The Waters Will Not Overwhelm You

CHAPTER 15

Saturday, July 3, 2010
Aboard Providence, Admiralty Inlet, west of Whidbey Island Washington

“Many waters cannot quench your love, rivers cannot overwhelm it, oceans of fear, cannot conceal your love for me.” From "Holy Love” by Andy Park

One ship sails east. One ship sails west. Regardless of how the winds blow.
It is the set of the sail and not the gale that determines the way we go.
As the winds of the sea are the ways of fate. As we voyage along through life,
'Tis the act of the soul that determines the goal, And not the calm or the strife. Ellen Wheeler Wilcox

On December 26, 2004, at 7:58 a.m. local time, the people of northern Sumatra and other Southeast Asia countries were just awakening and beginning their days. An earthquake centered off the west coast of Northern Sumatra and registering 9.6 on the Richter scale stuck without warning.
According to the United States Geological Survey, the earthquake was caused by “the release of stresses that develop as the India plate subducts beneath the overriding Burma plate. The India plate begins its descent into the mantle at the Sunda trench which lies to the west of the earthquake's epicenter. The trench is the surface expression of the plate interface between the Australia and India plates, situated to the southwest of the trench, and the Burma and Sunda plates, situated to the north.” As a non-scientist, I understand very little of such technical jargon. The people inundated by the earthquake’s ensuing wave probably do not either. Scientific explanation means very little in light of the incredible suffering and death they experienced first hand. What those people did come to understand, with devastating consequences, was that an earthquake this severe, occurring on the ocean’s floor brought a tidal wave or Tsunami wave of epic proportions that changed their lives forever.

Some reports told that the tsunami that hit the heavily populated shorelines of Sumatra, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries rose to a height approximating 100 feet. The wave traveled at a speed of over 60 miles per hour giving those in its deadly path little time to find safety on higher ground. Most of the over 110,000 who were killed by the Tsunami were caught completely unaware as it swept over them and their villages with incredible ferocity. It was one of the deadliest earthquakes and tsunamis since 1900.

Water is a powerful force; one of the most difficult of all natural forces for humanity to harness. The earth’s surface is almost 70% water and does much good. Water is a vital link in the world’s complicated food chain providing drinking water for the 4 billion people who inhabit the earth, watering crops, and powering vast cities as water sweeps past huge turbines at the base of monumental dams. Some scientists are currently even experimenting with using the perpetual tidal changes as a means of generating usable energy. Water also provides countless opportunities for recreation and is a beautiful part of God’s creation – something that in the original creation order was said to be good. Indeed it is.
In spite of all its good uses, the force of water as it plummets down steep mountain canyons or crashes to the shores of populated beaches can also be dangerous and destructive. Huge ships, weighing thousands of tons can be tossed about on the storm tossed oceans like children’s toys. Man-made structures collapse under its thundering force. Individuals are powerless against it.
The Bible often uses the image of raging seas or roaring waves as a metaphor for the trials, sufferings, persecutions and losses that God’s people experience in life; appropriate because like the power of water, often those trials and losses in life seem equally devastating.
Psalm 46 says
“God is our refuge and our strength; a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.”

In the tsunami like tribulations that people encounter in life, God is a refuge and strength. The omnipotent, providential God who created the heavens and the earth also controls and sustains the ocean waves is also the one who sustains and provides for human beings. When his children suffer through the tumultuous storms of life, God is the sheltered cove; the higher ground; the dry land of safety and protection.
The New Testament carries the same theme forward in a graphic way. One day, Jesus was in a boat with his disciples when a great storm arose. They were seasoned fishermen who were well familiar with the power of the sea and its waves. When a storm arose over their fishing grounds – the Sea of Galilee, the waves quickly piled up to dangerous proportions. Their experience told them that their boat and their seamanship was no match for the storm in which they found themselves this particular day. They were afraid for their lives because they knew the power of the waves. As they worried and fretted, Jesus slept. Awaking him, they complained, “Don’t you even care if we die in this storm?”
His response was calm but authoritative. His simple word of “Peace, Be quiet” was enough to silence the storm and calm the sea. They were safe and secure in him. The Lord of the Universe commanded the wind and the waves and they obeyed. Jesus was their refuge and strength in the storm. They were not overwhelmed because he was with them.
For Judy and I, another passage that we had both memorized and that held great meaning for us in the years preceding our “surging waves of trial” is found in the book of Isaiah.
But now, this is what the LORD says—
he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel:
"Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you
are mine.
When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.
For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior;
I give Egypt for your ransom, Cush [a] and Seba in your stead."

