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Remembering
Jade Cove
by Pastor Jack Hayford
Anna and I
were recently coming back from Carmel, where we celebrated our wedding
anniversary. Driving south on Highway 1, that famous roadway that
hugs the Pacific Coast, I reminisced as we passed Jade Cove, near
Big Sur. That’s the place where, years ago, by the grace of
God, I "turned the corner." I don’t mean a curve
on that twisting, perilous highway, but the turn-around at Jade
Cove rescued me from something as bad as a car accident.
For several
weeks I had been experiencing a horrible accumulation of pressure—mental
and emotional. Work had piled up, schedule demands were burning
me out. Through a combination of circumstances, I was riding the
ragged edge of a nervous breakdown.
Some nights
I would dream of being chased—and then crushed—by
a massive object relentlessly pursuing and slowly gaining
on me as I ran to escape it. Other nights I feared closing
my eyes to go to sleep, feeling if I did I would not
awaken again—that my heart would stop or my breath
cease. I was rational enough to know this wasn’t
true, but weak enough in my emotionally drained condition
that I was unable to break the tormenting thoughts.
Then I discovered
the words of the songwriter.
Listen...
I will both
lie down in peace, and sleep; For You alone, O Lord, make me dwell
in safety (Psalm 4:8).
And another
lyric:
I lay down
and slept; I awoke, for the Lord sustained me (Psalm 3:5).
I can
hardly describe the power of those words as they flowed across my
weary soul. I grasped them for the reliable, eternal words of truth
that they are. They were all the more meaningful to me when I remembered
they were written by a very busy man—a man of accomplishment
and crushing responsibilities. David was a successful king and a
conquering hero, yet a man who needed release form pressures that
threatened his sleep.
God’s
words buoyed my soul for several weeks, sustaining me until that
day on Highway 1. I was driving slowly northward, hoping a break
in schedule and a change of scene would take the cascading voices
off my mind and the rising fear from my heart.
I had stopped
at the sign. Jade Cove, it read. I went down near the water’s
edge to look at the beautiful seascape. To listen to the waves.
To feel the sea-spray on my face. To pray.
It was there
something happened—better yet, Someone. Because as surely as
I knew His Word had sustained me when fear plagued my nights, I
knew God’s presence had drawn near to deliver my mind. Like
fog burning off the coastline, the Son of God simply reached down
and lifted the burden I had carried for months.
I share that
with you now to urge you to receive His Word. " I will both
lie down in peace, and sleep; for You alone, O Lord, make me dwell
in safety."
Call upon His
Holy Spirit to deliver you. I know He will because He did that for
me at a place called Jade Cove, and He did it through the power
of a man named Jesus.
He’s there
for you. Right now. You don’t even have to go to Jade Cove.
Because...
"Whoever
calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved" (Acts 2:21) |
Jack
Hayford Ministries
14800 Sherman Way, Van Nuys, CA 91405-2233