We all have stories of struggle and suffering. Medical crises, divorce, re-location, downsizing of a job/salary, and storms. Some we remember the exact date of. November 26, 1968: I suffer a concussion after hitting my head on the driveway. September 5, 2000: I get passed over for promotion to Chief Petty Officer for the seventh and final time. February 5, 2007: a tornado rips a path of destruction through DeLand. I recall lying in bed in the wee pre-dawn hours hearing what sounded like a freight train at full speed half a mile away. When I heard that a certain mobile home community had been decimated, I jumped on my bicycle (roads were impassable) and got to my parishioner’s house as quickly as I could. She was standing in her front yard, dazed, and we both surveyed with mouths open wide the huge tree that had fallen on her front porch. In true Joanie style, she said, “I was supposed to have the ladies over for cards this evening. Think I ought to cancel?” The only response that I felt sufficient was, “that’s a wonderful attitude to have about it. Your faith inspires me.”

We don’t have to let anything – not even a tree crashing through our porch – get in the way of our faith. One of my favorite slogans is, “I got this one, okay? Love, God.”

We will survive every storm that comes in life. We know this because Jesus assures us of his constant, abiding presence. There is nothing we can experience or endure that he is incapable of conquering for us. He went to the cross and took on sin and death. In the mystery of faith, he dies, is buried and as the resurrected Son of God becomes the first-born of the dead. Nothing, absolutely nothing, has dominion over him. Paul sums it up in Romans 8:35-39. There is JOY, yes JOY in trials and tribulations. They are constant reminders of God’s power to overcome. In JOY we are more capable of seeing the healing, the blessing, the reconciliation, the new beginning, the abundance, and the calm when we feel and realize that God’s got this one. And the next one. And…

Unconditional love – allowing us to live in the JOY of our trials.

Pastor Art