah (map 1). Jonah didn’t want to do this because he did not like the people of Ninevah and he knew God was gracious and would forgive them and Jonah would prefer God wipe them out so Jonah says, No God, I’m not going, and to make his point clear he boards a ship to Tarshish, which is in the exact opposite direction (map 2). While we can run from God, we can’t hide, so God knows where Jonah is and knows where he is going so God sends a storm - not to punish Jonah but to save him. The storm that comes up while Jonah is on his way across the sea is to help Jonah stop what he is doing and bring him back to God’s purpose and plan. Let’s look at Jonah 1:4-11.
Now what Jonah should have said here was, “turn the ship around and drop me off on dry ground so I can do what God has asked me to do”, but he doesn’t. Look at what Jonah says, Jonah 1:12. Jonah would rather die than do what God has asked of him. Now the sailors don’t want to do this, they pray and ask God to help them because they don’t want to throw Jonah into the sea, but the storm continues so they pick Jonah up and throw him overboard. At this point Jonah must be thinking that he has had the final say, but God will not be had so quickly. God sends a giant fish to swallow Jonah. Suddenly the physical storm has ended but Jonah’s problems have increased, at least I can’t image anything much worse than sitting in the dark of a fish’s belly among decaying fish and gastric juices. And can’t you picture Jonah sitting there at first saying, “no way God. I don’t care, I’ll sit here forever if I need to, but I’m still not going”. But God is patient, and God can wait us out. It only takes Jonah 3 days to realize that he needs to give in to God and once Jonah agrees (Jonah 2:10) God commands the fish to vomit Jonah onto dry land. You have to love the ways of God.
Now one of the things Jonah’s survival story teaches us is that some storms in life are of our own making. The storm Jonah survives came because he made the choice to run away from God and what we need to remember is that there are consequences to our disobedience and unfaithfulness. Storms can come up one after another when we turn from God and sometimes it takes hitting rock bottom before we can see the hand of God is there to help us. Jonah refused God over and over again and rock bottom came in the belly of a fish – but once he got there, once things couldn’t get any lower – he cried out for God to save him Look at Jonah 2:2-6.
For Jonah the storm helped save him because the storm helped him stop moving away from God and see his need to turn to God. Being thrown out of the boat helped Jonah begin to take stock of his life and the decisions he had made and being swallowed by the great fish helped Jonah see his need to start moving in a different direction. When we find ourselves going through storms we need to ask ourselves how we might be contributing to the problems. Are there things we can do to calm the wind and the seas? Are we trusting in God and being faithful to God or is our rebellion and sin part of the problem? Storms and trials in life can help us get in line with God’s will and desire if we are willing to ask God for help.
So Noah survived the storm by staying in the boat and Jonah survived by being tossed out of the boat but Peter survives and thrives by stepping out of the boat and walking on the water. It was the end of a long day for Jesus so he sends his disciples out in a boat to begin their voyage across the Sea of Galilee while he stayed behind for some solitude. During the night a storm comes up on the sea and the disciples are straining at the oars to keep the boat moving and Jesus either sees their situation or just has the divine ability to know what is going on and goes to help, but without a boat, Jesus walks to them on the water. When he gets close to the disciples their fear escalates because they assume what is coming toward them is some kind of ghost. In response to their cries for help, Jesus says, take heart, it is I, do not be afraid.
Now there are two important things we need to learn from this story, the first is that some storms just come up in life. In the Noah story, God sent the storm as part of his plan to start over and in Jonah’s story God sent that storm to save Jonah by helping him go in a different direction – but this storm just happens. Storms come up quickly on the Sea of Galilee, they just appear and many of the storms and trials we face in life just appear. Too many people want to attribute every problem and trial in life to God, but this story shows us that not every storm comes from God, some storms just happen. We live in a broken world where people get sick and accidents and bad things happen. It is not God’s will for people to get cancer and die when they are young, it’s not God’s will that innocent people die in accidents and movie theater shootings, but they do and what we see here is that when bad things happen – God is there to help. Jesus knew the disciples were in trouble so he comes to them, and God comes to be with us during the storms.
The second thing to notice here is that as soon as Jesus appears, the storm is NOT silenced. Let’s look at the story in Matt 14:22-32. When the disciples cry out in fear, Jesus doesn’t instantly calm storm, but he does come to be with them. The storms don’t end the moment Jesus arrives and the reason is that sometimes God wants us to grow through the storms by learning how to trust in him. Can I say that again! God wants us to grow through the storms by learning how to trust him. This is exactly what we see in Peter.
