Feb 13 - Mark 4:39

Jesus woke up

and rebuked the wind,

and said to the sea,

"Peace! Be still!"

Then the wind ceased,

and there was a dead calm.

Mark 4:39

Have you ever encountered a moment of dead calm?

That's how people describe the eye of a hurricane. For hours, violent winds have been lifting roofs and snapping trees. And then there's suddenly an eerie hush. The skies clear. The winds stop. The barometric pressure drops. And there is a dead calm.

Have you ever been in a conversation when someone says something ... and everything stops.

That can happen when someone says something profound. More often it happens when someone says and does something offensive. Suddenly, the barometric pressure will drop, a chill will descend, and an eerie hush will fall over the room.

When Jesus said, "Peace! Be still!" I don't think it was only the weather that entered a state of eerie silence. I think the disciples in that boat encountered a moment of dead calm too. Here was a man who could -- gulp! -- make the wind and waves obey him. As it says in Mark 16:8 of the resurrection, "terror and amazement had seized them." Dead calm! 

Have you ever encountered a moment of a dead-calm-spiritual-awakening? A moment when the barometer drops and you know God is there? Some do. Some don't.

I pray regularly for spiritual revival. I pray regularly that God will break into our lives -- and into our world -- in ways that silence the doubts, calm the storms, and usher in a new era beyond the troubled seas. I invite you to join me in that prayer.

In Christ's Love,

a guy who is not dead,

a guy who is not always calm,

but a guy who's praying for dead calm!