James F. Gauss, Ph.D.
January 2, 2023
228 pp, $12.95
On Amazon here.
No one goes through life without a “storm” or two. Everyone experiences hardship, loss, stress, deprivation or some other crisis that impacts or maybe controls their life. With outside influences beyond their control mounting in the current socio-economic, military and terrorist threats, decline in morals, depression and a host of other issues too large to deal with alone, millions are seeking answers and spiritual solace. This book takes the reader through 12 steps or storm preparation and storm survival chapters using biblical teaching to bring forth insight, encouragement and the reality of God’s love. The First Mate’s Study Guide helps to drive home the points made in each chapter; challenging the reader to put biblical principles into practice before, during and after the storms of life.
This book was originally published in 1999 under the title, “Christians Confronting Crisis.” It made its way to the continent of Africa and received the following reviews:
“What we are truly hungering for is a better understanding of God and our relation[ship] to Him. No man has ever influenced us so much or become so much a part of our life as yourself.” Pastor Peter Segita Ogega and Monubi S. O’Ngau, Kenya Fellowship Church, Kenya, East Africa
“I do highly recommend the book, Christians Confronting Crisis, to the colony of God.” Pastor Emmanuel Madziwanzira, Christian Apostolic Faith Church, Zimbabwe, Africa
“I would like to thank you so much for the book I have come across . . . Christians Confronting Crisis. . . . There is a life changing for the better through some of the topics.” Philip Mativengah, Zimbabwe, Africa
“I was so overwhelmed and I thought the only escape was suicide, but thank God for your timely intervention of your book, ‘Christians Confronting Crisis.’ I have finally found freedom and hope in Christ.
“The book had [sic] been an eye-opener and answer to so many issues I have been struggling with.” George T., Ghana, West Africa
In 2010, it was revised and updated and re-released under the current title, “Overcoming the Storms of Life.”
After knowing intense personal crisis and loss, this author guides his readers through an encounter with Biblical truths. The chapters will inspire a dialogue within you, and hopefully with others as well, because interspersed between each chapter of thoughtful interplay between God’s word and life’s realities are set situational exercises which ask how you would handle particular life dilemmas. I could see using this book for individual devotion, or for a gathering of two people or a small group who read the chapters and then come together for the thought questions and the situational responses. If you have struggles with God’s or life’s fairness and the place of God in it, this book can offer healing and wisdom for the challenges of life.
Pastor Greg Schlicker
Contents
Captain’s Pre-log
Day 1. Red Sky in the Morning
First Mate’s Study Guide: The Warning
Day 2. On the Lookout
First Mate’s Study Guide: The Watchman
Day 3. The Captain’s Captain
First Mate’s Study Guide: The Captain
Day 4. Batten Down the Hatches
First Mate’s Study Guide: Stormy Seas Ahead
Day 5. Prepare Your Lifeboat
First Mate’s Study Guide: Storm Preparedness
Day 6. Watch Those Fins Mate
First Mate’s Study Guide: Swimming with the Sharks
Day 7. Going with the Wind
First Mate’s Study Guide: Riding it Out
Day 8. Hunkering Down Within the Storm
First Mate’s Study Guide: Fighting the Good Fight
Day 9. Surviving in the Aftermath
First Mate’s Study Guide: Release Me!
Day 10. Seeking a Safe Harbor
First Mate’s Study Guide: Visit Me!
Day 11. See the Rainbow
First Mate’s Study Guide: Until Death Do Us Part
Day 12. He Who Calms the Storm
First Mate’s Study Guide: Deliver Me, O God
Captain’s After-log
More details on Amazon here.
An excerpt from the first chapter:
Day 1
Red Sky in the Morning
Again, if the trumpet does not sound a clear call,
who will get ready for battle?
1 Corinthians 14:8
Captain’s Log: 0600 hours, September 15, Cape Fear, North Carolina.
They call me Braveheart, Captain Peter Braveheart. I’m the skipper of the H.M.S. (His Master’s Ship) Victorious. My home port is Cape Fear on Bald Island on the outer banks of North Carolina. My sailing destination has always been Safety Harbor on the Gulf Coast of Florida in the northwest corner of Old Tampa Bay. My cargo is precious and always valuable and must get through. They call me Braveheart because I’m a veteran of the sea. But there have been many times when I have felt neither brave, nor endowed with a strong heart. This is my 12-day captain’s log of a journey that I will never forget.