Once Jesus identifies himself and tells them not to be afraid Peter wants to walk with Jesus on the water and Jesus says, come on. So in the middle of the storm Peter gets out of the boat and walks to Jesus on the water. By trusting in Jesus, Peter does something he never thought possible and this is to be a model for our faith and lives. As followers of Jesus we are supposed to get out of the safety of the boat and walk through the storm. We are supposed to leave the safety and comfort of the church at times and go out into the chaos of the world and face the problems with the power and grace and love of God. It’s not easy and there will be times that like Peter we will sink, but Jesus will be there to rescue us and do you know what Jesus will do with us at those times? He will put us back into the boat – that’s what he did with Peter.
In Peter we find the model of how we are to live out our faith during the storms. We step out in faith to take on the problems and then when we need to, we return to the safety, security and support of the church to get strong again and it is this process strengthens our faith. Storms can make or break us. If we choose to step out in faith – we can grow. If we risk it all, if we take bold actions, if we trust completely in God – we will grow and thrive and experience the power of God even in the midst of the storm.
As we close today I want us to think for a moment about how we survive some of the most powerful storms in life, those category 5 hurricanes that maybe only come once in a lifetime. How do we survive major life problems like the death of a child, the loss of a marriage or financial ruin? How will we survive the major storm we are all facing today in our own community? The situation at Penn State has the potential to be a Category 5 storm. We could lose the financial stability of our community for years. In many ways, life as we know it has already been changed, and more change, more instability and problems could be coming – so how can we not only survive but thrive through this storm?
We survive by learning how to help and support one another. If you talk to people who have gone through major life tragedies they will tell you that the support, love and care of others has helped them, and it’s not because of what we say, it’s because we are simply there. I have been with many people as they have dealt with the pain of losing a parent or spouse or worse yet a child and I have to tell you, there are no magic words that make things better, in fact, nothing we say can make anything better – what helps is simply being there. As we go through what I’ll call this Penn State storm – we need to figure out what it looks like to be there for one another.
We were talking this week in a staff meeting about planning some events for the fall and of course we all know that in the fall we can’t plan anything on PSU football weekends, but someone said, well maybe this year it doesn’t matter, and I thought to myself, no more than any other year, this year does matter because we need to be there for people. We need to support local businesses, we need to support the fans who will come to our community, we need to support the players who had absolutely no part in the problem and have made the difficult choice to stay and walk though the storm. So what does it looks like for us to survive this storm together?
One simple thing might be to go out to dinner on a football weekend, or any other weekend and support local restaurants and then just let them know we are there because we want to support them. We could send a note to coaches or players, if you have PSU tickets, go to the games and cheer as loud as you can and then we keep praying for all those who have been victims of abuse.
And then we need to trust God. We need to radically and intentionally trust God. Even if everything were to collapse underneath us in our community, we need to hear once again the truth that God is our rock and our redeemer not any sport or institution or business or person in this world – it is God and God alone. Listen again to Psalm 62:5-8.
Jonah reminds us that sometimes it is when we hit the bottom that we see just how strong and loving and powerful God is. So as we go through this Penn State Storm we need to support one another in our community and we need to return to and trust in God.
Next Steps: The Voyage ~ Surviving Storms
1. We Survive Storms by staying in the boat.
Commit you and your family to regular church connection.
• Commit yourself to regular worship attendance.
• Commit to starting Sunday School now or this fall.
• Plan to attend the Church Picnic on August 19th.
• Stop by the connection table to sign up for one of our fall Small Groups.
2. We Survive Storms when we stop running from God.
• Are any storms in your life today from your own doing?
• What sin or rebellion needs to be honestly confessed to God?
• Read and reflect on Jonah’s prayer (Jonah 2:2-10).
3. We can Grow through Storms when we step out in faith.
• Acknowledge that God is with you during the storm (remember - Jesus didn’t calm the storm immediately, but he was with the disciples!).
• What will it look like for you to step out in faith during the storm? What bold and courageous act can you take today?
• When failure comes (and it often does), get back in the boat (see #1 above).
Making it through the Penn State Storm together.*
• Keep church activities a regular part of your life to help maintain the right perspective and balance in all of life.
• Find ways to support local businesses and the Penn State community (students, families, faculty and staff) this fall. (Some ideas: visit the creamery, go out for dinner, attend any sporting event and cheer on the student athletes, share supportive ideas and activities with others.)
