“Don’t be afraid. It’s just me.” (Jesus to a boat load of frightened friends who were caught in an unwelcomed storm. Matthew 14:27)

As we look out the window at Harvey’s presence, the words of Jesus spoken to a terrified boat load of traveling companions pleads for our attention.  Words that have mollified the calamities of two centuries have come to be a life line of hope to us. The words don’t seem to come from some distant shore, however. Not as an echo from a story long past. They are words spoken as close to us as our worry, our fretfulness, and our fear.

It is a spiritual mystery that words so provoked by a specific storm on an identifiable back water pond in Galilee could have such universal gravity. “Don’t be afraid. It is just me.”  Will there ever be an eon when these finitely spoken words become boringly unwelcome? Or do they express the heart of the Infinite Lover so clearly that they become eternally true? Those words come for you.

Our prayers bring to mind individuals all over the Gulf Coast who need the words of Jesus. Let’s pray now that our own hearts are soaking wet so we can be tributaries of those words to others. I’m already hearing stories of Soul Cafe folks being on the road, walking on the water so to speak, helping others in our community. It is not an accident that the proactive meaning of the words ‘Don’t be afraid’ are “Be courageous”. 

Love God. Care for His children.

~Doug