Pastor Bell's Words To Live By

When the storms of life starts to rage what will you do? It is in the stormy seasons that our true characteristics come through. Growing up in the tropics we knew that there was a rainy season and that during this time there was the possibility of storms, flooding and unsecured buildings being washed away. In 1988 hurricane Gilbert was so severe in Jamaica that lyricists wrote many songs about the ravages of Gilbert and the fact that he came unexpectedly and took away people’s satellite dishes and removed their roofs of their houses to leave them exposed. My mother used to say to us, ‘yu don’t know what is in fish belly ‘till you step on im’. It is not until an individual is placed in a position of high pressure that you see their true character. Some will wilt under pressure and others will strive. The greatness of Winston Churchill did not emerge until Britain was facing certain defeat by the Nazi during the Second World War. When the storms hit the ship where Jonah was hiding, he was fast asleep. He was in the hold in a deep sleep unaware of what was going on around him. It seems to me that there are many people who are followers of Jesus but are unaware of what is going on around them. Today we have many of our young people who are succumbing to the prevalent culture by dropping out of school, having children they can’t care for and ending up at the mercy of the welfare system. Like Jonah these are the people who cannot weather the storms of live. Whilst they are going through the storms they are totally unaware of the real after effects. It was to these people that Jonah was sent. These People who did not know their right hand from their left hand, they were effectively walking around like zombies. Do we operate like Jonah, go to sleep and be completely oblivious to what is going on around us? or do we allow the Lord Jesus to walk through the storm with us? This choice should be a no-brainer!  We will face storms, we will face challenges but when we invite Christ in all our circumstances, we can face any and every storm with confidence.

Read Luke 8:22-25.