Isaiah’s prophecy was a reminder to post-exilic Israel, that no matter how defeated and discouraged they might have felt, God was with them and would let no storm totally consume them. That is God’s promise to all his people.
Throughout our lives we had encountered some deep waters; some storms; but nothing that threatened to undo or overwhelm us. In the early years of our marriage, we worked for Youth For Christ/Campus Life and were responsible for raising our own financial support. For a young family, there were times when we were never sure if there would be groceries in our cupboards for the next day. Somehow, God always provided and sustained us through those times.
In ministry, we experienced the same times of discouragement that others face every day. Attendance at club meetings didn’t always meet expectations; kids who had begun a life of faith in Christ often reverted back to old habits; adult supporters were sometimes critical or resistant to change; long hours, low pay, feelings of isolation and the temptation to quit were often “rivers of trial” through which we tried to swim. In those times, we found that the Lord had faithfully been with us through them all and that, somehow, we had not been overwhelmed. Had we relied on our own instincts and strength, I am sure there were times we would have drowned under the power of those waves. And those were relatively minor waters. Our children were healthy, our families were loving and supportive. We were in active and wonderful church families. We had friends. In perspective, life was fairly smooth sailing.
Each time we went through one of these storms, the Lord calmed not only the storms of life but our troubled hearts as well. We often felt the power of his calming words, “Peace, be quiet.”
Little did we realize it at the time, but those minor storms provided the background and assurance we would need when the tsunamis hit us. Beginning with the death of Judy’s mother and my father in 1996, the waves began to build.
The book The Perfect Storm and the subsequent movie detail what came to be known as the Halloween storm of 1991. A complicated collision of three different weather systems – a cold front dropping down from Canada; a hurricane from the Atlantic and an upper level high pressure front created sustained winds of 53 mph off the Eastern Seaboard of the United States. According the website of the National Climatic Data Service, the storm, lasting for over a week, pounded America’s coastline with above average tidal surges and heavy wind and rain. At sea, vessels encountered waves of over 30 feet and some reports told of mountains of water up to 100 feet high.
Large container ships, Coast Guard cutters and a personal sailing yacht were all vessels caught in the teeth of the storm. The Andrea Gail, a Gloucester, Massachusetts swordfish boat was presumed to have been lost along with its crew of 13 when a rogue wave, estimated to have been over 50 feet high, hit it. The extreme height and power of this wave is depicted in the movie to have flipped the boat over on its back, sinking it in a matter of minutes. The real facts of the boats disappearance will never be known. It is safe to assume that the power of the storm’s waves overwhelmed them. Anyone who has ever gone to sea or been in a storm on the ocean understood the terror they must have faced in the teeth of the storm.
We found ourselves in the midst of what felt like the perfect storm in our lives as several circumstances began to collide at the same time; pummeling us with voracious power. The rogue wave that upended our life was the accident that occurred on May 8th, 1997. We never saw it coming. In those few, unanticipated moments, our ship was capsized. All our previous plans and dreams – so carefully charted out with exacting detail – became irrelevant and uncertain as we struggled to stay afloat.
What was even more overwhelming to us was the assurance that our God was with us and he would not let the waters overwhelm us. No matter how high the waves became, we were calmly convinced each day that we would not be overwhelmed – at least spiritually.
Each day that followed the accident brought with it new trials. During the first 48 hours at the hospital the battery of tests came back, each one in turn detailed more serious implications. The dangers of infection, internal bleeding, pneumonia and blood clots persisted. The neurosurgeon, Dr. San Fillippo, remained pessimistic that necessary surgery to stabilize my neck and spinal cord would be safe to perform. Judy jokingly referred to him as “Doctor Sunshine” because of his continuing, negative prognoses. “Even if surgery could be performed,” he told her, “months, maybe years of hospitalization and rehabilitation would be necessary. There would be no guarantees that even if I lived, I would walk again.” Slam. A huge wave hit us broadside. The Lord let the wave hit, but did not allow it to destroy us.
We are intensely grateful for God’s healing touch. My recovery has been greater than Doctor Sunshine or any of the other Doctors had told us to anticipate. To say that life has been storm free since that time would be a denial of reality. The stormy waves have continued to assault us although not with the intense frequency of that period. God’s faithful promise has continued to maintain a watertight seal against those waters.
