There's good news from Iraq in today's headlines. This morning's Wall Street Journal is quoting Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, the man responsible for the ground campaign in Iraq. The general states that violence in Iraq is at its lowest levels since the first year of the American invasion, due to an increase in American troops and better-trained Iraqi forces. The window for reconciliation among rival sects is finally open, the general says.

Any progress toward peace is welcome in the global war on terror. In the meantime, you and I need peace for our homes and hearts as well, for we live in the most hectic culture known to history. For instance, a new pill is being tested which appears to nullify the effects of sleep deprivation, so we can work more and sleep less. Its inventors expect to make millions. Wendy's averages 150.3 seconds between the time you place your order and you receive your food; McDonald's is 16.7 seconds behind, but pledges to catch up.

Scientists have determined that our earth is spinning more slowly with each passing day. In merely 200 million years, a day will have 25 hours in it; in 400 million years, we'll have 26 hours in a day. Just think what you'll be able to do with the added time. In the meanwhile, we need peace for our hectic and troubled hearts.

And so, of all Isaiah's promises about the baby in Bethlehem, perhaps the one most welcome to us today is that he will be the "Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6). Literally, the "Prince who brings Peace" wherever he goes. This week, let's watch Jesus prove Isaiah right, and learn how to find his peace where we need it most.

Our episode begins safely enough: "That day when evening came, Jesus said to his disciples, 'Let us go over to the other side'" (Mark 4:35). Note that God has a will for the evening as well as the daytime, for every hour of our lives. And note that these men are in that will when they sail across the Sea, into the storm they don't know is coming.

The Sea of Galilee sits 682 feet below sea level, like a bowl at the bottom of the rugged hills and craggy mountains which surround it on all sides. So when weather fronts blow through the area, their gusts are magnified by these mountains like a wind tunnel, and storm down from their heights onto the unsuspecting sea below without warning. This is just the crisis here: "A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped" (v. 37). "Squall" translates the Greek word for a terrible storm or even a hurricane. Matthew's version uses the Greek word for an earthquake--it was that terrifying on these waves. What comes next? Let's continue tomorrow.

Copyright © 2007. Godissues.com. All rights reserved.