As it tore through the shipping lanes, waves built to 100 ft. at Gloucester, Mass. far to the edges of this 1000 mile wide giant, amateur photographers took video pictures of wild waters raging ashore, sweeping away harbors, boats and buildings. This is the storm whose story is told in the Warner Brothers Film "The Perfect Storm". Storms at sea are fearful and have always been the source of legend, for at sea we have no control whatever. There is no one to help, nowhere to go for safety.

Storms at sea are not the venue of mortals. "Answer me if you can", demanded God of the whining Job. "Have you entered into the depths of the sea or walked in the recesses of the deep? Declare this, if you know". It is not surprising to find such even in the foundational stories of a desert people. Ancient inhabitants of Galilee looked down fearfully into the unknown depths of the Lake Galilee and quaked in fear. Unseen breezes caused little ripples on the surface; surely the wake - the disturbance of evil spirits of the deep.

Once, they even built a Giant Gargoyle towering from the shore, glaring down into the cold lake to frighten the demons - the dragons - so that they might stay down there and leave them alone.

Even in our Lord's Day, few dared the waters of Galilee. Those who did were slaves to the shore. They used boats only for fishing platforms near the gravel beach. If people used a boat to go anywhere they hugged the shore as they went. For fierce things happened on the face of the deep. But, Jesus said, rubbish, let's go to the other side of the Lake - straight across. And let's do it in the dark - oh my! what folly! But, the disciples did what Jesus asked. They set off in their little boat for the eastern shore, to a strange place and a strange people, people quite different from themselves. But, Jesus said, "Lets go," and go they did.

Meanwhile, Darkness fell. The clear desert air cooled over Jesreel and began to settle down the valley slopes for 50 miles from the high country down toward Lake Galilee, as it had many times before. It began to move until it became a huge mass of cold air moving faster and faster downhill. Like a fright-train it fell into the wadis or sharp valleys west of the Lake, such as the Wadi of Pigeons, and was constricted by the narrowing walls so that, suddenly and with no warning, out of a clear night sky, the cold air burst forth onto Lake Galilee at speeds approaching 100 mph. Instantly, the waves mounted to a horrid chop., The dragons were once again thrashing the waters of Galilee, and violent death or worse was on the way to claim the helpless disciples. With their last terrified glance they looked around to find Jesus, who got them in this fix, asleep on a cushion: asleep! I tell you. And they were furious! Don't you care we are perishing! They screamed.

We sometimes think God's purpose is to keep us rich and comfortable or at least to protect us from experiencing the storms forced upon us by life on a still-forming dangerous planet or by people as yet incomplete or by our own lack of vision for life. Yet we discover, often to our dismay, that we are not in control and God seems to be asleep on the cushion.

There is a very sad book by Taylor Caldwell called "Prelude of Love" in which a family spends all its energies with members feeling threatened by others and acting defensively all the time. Petty irritations dominate even their good moments, and they go through life worrying about the next perceived slight the next diminishing word. It is only at a death bed that love breaks through. And that is good news but I always think of the time - the life - the love - lost in the meantime.

All of life was spent waiting for the next threatening wave. And, like Job, complaining and impatient all the way. What dragons we conjure up to enslave ourselves. Jesus would have us free of them all – free! Yet, there he is asleep on the cushion. But ,he is there and his sleeping through it all is the point of the story. That he is unconcerned is a testimony to God's power before this relatively small dragon. Death had no dominion over Jesus, a statement ratified by his resurrection from the death of Calvary. So he indeed can take his ease before the worst storms of life. But his disciples are in mortal fear, so he awakens, stands, and faces the dragon of the deep and of the darkness and the unknown and says (as did God shout to Job) "Peace, be still" - "Cut that out, you guys!" And the wind and the waves obeyed him.

Jesus turns to his disciples and says, "Why are afraid? Have you no faith?" or Don't you understand that you need not fear? You are new creatures, with God's perspective in your minds - God's love in your hearts. The storms of life will come. That is the stage on which we play out this high drama of life. We can stand above them, almost friends with them. We need no longer be slaves to the shore, but can set out - risk being God's people daring the dragons to do their worst for God reigns in our heart and death no longer applies.

Metaphor? Sure. But representative of power to be freed, to walk on water, tramp all over chaos and misunderstanding and apparent slights and failings as if they are nothing, for they do not determine who we are or how we live anymore, God does. We can risk reaching out to people across the lake of confusion, chaos, and distrust. We can dare approach people we fear will judge us or resent us or diminish us, for we are free.

So set out from shore. Risk mightily at God's direction. Take your ease in this little boat - the church - have a cushion. Enjoy God's Journey over the chaos and dissension. That is this new millennium; for, as followers of God, nothing can destroy what we truly are.