Dr. William Barclay was one of the most respected Bible scholars in the world. His life was devastated at one point when his only daughter drowned just a few days before she was to be married. Sometime later, commenting on our scripture lesson for today, Dr. Barclay said this: "I am not so concerned as to whether Jesus stilled the tempest on the sea. What I do know is He stilled the tempest in my heart."

Throughout the last 20 centuries there have been millions of people who have heard Christ speak his sweet message of comfort and hope: "Peace," he says. "Peace. Be still." He calms the storms, and He brings us peace. That is our good news for the day. He calms the storms.

Of course, this truth speaks to a reality that has been discussed in psychological circles during the past 50 years or so. It is the idea that whatever happens to us is not nearly as important as what happens in us.

There is some profound truth in the story about the man and his wife who were on vacation in the mountains. One afternoon the man returned to their cabin all scratched and bruised, explaining to his wife that he had encountered a snake on the trail. She reminded him that a guide had told them the day before that the snakes around there were not poisonous. To which the husband replied that snakes don't have to be poisonous if they scare you into jumping off a 20-foot cliff.

You see, the snake was not the problem. The man's unreasonable fear of snakes was the problem. In the words of an old German adage, "Fear makes the wolf bigger than he is."

Many years ago Harry Emerson Fosdick told of a teenage girl stricken with polio. One of her friends had once told her that, "Affliction does so color life." To which this courageous girl agreed, but said that she could choose which color. She had discovered one of life's great secrets. It's not what happens to you, but what happens in you that counts.

When Robinson Crusoe was shipwrecked on his lonely island, he made a chart with two columns. In one column he put how evil had affected him, and in the other he wrote what was good about his situation. He was stranded on a desolate island, but he was not starving. The rest of his ship's company had drowned at sea. He was away from human society, but he was still alive. The little island could support his basic needs. He had no clothes, but he was in a hot climate and did not need them. He was without any means of defense, but he saw no wild beasts such as he had seen on the coast of Africa. He had no one to talk to, but God had sent the ship so near to the shore that he could get everything out of it that would help him survive. So, he concluded, there was no condition in the world so miserable that one could not find something to be grateful for. There's that secret again.

A cartoon in the newspaper a while back showed a little man standing before a vending machine. A sign on the machine said, "New perspectives"”50 cents." If only it were that easy. From time to time, we could all use a new perspective.

A young bride followed her husband to an army camp in the California desert in WWII. It wasn't long before she regretted her move. The heat and the dust were terrible. She couldn't visit with their neighbors, because they were Indians who spoke very little English. Even worse, her husband was allowed little time at home with her. She quickly grew bored and lonely. When she felt she couldn't stand it any longer, she wrote and told her mother that she was coming home. But her mother sent her back a little poem that has helped many people regain their perspective on life: "two men looked out through prison bars. One saw mud, the other saw stars." The young woman took the hint. She began to find ways to make friends with her neighbors. She became somewhat of an authority on desert plants and eventually wrote a book about them. As Robert Schuller would put it, "she turned her scars into stars." It's not nearly so important what happens to you as it is what happens in you.

I hope it doesn't seem that I am minimizing the existence of life's many storms when I say that. Life can be pretty rough some times.

A cartoon strip shows Dennis the Menace in bed between his mother and father, with the blanket pulled up to his chin, "A little thunder doesn't scare me," he says. "It's just a lot of thunder that makes me afraid."

There will be times in our lives when there will be a lot of thunder. Bishop Hughes was the pastor of a church in Boston that had 800 members. When he had been there for two years, someone asked him to preach a sermon on comfort. He began to think about it, and became curious as to how necessary this sermon was. So he looked through the church roll and listed all the families that had suffered grief or trouble of some sort during the past two years. He found that an incredible 80% of his parishioners needed comfort. Badly. We should never minimize the reality of life's storms. However, we should always know that there is certainly help and there is hope.

Corrie ten Boom nearly died during World War II in a Nazi prison camp. One day another prisoner asked her why God let them suffer so much if He was really good. Corrie said this: "There are many things I do not understand, but if you knew the Lord the way I know Him, you wouldn't have to know why"”you would be satisfied just to know God is good and God is love." She knew how to handle both life's inner storms and outer storms.

On November 6, 1977, 39 people were killed in Taccoa Falls, Georgia, when a dam burst. A group of psychologists studied the victims' survivors and found that those who had a strong faith in God handled the tragedy much better than those without strong faith. Why? Because faith in God helps determine what is happening in us while the storms are happening to us.

Do you know how that truth became real to J.C. Penny, the founder of the retail chain that bears his name? In his autobiography, Fifty Years With the Golden Rule, he talks about being in a sanitarium one night when he thought he was dying. He wrote several letters and went to bed, fairly certain that he would not be alive the following morning. But he was still alive when morning came.

So he got up and started to walk down the hall. Then he heard people singing: "Be not dismayed whate'er betide. God will take care of you." A few people were having an early morning prayer meeting, and he slipped in and sat down in the back.

Someone read quietly from the Bible, and led a prayer. Before long, Mr. Penny began a spontaneous prayer. He prayed, "Lord, I can do nothing. Will you take care of me?" In the next few moments something did indeed happen to him. In his own words, "It was a miracle."

What happened was that J.C. Penny had met the One who can calm life's storms.

The great poet William Cowper also discovered Christ's ability to calm life's storms. During one bleak period of his life, he reached the breaking point and tried to commit suicide.

He first tried to end it all by swallowing poison, but that attempt failed. Then he hired a coach to take him to the Thames River, intending to hurl himself over the bridge. But something restrained him. The next morning he fell on a sharp knife"”and broke the blade. Then he tried to hang himself, but someone found him before he died and took him down.

All those attempts at suicide, and he was still alive. No wonder Cowper later wrote, "God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform; He plants His footsteps in the sea, and rides the storm." William Cowper had finally met the Christ who stills life's storms while reading the book of Romans.

Do you remember how the disciples reacted when the storm came up around their little boat? You and I have been there with those fearful disciples, haven't we?

We have seen the storm clouds rise, and we have felt the winds howl and the waves begin to beat into the ship. The boat is rocking hard, and slowly filling with water. It is beginning to list to one side, and in a few moments it surely will dump all of us into the sea. Meanwhile, Jesus is asleep in the back of the boat. Let's be honest. There are times when we are troubled and wonder if God is sleeping. The disciples woke the Master, and hit Him with a harsh question: "Master, carest thou not that we perish?"

Of course He cares. That's the secret of handling life's storms. After Christ rebukes the storm, He rebukes the disciples, "Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?" Slowly we realize that that is the critical problem in our own lives. It is not what is happening to us but what is happening in us. The way we handle life's storms is always directly proportional to our faith. We can hear that gentle voice just as William Barclay heard it, just as J.C. Penny heard it, just as William Cowper heard it. It is the voice of Him who has dominion over the wind and the waves. "Peace, be still," He says. Mark says it best: "the wind ceased, and there was a great calm."