Just ahead of sharing our guest blogger’s thoughts with you this, week, I’d like to take a moment, as well, to share a couple of thoughts from our current travels in Israel. As our pilgrimage through the Land continues, the regularly scheduled time for posting our Gallagher’s Pen offering for the week finds us pushing the limits of our capacity on several levels. Along with our new Holy Land “family”, we hit the ground running every morning and the pace rarely slows down until we head off to bed each night. We’re seeing new excavations, learning about the impact of unexpected discoveries, and standing in the presence of enlightening evidence not only of what Jesus did, but how purposeful He was in choosing where, why, and how He chose to do it.
We are more grateful than words can convey for the privilege to be here and to travel with a team of teachers who are not only living repositories of knowledge, experience, devotion, and skill, but who also demonstrate a deep and profound love for the Word of God and this land where it came to life. There really is no other place on earth that has been blessed to witness so many events that affect the temporal and eternal destiny of the entire human race.
In a world where so many have no dependable moral foundation and where hatred, violence, and bloodshed are part of nearly every news cycle, Diane and I had some time Monday morning that gave us yet another unforgettable moment. Together with our Holy Land family, we began our day in Israel with a cruise on the Sea of Galilee. The weather was absolutely perfect, and the lake was as calm and smooth as it could ever get. As the blessed “shalom” that Jesus promised filled our hearts, I thought of that incident when the lake looked anything but calm and Jesus’ disciples thought they were going to drown. When they woke their sleeping Lord and expressed their alarm, He stood up and rebuked the wind and waves, and there was a sudden calm inexplicable by any standard other than the mighty power God.
As I looked across the lake and the beautiful landscape around it, I was overwhelmed with the knowledge that Jesus will one day calm the storms again. He will subdue the winds of evil blowing waves of anarchy across our land that seek to drown us all. One day the King will stand to face the storm again, and He will rebuke more than wind and waves. He will rebuke death itself. On that day, He will restore everything that sin destroyed, and the peace that felt so tangible on Galilee that morning will fill every heart. It was one of the many unforgettable reminders that the power in His word is real, the promises He made are true; and this land where He spoke them highlights them all.
With that as a backdrop, once again, we’re blessed to have another faithful and gifted friend who has graciously offered to lend us a hand to step in and provide our weekly blog post while we’re away. Our friend, fellow writer, and sister in Christ, Martha Jane Orlando has agreed to allow us to share a sample from her blog, Meditations of My Heart. Martha’s posts are always a source of uplifting encouragement gleaned from her experiences and insights and always include down-to-earth ways to apply God’s principles to our lives. So, we trust that you’ll be as blessed with this sample as we always are, and that you’ll add her blog to your reading list and her ministry to your prayer list.
And again, please pray for our continued safety as we travel and that God will pour into our hearts what He wants us to see and hear – and that He will make us fountains to dispense His truth, not cisterns where it just sits and stagnates.
And now, here’s Martha …
Keep Calm and Pray
As they sailed, he fell asleep. A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger. The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we’re going to drown!” He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm. “Where is your faith?” he asked his disciples. In fear and amazement, they asked one another, “Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him.” ~Luke 8:23-25
Springtime, especially in the Midwest and Southeastern states, too often ushers in bouts of violent weather as masses of warm air clash with the lingering winter cold fronts. Danny, as some of you might already know, is a self-admitted weather geek, and has over the years, found some reliable meteorologists on YouTube he trusts. One favorite of his is Ryan Hall at “Ryan Hall – Y’all,” to which you can subscribe and stream for free.
When I tell him that my sister-in-Christ and long time “pen pal,” K., could be right in the line of fire for these latest round of tornadoes, he advises that she watch Ryan on YouTube. His steaming updates are extremely timely and accurate; in this last tornado outbreak, there were even storm chasers in Iowa to report the latest. So exciting to have experts updating us!
Yes, K. signs up for the site, and is so thankful that we suggested she do so. This is part of her note to us, and I paraphrase: What meant the most to me was not just the weather information, but that Ryan’s voice was so CALM (emphasis hers). Our local meteorologists on the radio always sound so frantic when severe storms are approaching our area. Ryan truly made it much easier to keep alert, yet peaceful inside.
Thanks be to God!
I sometimes try to imagine how Jesus’ human voice sounded to His disciples, not just in commanding wind and waves to cease, but in moments of traveling through Judea as He healed the sick, both physically and spiritually, and turned those impossibilities to possibilities for those who believed He was the long-awaited Messiah. No matter the timbre or cadence Jesus’ voice had in His human manifestation, my heart tells it could calm the soul as equally as the storm.
And when we seek Him through prayer and worship, no matter what storms we are going through, He will grant us the peace that passes all understanding. The peace that only our Lord and Savior can bring to this troubled world and our troubled hearts.
The voice of our Lord speaks to us today. Are we listening?
Amen!
Are you or your loved ones facing a stormy time right now? If you feel comfortable with sharing your story, please do in the comment section. We will pray for you!