No sea captain ventures forth on the ocean without knowing what the prospects are for foul weather and a plan to safely navigate through a storm. One of my first considerations before setting sail is to pay close attention to any posting of storm flags or ominous weather forecasts. Paying close attention to such warnings will aid me in preparing my ship and crew for any challenges that may lie ahead. As the sun rose and its warm rays spread westward to greet me on the morning of the 15th, a brilliant reddish hue flexed its wings north and south from the yellowish-orange orb. The beginning of the day certainly looked innocent enough, but it foretold of the troubles to come. We initially sailed northeast toward Cape Lookout.
At this very moment you may be going through your own crisis—a struggle with spiritual, emotional, physical, or material survival. If not, we may all be in the midst of a crisis that threatens our freedom or well-being: economic or stock market collapse; war in the Middle East or elsewhere; an oil crisis; political crisis; a decay in national morality; food shortages; murderous and senseless violence; renewal of nuclear holocaust tensions; threats or the reality of terrorism; or any number of other crises that could affect us all.
The storm warning. Before a storm strikes there are usually significant and somewhat ominous warning signs: the sky darkens, the winds shift or pick up speed, barometric pressure drops or there is a rapid temperature change. There is an old sailor’s saying: “Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning; red sky at night, sailors’ delight.” Sometimes a calamity, such as an earthquake or volcanic eruption, happens suddenly and unexpectedly. In our personal lives we have similar experiences. Often the storm that is about to affect our lives can be seen from afar or even “predicted” as an outcome of some choices we have made or situation in which we find ourselves. Or, it may be something that happens without warning, such as an accident, illness, or sudden death.
In the midst of or before any crisis, whether personal, regional, or global, God either sends out a clear warning of the impending nature of the crisis or has already made provision for the resources to help us deal with or find the way out of the crisis. More often than not, God’s warning to us individually, or even corporately as a nation, comes in the midst of calm, peace, and prosperity. The sky is blue, the sun is shining; all seems well in our world, what could be wrong? we ask. It is in these times that God sends a warning of an impending calamity, a storm brewing among us. But because our eyes, ears, and hearts have been dimmed and deadened by the ways of the world, we miss God’s warning, and therefore often suffer the consequences. Throughout biblical history the scriptures record numerous examples of God warning His people, and sometimes the pagan society in which they lived, of His impending judgment or some life-threatening event. In each case He provided a way through the crisis for those that would hear and obey Him. Those that listened and obeyed survived. Those that did not, perished.
Noah, the man who found favor in the eyes of the Lord was no stranger to a storm. The author of the letter to the Hebrews recounts the story of Noah: “By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family(Hebrews 11:7a).” Notice that Noah was warned about things not yet seen. Noah’s “storm” was yet many years in the future. It was an event that he could not understand; nor would he have had a clue how to prepare for it if God had not clearly directed him. Notice also, that Noah responded to God’s warning by faith. He did not rely on his own reasoning or planned response, but by faith in God’s word. He could not have imagined what a flood of God’s magnitude was all about because there had never been such a calamity. He had to accept God’s warning solely on faith and faith alone. Once Noah acted upon his faith he also had to obediently carry out God’s plan for “riding” out the storm. God did not build the ark—Noah did out of obedience to God. God did not gather the animals—Noah did out of obedience to God’s plan. God did not gather food for the animals—Noah did by the wisdom that God had given him.
In our world today, too often when God sends out a warning, whether to the world or to His followers, we take far too much time to reason with God. That can’t be right; I don’t see any storm clouds. Or, that can’t be, look at how great and strong we are. Or we might even be as arrogant to say, Storm, what storm, I can weather anything. But be forewarned as in the days of the prophet Jeremiah when the Lord spoke through him:
“From the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; prophets and priests alike, all practice deceit.
They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious.
‘Peace, peace,’ they say, when there is no peace. Are they ashamed of their loathsome conduct? No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush. So they will fall among the fallen; they will be brought down when I punish them,” says the Lord. Jeremiah 6:13-15
Learn to hear the trumpet call. In biblical history the trumpet was used in various ways: To sound a warning (Exodus 20:18), as a battle cry (Joshua 6:5,20), to rout the enemy (Judges 7:16,18), to announce the king (1 Kings 1:34,39), to herald a time of celebration (Leviticus 25:9), to warn of an enemy >>>>>>
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