It was just one of those shocker stories on the evening news. An American airplane had been shot down by a Peruvian jet fighter. But it wasn't a drug plane like some the Peruvian Air Force has shot down in recent years - it was a missionary plane carrying a young missionary family. The gunfire killed the mother, Ronnie Bowers, instantly, along with their baby girl seated on her lap. The plane went down and, miraculously, the pilot, along with Jim Bowers and his son, managed to survive. Their escape from the crash and the river was amazing - but no more amazing than what happened at Ronnie Bowers' memorial service a few days later. Jim Bowers stood before a packed church and summarized in two words what he was feeling in the midst of this horrible loss and ordeal. In his words - "inexplicable peace."
Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Peace You Can't Explain."
Maybe you could use a little of that peace right now. In fact, maybe peace is something you've never had very much of, even in the good times. But when your world is crashing, when you lose what you love, when the pain is more than you can put in words - well, that's when your need for personal peace becomes undeniable.
The missionary who testified to "inexplicable peace" in the midst of the darkest moments of his life attributed that peace to one thing - his personal relationship with Jesus Christ. But that isn't because he's a missionary. That peace has been the personal experience of millions of everyday folks in crisis moments for many centuries. I've seen it in my friends when their business has gone bankrupt, when their child was very sick, when the report from the doctor left little hope, when they stood beside the casket of someone they loved very much. And I have experienced that peace myself in moments like these over and over again.
It has nothing to do with our own emotional strength. It has everything to do with Jesus keeping His promise to every person who belongs to Him. That promise is recorded in our word for today from the Word of God in John 14:27. It could be the beginning of the end of your lifelong search for some peace that's there when there's no reason to have any. 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."
There's that inexplicable peace. You get the peace when you get the One who promised it - the One who the Bible describes as the Prince of peace. But you don't have His peace until He's your Prince. It's the peace of knowing that there is nothing any crisis, or any loss can do to take away what you've anchored your life to. When you realize that Jesus died to pay for your sin and remove forever the wall between you and God - and when you ask Him to be your Savior - He comes into your life, bringing that peace only He can bring.
You know then that you have a love no one can take from yo, a future in heaven that earth cannot steal, a God who will match every challenge you face with His resources. You belong to God! You're going to heaven! You're never alone! That is awesome peace! Peace that can begin for you today, when the wall between you and God comes down - when you tell Jesus you're His from now on. If you want to begin your unlosable relationship with Jesus, check out "Yours for Life" at yoursforlife.net.
The life-changing discovery is this - peace is a Person. And you can belong to that Person beginning today - and from this day on.