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Gallagher's Pen ~ 
Another stellar post Mr. Ron. I too have long enjoyed the wisdom and spiritual insights shared by our friend, Mrs. Martha Jane Orlando. From spiritual gems like this post to watching (from afar) how she and her dear husband are pouring into their family, I always come away with a feeling of being safely cared for by her words.
Great post, one of my favorites, Ms. Martha Jane. Thank you, ma’am.
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You are such a blessing to so many, J.D. Your willingness to take the time to read the volume of material that you do and then to extend the kind of thoughtful and encouraging grace that always attends your responses is so refreshing and uplifting to Diane and me. We love you, Brother, and prayed for you in some very special places during our time in Israel. I thought about you as I stood in a synagogue in Capernaum and reflected on the different ways people responded to the words Jesus spoke. To those who recognized the authority and power inherent in them, His words brought priceless hope and encouragement, but to those who saw Him as a threat to their own power and authority, those same words brought fear and incited homicidal rage. As I prayed for you and your Diane in that special place, I felt blessed to have friends like you who express the way Jesus’ words come to life all around them and show that they still have authority, still transmit hope, and still inflame those who want to claim the authority and power that belongs to Him alone. The Jews have always been a very communal people, and see life as a together thing. Thanks for making that notion a very real part of our world, too. So, God bless you for the ways you remind me and so many others that we’re in it together. And by the way, several of our group, including Diane and me, came down with some kind of upper respiratory plague that made the last five or so days a lot tougher than normal. We got home about 1:00 AM this morning and are rejoicing in being able to just collapse–nothing major, but prayers are welcome.
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We are most certainly praying sir. Most humbly, from your words, but we are praying fervently on your (both you and Ms. Diane and your colleagues) behalf. Thank you for your prayers. They were felt and much insight and guidance received these past two weeks. God’s blessings, and welcome home, friends. Will look forward to reading all about the blessings you both gave and received during your visit in the coming weeks.
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Thanks again for the prayers and encouragement, J.D. The blessings poured out on us during our time in the land are more than we can count, but it’s also wonderful to be back home where we can relax and recuperate from whatever brand of misery this is that we’ve picked up. It’s certainly not the kind of souvenir we intended to bring home with us. Emptying our luggage was sorting out all the physical stuff we brought back was not so hard–sorting out and arranging all the scenes we observed and all the mental, spiritual, and emotional content we absorbed may take longer to process and apply than the years we have left. But what an incredibly stimulating task it will be to undertake. God bless you for riding shotgun with us, Brother, and I hope we can catch up again soon. Meanwhile our hearts continue to join yours in prayer for God’s personal and intimately active presence as He leads you through the challenging season confrontin both of you right now.
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I am humbled and honored, Ron and Diane, that you chose this particular post to share with all your readers. Thanks, too, for giving us all an update on your amazing travels in the Holy Land. May God continue to give you safe and memorable travels in Israel and on your return back to the States. Blessings always!
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The honor of sharing your gifts was ours, dear sister. We were glad to have an opportunity to introduce you to some who may not have been aware of you and your reservoir of insights and the gift you have of bringing them to life. And thank you for the prayer support for us as we traveled. Trust me, it was especially needed during the last four or five days in the land. Nearly half of our group, including Diane and me, contracted some kind of upper respiratory distress and life was pretty miserable. A doctor actually came to our hotel in Jericho on Tuesday night and made “house calls” for us. One of our friends was hospitalized for a day and a half because of fears of pneumonia. But thankfully, though she and her husband had fo leave earlier than they wanted, she was basically OK.
Diane and I got home a little after 1:00 AM this morning after a day that began about 1:30 the prior morning and we’re both are pretty exhausted. We saw a doctor this morning and got some treatment started. It’s wonderful to be home again, and we’re going to just collapse for a while and try to get better. I’m grateful for the things the pharmacy offers, but I think the prayers and faithful encouragement of friends like you make every other treatment work better and do more to speed healing than anything else. Thank you once again for the grace and love you always send along, and may God bless you for making our homecoming brighter.
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I’m so relieved that you are both home safe and sound, Ron, and I will continue to pray for full recovery for both of you!!! I did share your blog with Danny today and had him share it on Facebook (I don’t participate in Facebook) so you could get some more exposure for your words of insight and wisdom. Cyber hugs to both Diane and you and wishing you speedy recoveries from the illness and just the stress of the trip. God bless you both!
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Thanks, Martha, and we’re obviously pretty relieved to be back as well. The meds seem to be working and both of us are slightly better this morning. Our church broadcasts our services so we were able to at least watch the service (which was one of the most Biblically sound and culturally insightful message I’ve ever heard on the Lord’s final meal with His disciples. If you and Danny might be interested, in watching it, here’s the YouTube link where you can see it (https://www.youtube.com/live/hiVZLq0ScTg).
And once again, your kind and gracious words have made us feel better. May God grant you guys a wonderfully pleasant Sunday afternoon.
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