October 26: Insight Post by Bret Burzio
Monday Insight Post
by J. Bret Burzio, Sr.
When I was in middle school, I went on a family trip to Scotland with my dad, stepmom, and two younger sisters. We flew into London, drove north through the beautiful countryside to Edinburgh, then west to Glasgow, and then made our way to a village called Ardrossan on the Firth of Clyde to catch a ferry out to the Isle of Arran. It was about a quarter of the way out to Arran that I discovered I was not even remotely built for a life on the sea. It was stormy, cold, windy, and the waters of the Firth were heaving up and down with absolutely no mercy. I was as sick as I ever remember feeling up to that point in my life. It was a feeling of total helplessness. After what seemed like an eternity, I remember the ferry entering the small inlet outside Arran, the waters beginning to calm, and the utter relief of finding a safe harbor away from the swells. So, I smiled with deep remembrance when I read our verses this week from Psalm 107:28-30 (NLT) Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and he brought them out of their distress. He calmed the storm to a whisper and stilled the waves. What a blessing was that stillness as He brought them safely into harbor!
Isn’t it beautiful and amazing that we see Jesus fulfill exactly what was described in this Psalm for the disciples as they crossed the stormy sea of Galilee several hundred years later. And it’s not just on the literal stormy seas that He stills the waters and brings us to safety when we cry out to Him. Some of you have heard me share the story of when I was standing in a busy hallway at Fairfax Hospital in 1994 frantically trying to get ready for the delivery of my daughter Pauline. During the several months prior, her doctors had warned us Pauline would likely not live past birth. And this young, 23-year-old Bret was having a full-blown anxiety attack trying to put on his scrubs as nurses, doctors, technicians, and carts flew by in crescendoing chaos. I was reaching full panic mode, and I remember distinctly calling out to God, really almost an internal scream, “God, I can’t do this!!” As soon as the words left my mind, the hallway cleared completely. There was not a soul left in the hallway; the hospital noises stopped, and it became peacefully, serenely quiet. And that’s when I heard His voice say simply and lovingly, “I’m here.” I can’t adequately describe to you the peace that came over me at that moment. It was unlike anything I had felt before. My panic immediately stopped, the nurses opened the doors to the surgery room, and I was ready for the next thirteen years that He blessed us with Pauline.
Oh, what blessings He has in store for us! If we will simply just take the time to confess to Him in our times of trouble, He will calm the waters. He will lead us to safe harbor. Yes, sometimes there is a journey involved. The time on that ferry seemed like an eternity to me. But God knew the harbor was just ahead. Jesus knew something the disciples had yet to learn, that they would never be abandoned. My prayer for you as you read this insight post is that you take the time to confess, know the waters will calm, and allow Him to bring you into safe harbor.
J. Bret Burzio, Sr.
Executive Administrator
New Hope Church
Lorton, Virginia
newhope.org