Summary

Storm Amy Word on the Week 4th October 2025.
Storm Amy rampaged across the country this week. It took out the electricity supply of the customary multitude of homes. Some of the damaged power lines had already suffered from hurricane force winds earlier this year. The pattern has become familiar.
Two things are different. One, each successive storm appears to be getting stronger and two, the meteorological advice we receive is becoming more accurate. This leaves those living on the storm’s route better informed but still helpless to escape the fate that awaits them.
Perhaps there is no solution. Weather patterns have changed over the years. I remember rising sea level being forecast at an Insurance Institute lecture some 55 years ago. The lecturer jocularly recommended we do not buy our retirement house at the seaside!
‘Overtopping’ is the new word coined to describe the high tide, driven by an onshore wind, sending plumes of seawater high into the sky as it collides with the breakwater.
In the coastal village where I grew up the pier wall formed the breakwater taking the full force of the waves. Wisely the pier builders had made a culvert to break-up the force of the waves and channel some of the energy out through a grated exit on the level area of the pier.
We played a sort of ‘Russian Roulette’ running close to the pier wall and avoiding being swept into the harbour as tons of water carried by the wind was deposited in the bay. It’s not the sort of antics I would recommend!
When Jesus wanted to show his disciples who controls nature he chose a place he would get their attention– in a boat at sea! It was the place where some of them worked and would have experienced storms.
When the boat carrying Jesus was caught in a storm we have evidence of its severity as these men were afraid. Some were fishermen who would not have been easily frightened. Drowning must have become a distinct possibility for them before they looked to Jesus for help.
Jesus stilled the storm with a word. He claimed it was their absence of faith in God that created the emergency (Luke 8 verses 22 to 25).
This miracle has produced the much loved chorus, ‘With Christ in the vessel I can smile at the storm as we go sailing home’ - exuding confidence that can come when Christ is in you - the hope of Glory (Colossians 1 verse 27).