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“Mom,” I said as soon as she answered the phone, “Would you mind cooking white beans with my leftover ham?” (Yes, I could have cooked. No, it would not have been as good.)

“How long ago did you cook the ham? Check Google to make sure it’s still good.”

“Just smell it.”

But she insisted I get an answer from Google. (Ham was still good; beans were delicious.)

Google’s the route I take for the answers to other random questions, like “Do submarines go deeper underwater to avoid storms?” (They do.)

My submarine search was prompted by something I read by Arthur Tappan Pierson. He referred to the floor of the ocean as the “cushion of the sea,” the place unaffected by anything that happens on the surface.

In 2018, an ancient Greek ship was found more than a mile below the surface of the Black Sea with its mast, rudders and rowing benches intact. It had been there for hundreds of years, undisturbed by storms above.

So here’s another question, is there a place where we can go to find peace despite the storms that life brings? Can tranquility be found amid turmoil? Can our souls be stilled even when winds of adversity blow?

Paul’s words in Philippians 4:6-8 assured me that prayer brings God’s peace. Praying and meditating on the promises found in God’s Word cause me to go the depths of His love, sovereignty and peace.

Meditating often sounds intimidating to me, but I realized that if I can worry, I can meditate. I change my thoughts from those of fear to those of faith, and this shift always brings God’s peace.

Pierson described the peace of God as “an eternal calm like the cushion of the sea. It lies so deeply within the human heart that no external difficulty or disturbance can reach it. And anyone who enters the presence of God becomes a partaker of that undisturbed and undisturbable calm.”

 

Ronny Michel can be reached at rmichel@rtconline.com.