The Perfect Storm

I have recently relocated, and although I really don't want to, I've been looking for a new church closer to home so my gas tank isn't getting pummeled every time I try and go to church. A few weeks back, I went to a church that I had heard a lot of great things about, and so I went to check it out and see what all the hype was about. I was less than satisfied with the worship and when the preaching came I was a little unnerved that I tried to pay attention and not critique him the whole time. I prayed that I would be able to focus on the message and not anything else, and that however wrong I thought the preacher might be I wanted to get something out of it...which is where the title comes into play. The preacher was talking about how salvation is like being in a perfect storm, horrendous and powerful, and how God is in this Boat, and even tho the storm is strong and powerful, the Boat isn't phased. The preacher was saying being saved is being in the boat, and although the storm is there, we're safe. I think that the analogy is on track, but not quite accurate with Scripture...so let me try and revise this a little and maybe it'll help you.
There is a perfect storm, and we are out in the middle of it, helpless, hopeless, and in need of someone to come along and help us out. The Boat, it's there too, and God is in the Boat. But instead of us just magically appearing in the Boat and being safe from the storm, God sends out a perfectly sculpted Coast Guard Rescuer, Jesus. He has a rope tied to the Boat and on that rope is a Lifesaver. Jesus swims out to us and tells us that He loves us, and if we are to make it through this storm that we need to allow Him to help us get in the Lifesaver.

You see, the storm, this perfect storm is life, and Jesus comes along, and He does want to help us, but just because we're saved doesn't mean we're safe from the storm. If the wind and the waves were to over take us without His help, then we would die, we would sink to the bottom of the ocean, which I think for the analogy is Hell. Now, the Bible talks about how we're "being saved", Paul mentions it in Romans, I believe, as well as throughout the rest of the New Testament. So, I think it's fitting to say that if we're being saved then our life's journey is, if we are Christians, in the Lifesaver with Jesus toting us along toward the Boat. We never reach the Boat until we are gone from this world, and we don't know when that will be...only He knows.
Anyway, I'm not trying to say that the preacher was wrong for how he put the analogy, I just think that telling it this way would be a much easier way of understanding Salvation (Accepting Jesus with The Lifesaver), the Coast Guard Rescuer (Jesus), and being with God (The Boat).

The perfect storm never goes away, but it is suspended in time. It can't overtake us with Christ. We are subject to its ferocity and horror, and we will take a beating from it over and over again, but Christ has us in His arms. He is hanging onto us like never before, and even if we don't think He is, when we remember Who has us, the peace that overcomes us is indescribable.