Waiting it Out by Pastor Bettye

I do not like to wait. I have a time frame and a plan for everything and I like to stick to them, makes me feel safe when I can live in this manner, under my own control and steam. Thus......storms/hurricanes like Irene set my teeth on edge. I did not plan this interruption to our schedule at church and sacred worship. I did not plan this late night trip into and out of Ocean View to rescue my cat and fill my home with outdoor furniture. I did not plan to have that discussion with the Ocean View officials that said I was not welcome to stay in my home. I did not plan for my daughter's new apartment to be flooded causing significant damage. I did not plan to carry 350lbs of sand bags to my mother-in-law's back yard to create a diversion from the coming rains. However......I also did not plan to hear from our Assistant to the Bishop Rev. Ed Kay saying that our church would be supported in whatever needs arose because of the storm and its damages; that Lowes DOES stay open til midnight to help the locals buy necessary items for storm survival, that CLC is on the prayer list of other churches because we are facing a terrible onslaught of nature, that my husband has been given emergency leave to go back to Ocean View as soon as we are allowed to in order to help with the clean up, that I would grieve and worry as much as I have been about a new place on the this earth where I have been called to serve ......I did not plan or look to God's ready intervention even in the storm.

In the Message - a paraphrase of Holy Scripture- we see the title "When the Wind Ran Out of Breath" given to the gospel of Mark's story of the storm. The disciples are very frightened, Jesus is sleeping as the unexpected, unplanned storm howls about them. Jesus dwells with them in the raging winds and waves and quiets the storm. The disciples had not panned on that response either; they were simply crying out as fearful children. God in Christ provided for their needs. Where was their faith? Where is our faith if we plan to concentrate on the fear factors, the unplanned interruptions in life? Perhaps we need to sit quietly in faith knowing that God already had a plan to save us.....from ourselves, our sins, the terrors of nature. We just wait in faith with him till this storm passes by....

til the storm passes over, til the thunder rolls no more,
'til the clouds roll forever from the sky.
Hold me fast as I stand in the hallow of thy hand ,
keep me safe, til the storm passes by.*



Til the Storm Passes By Mosie Lister