February 22nd, 1998 my mother passed away while in a nursing home in Denver. I was unable to be with her although I had spoken with her on the phone just a few days earlier. Another trial; another wave. God once again provided the support of his everlasting arms to carry us through these waters with our faith in tact. Though we grieved her loss, the water did not overwhelm us.
In April of 1999, our daughter Kresta and her husband Ryan, lost their first child Cameron. After a troubled 5 month pregnancy that threatened her health, Kresta delivered her son still-born. I remember walking into her hospital room in Nampa Idaho thinking how tragic this loss was. Yet I was overcome with gratitude and emotion to see her and know she was all right. We could have lost her.
As we sat by the graveside, located in a beautiful, pastoral setting outside Nampa, Idaho we watched the tiny coffin being lowered into the ground and we sobbed tears of sadness and loss. We were filled with an obvious sense of profound grief. Another rogue wave had slammed the ship of our lives; threatening to capsize us. The words of the officiating pastor, Bill Wolfe, and the music and Scripture shared by Kresta and Ryan’s Christian friends provided the spiritual buoyancy of God’s comforting presence in the midst of this storm. The waters did not overwhelm.
In October of 2000, our daughter Melissa gave birth to Davis. In most ways healthy, Davis faced medical complications. His esophagus was not fully developed and he was not able to keep milk down. Extra days in the hospital provided a test of trust and patience for Melissa, Jerry and for us. It was not a tidal wave or a hurricane force storm, but a trial nonetheless. Once again, God was with us. The storm did not prevail.
The following month – November 2000 – Kresta, in a second difficult pregnancy, went into premature labor at week 27 and was rushed to Saint Lukes/Presbyterian Hospital in Boise. She delivered Samuel at a whopping 2 lbs. 13 oz. Small and at great risk, Sam was lovingly cared for in the neo-natal unit of this state of the art hospital. Kresta and Ryan stayed at a Ronald McDonald house nearby and kept daily vigil for over 2 months until Sam was able to come home. It was another stressful time of stormy water. Once again, the water did not overwhelm us.
The following year, when Kresta’s Doctors told her she would never have trouble free pregnancies because of a mal-formed uterus, she had surgery to remove it. It was a tough blow for a young woman of 27 and her husband. They wanted children so deeply. It was yet another trial that affected us all. Our children were grown but we realized that parents never stop worrying over and feeling the pain of their children. Though we were all discouraged and sad, God somehow sustained us all.
The following August, my older sister Barbara who had been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, passed away. Once again, we were gathering at the graveside of a loved one, asking how we could endure yet another storm. There, next to the graves of my parents, God met us and lifted us through the support of friends and the wonderful assurance of the Scriptures given by Barb’s pastors from Christ Community Church. Another huge wave swept abeam of our lives. Barb’s husband Dennis and her children and grandchildren were affected more profoundly of course. But we also were thrown into the stormy sea of grief and loss. The Lord not only threw us a life ring, God also swam in that deep, stormy water with us, insuring that we would not sink and drown.
Some might say that religion is a crutch or unhealthy emotional support. For those that have ever been tossed into stormy seas, the relief of being rescued is not a false security or a sign of emotional weakness. It is life itself. A fisherman drowning in the icy, stormy waters of the Bering Sea would not look at the basket being lowered to him from a Coast Guard helicopter as a crutch. He would grab it and cling to it with all his might and be thankful for rescue.
In the same way, people who face severe trials and sufferings in life have a rescue at hand as well. God not only reaches out from heaven to calm them. God entered into the human condition by becoming human himself in the person of Jesus Christ. This incarnation provided rescue from our most dangerous enemy – eternal death and separation from our creator. It also has given to us the life-saving and very real presence of one who stands beside us in the fires; swims with us in the deep waters and keeps us from perishing in the midst of life’s trials.
Isaiah went on to say of Jesus, the Messiah, “he was a man of sorrows, familiar with suffering.” (Isaiah 53:2) The Lord knows our weakness and our needs. He never sleeps through these storms, allowing us to perish. Instead, he comes to stand beside us and speaks to us and to the storms and says, “Peace. Be Quiet!”
And when he speaks those words to our hearts, an unexplainable, incomprehensible sense of calm assurance and peace sweeps over the decks of our lives; not the devastating waves of loss.
Judy and I had always observed that Christians seemed able to face trials with a sense of trust and assurance. Oh yes, even the strongest in faith are shaken and affected by pain, suffering, loss and discouragement. But seldom did such storms overwhelm. In spite of the weakness of our faith, we also discovered the faithfulness of God in the storm. That is also our assurance for future trials.

God still speaks to the storm: PEACE, BE QUIET. God's holy love cannot be quenched.