Have you ever had that “A Ha” moment when you are trying to understand a Bible story? I had one just the other day; let me tell you about it. It actually starts several years ago when Sharon and I were driving to Ft. Collins, Co. for a ministry conference. From Houston we drove north through Texas, and Oklahoma and on into Kansas. Then we turned left toward Colorado, but we had the whole state of Kansas to get through. Kansas is mostly flat with some rolling hills, and it is field after field. It was right after the Fourth of July, so they were harvesting the winter wheat. Since Sharon’s dad is a farmer and we have both helped on the farm, we took an interest in watching each field as they brought in the crops. As we got closer to Colorado, the wind kept getting stronger and stronger. It got to the point that we started to dread passing the farms that were harvesting their fields because the equipment would stir up so much dust and it got so thick that at noon it was almost as dark as midnight. I had to turn my lights on and slow down to a crawl. It was like being in a think fog because even with the lights on it was hard to see.
We had to stop and get gas right on the Kansas and Colorado border. While I was pumping the gas, it was as if I was in a sandblaster. By the time I had finished pumping gas, one of my checks was bleeding from the wind and debris. Sharon wanted to go inside and go to the restroom and get a coke, but the wind was so strong she could not open the door. I had to stop pumping the gas to go open and close the door for her because once open; the door would not close by itself. After I finished pumping the gas, I went inside to pay the bill and we talked with the clerk a little bit. We asked if it was always this bad with the wind and he sad no, but they do have a lot of wind. He explained that the wind, weather form the Pacific Ocean are forced up the Rocky Mountains and then all of this weather rolls down the other side the Rockies. Just like when you go skiing or sliding, you start out slow at the top, but by the time you get to the bottom you are going pretty fast. Well, that is what happens to the weather in this part of the country, and it was coming pretty fast down the mountains. This is part of what caused the great dust bowl of 1920s and 30s. Now what was nice was on the way back home I got the best gas mileage I have ever gotten on that car because the wind was behind us, and pushed us along.
We presently co-teach the second grade Sunday School. Our co-teacher was teaching one Sunday and that week’s lesson was on when Jesus calmed the Sea of Galilee. While she was telling the story she explained that the Sea of Galilee was known for it sudden fierce storms because the weather would come off the Mediterranean Sea, up the mountains on the east coast of Israel and down the back side of the mountains and the weather would hit the lake just like a wagon rolling down a hill. With this earlier adventure in the back of my mind, that is when I had that “A Ha” moment. This was just like what was happening on our trip to Colorado. It was a storm like this that Jesus calmed. It gave me such an insight as to just how powerful Jesus is. To see the power of what was happening in Kansas and to think Jesus had calmed something like this with just a word. It showed me the supernatural power of Jesus. I tried to explain this to the kids in Sunday School and I do not know if they understood. Just like my words here in this blog, I do not know that you can see the way God opened my eyes that day in Sunday School. I have always been told that you get more out of teaching than your students do, on that day and that lesson, I sure did.
This is dedicated to our co-teacher Jimmie Moss, God’s Instrument
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