I've had a few fascinations in my life. JFK would be one. I've read and studied that horrible day in November of 1963 for over fifty years now....and I will unabashedly say this....Lee Harvey Oswald did not kill our president. It is not amazing to me that so many people believe that Oswald did this....but it is amazing that so many who have researched and written on this....actually still believe that it was Oswald! Enough of that.
Another fascination is with the Titanic. Let me just give you one anecdote. John Harper was a Scottish Baptist widower minister....on his way to Chicago with his young daughter....to receive a calling to a famous American church. He was reported during the panic at the boarding of the lifeboats....to have yelled...."Women and children and the unsaved first!" He gave his flotation device away while in the water....and perished....but only in the body.
I have had another fascination developing for some time now....storms....hurricanes particularly....Atlantic and Caribbean hurricanes most particularly. The Weather Channel....is my favorite television Channel. The Fantome was a solid four-masted schooner....a beautiful ship....that sank in the Caribbean in late October of 1998. Here is the story....it had about 100 passengers....mostly American....during the scheduled cruise....when news of a Caribbean-birthed Hurricane was forming. Its experienced captain debarked all of the passengers to safety....and then....in communication by telephone with those who owned the ship....made a plan to escape the hurricane.
The hurricane forecast models had the storm turning west-northwest....so the plan was to quickly sail south-southeast....only the forecast proved incorrect....the hurricane turned south-southeast also. As of today they have not located the sunken ship....its 31 crew members were lost....nor do they know exactly what happened in that final hour....but from what I have read....it most likely was laid on its side by 40 foot waves....and the water entered from the entry-points on the deck.
The oceanographic/meteorological aspect of the storms fascinate me....as do the ships and all boats....down to little dinghys....but it is the concept of a storm....particularly as it relates to God's Word....that drives and animates me....because the Bible uses the concept of a storm so often....particularly in judgment of rebellious peoples....from Israel of old....to Isreal today...to pagan nations of old....to us today!
The captain and the owners of the Fantome tried to save that beautiful ship....and they most likely would have....but God's Word tells us in Isaiah 51:15...."For I am the LORD your God....who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar (the LORD of armies is His name.)"
I have another anecdote for you....It was 1983....and My wife and I were on a Caribbean cruise. Cruise ships were much smaller in those days. We were on the last leg of our journey....rounding the western tip of Cuba....and a sudden storm brewed up. The ship rocked....and everyone had to go to their cabins....which we did. I was a brand-spanking new Christian....who did not even know enough to bring a Bible with me on vacation. I lay in bed.....there were two single beds in this mid-ship cabin. The ship was rocking so much that a glass of water almost slid off the bed table. I reached into the drawer on that table....and there was a Gideon's Bible....so I brought it out of the drawer...and did what all budding theologians do....I randomly opened it up....and put my finger on a page....to see what God might have to tell me....it was Psalm 93....and as the ship rocked violently....here is what I read....
"The LORD reigneth, he is clothed with majesty; the LORD is clothed with strength, wherewith he has girded himself: the world also is stablished, that it cannot be moved. Thy throne is established of old: thou art from everlasting. The floods have lifted up, O LORD, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their waves. The LORD on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea. Thy testimonies are very sure: holiness becometh thine house, O LORD, forever." (I used the KJV here....for I imagine that is the translation that the Gideons used at the time)
Folks....there are storms coming....in the atmosphere and the ocean....and in the world. Some may begin as disturbances off of the west coast of Africa....giving us weeks to watch as they strengthen on their westward journey....and we already see many of these coming closer....but some may appear almost overnight....giving little to no time to prepare.
A few years ago....May of 2020 to be exact....I was typing a post on our patio in beautiful weather. The post was just like this one....warning of God's coming judgments....(this was at the beginning of the pandemic)....and suddenly my iPhone weather alarm warned of a severe storm that would arrive in 15 minutes. The storm came....and damage was done in two minutes. You can read this post if you want by going back to June 21 of 2025...and a post titled....From Sunny Skies ....To Surveying The Damage....In Fifteen Minutes.
If you wind up reading this post tonight....Saturday evening....you might want to meditate on your pillow these words of Jesus to the Pharisees in Matthew 16:2,3...."When it is evening you say, 'it will be fair weather for the sky is red'....and in the morning....'it will be foul weather today for the sky is red and threatening'....Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky....but you cannot discern the signs of the times."
