I like to watch true stories of survival on television at times, I was doing just that one day when I saw a story about a couple who were on a vacation on their boat and survived a pirate attack.
It told how the pirates came onto their boat, tied them up, with the intention of killing them by burning their boat once they had removed all the items they wanted to take.
The man said something that caught my attention; he said ‘I was able to remain calm because my partner remained calm.’ He was talking about his wife, he knew if his wife didn’t remain calm, became upset and was injured or killed that he would have been unable to remain calm as well. If that would have happened they would have both died.
We all need a friend who can remain calm in the storms of life, a spiritual friend. We all need a friend that is headed the same direction we are, to our fulfillment of destiny. At times of challenge you can pick each other up, just like the bible says. We need a friend whom, when we can’t think clearly because of the storm around us, that they can think clearly and remind us what the word of God says. We DON’T need a friend who will complain, murmur and become discouraged with us – that type of friend is not helpful at all.
I am thankful for my friends that remain calm in the storms and attacks in life…just as the man said, it helps me have a clear perspective as well and I am able to be calm under pressure.
Perhaps you have a friend like that, maybe you don’t. I went through many years when I did not have a friend like that therefore I depended consistently and constantly on God, on Jesus and on the Holy Spirit. Actually I still do that today, but it is nice to have a friend to help me remain calm in the storm.
I was thinking about all this one day after I watched the segment on television. It made me think of Matthew 8; where Jesus and the disciples got in the boat to go to the other side. What did Jesus do? He lay down and went to sleep. Then a storm arose. He continued to sleep but the disciples were having a fit because Jesus was sleeping. They thought Jesus should be doing what they were doing, up watching the storm, praying or something. But Jesus apparently thought they should be doing what he was doing…sleeping…resting through the storm.
You see my friend; we have a partner, who remains calm in the storm. We have a partner who is never surprised at what comes up or what is thrown our way. Why? Because he already knows the outcome…as should we if we have read the end of the Book. He sleeps; he rests through the storm when it is time to rest. If it was time to pray, he would have been praying. But you see he had already spent time with the Father, he had no reason to fear; he had every reason to remain calm and rest.
We can and should walk in this same type of peace. How many times have you stayed up all night worrying about something? How many times have you stayed awake all night trying to work out how to fix a problem in your own strength? How many times have you been anxious when the word says ‘stay in peace, trust God?’ For me, it has been many times.
As the man said in the story; ‘I was able to remain calm because my partner remained calm. I was able to think clearly because my partner thought clearly.’ What a profound truth. We see bracelets and signs all over the place that say ‘what would Jesus Do?’ We know what Jesus would do, we have read it in his word, and it’s time we do the same. Sleep…rest in the midst of the storm. Don’t you agree? Yes, I agree too.
