I keep thinking they're talking about my grandmother storming up the East Coast. But it's a hurricane by the same name. Irene. And I know what that name means - it literally means peace. How ironic. A hurricane named peace.
Of course, it was in the face of their monster life-hurricane that Jesus gave His disciples one of the greatest promises of peace ever. Within hours, the Man for whom they'd left everything would be arrested, tortured and crucified like a criminal. As this Category 5 "hurricane" was on the verge of ripping apart their world, Jesus said: "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid" (John 14:27).
Excuse me, but how can a devastating life-storm go hand-in-hand with peace?
I got a hint of how on the day they thought the plane I was on might crash. The hydraulic system failed and we were being diverted to the nearest airport. Flight attendants, barely concealing their own anxiety, hastily drilled us in how to prepare for a crash landing (without, of course, ever mentioning that "c" word). Needless to say, it was suddenly very tense and very quiet on our flight.
The grandma next to me was pretty much a nervous wreck. She talked about seeing her grandchildren in New Jersey. I listened and did my best to be some comfort.Then it was time to land-on a runway flanked with emergency vehicles. Thankfully, we landed safely, if a little bumpy.
As we were packing up to leave, grandma asked, "How could you be so calm when everybody else was so uptight?" I said, "Well, I had total peace the whole time, because my peace isn't based on what's going on around me. It's based on Who's going on inside me. One day I asked Jesus to come into my life and take over. He did. And nothing can take Him from me."
That's the secret of hurricane peace. Your response to the tempest is defined by your anchor relationship with Jesus, not the screaming winds of the storm. Or as the Bible says, "You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You" (Isaiah 26:3). The wind and water won't determine what happens to me. Jesus will. And whatever may get washed away, I cannot lose the One who is my reason to live, my defining love and my unloseable security.
Of course, the peace Jesus promised to His followers that dark night would come at an unthinkable price. His horrific death on a cross. Because there's no peace for someone who's away from the God who made them. And, according to the Bible, we all are. Having the unshakeable peace of God depends on being at peace with God. And that couldn't happen without my sin being paid for. So the road to peace is paved with the blood of Jesus. Or as the Bible says, "He was crushed for our iniquities (wrongdoings); the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him" (Isaiah 53:5).
So peace - "hurricane"-proof peace - is a Person. Who will be there when the storm is howling. And when the storm has passed.