Who brings the storms? Growing up if a storm came up we sat in the back of our van with the doors open under the carport and watched the huge maples in our neighbor’s yard move and bend with the wind and the rain. We loved watching storms from the protection of shelter, listening to the thunder and watching the lightening. I loved thinking about God’s strength and as a trusting child I never worried about potential storm damage. And storms never woke me up as I was sleeping. Even though things sometimes seem out of control during a storm, they are never out of God’s control. I also loved the calm after a storm. The sun coming back out, the clouds blowing away, the birds singing again. My biggest faux pas, at least that I knew of, at language school was talking about how I loved taking a walk after a storm and enjoying the calm and the clean feeling of everything being washed. At least that’s what I thought I was saying. But instead of the word for storm, I used the word for hurricane, angin topan, and described how I liked to see the results of a hurricane. Oops! So how do we avoid devastation from the storms of life? How do we follow the example of palm trees and bend instead of break? And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”