Before my Senior year at the Seminary, I took a gap year – a nine‑month, thirty‑two‑country whirlwind backpacking adventure – with my cousin, who was also a Seminarian. Before we crossed the Atlantic, we spent a week canoeing the Boundary Waters between northern Minnesota and Canada. Storms up there behave a lot like storms on the Sea of Galilee: sudden, fierce, and completely unannounced. The tall pines hide the danger until it’s already on top of you.

I’ll never forget one afternoon on Knife Lake – already an intimidating name – when the sky ominously shifted from blue to purple to black. We redoubled our efforts to paddle to shore before the gathering storm unleashed its fury. We failed. Suddenly, the heavens opened: rain pelted us; the wind picked up and pummeled us; the thunder pounded relentlessly overhead; the lightning flashed incessantly all around us. In seconds, the calm became chaos. We paddled with everything we had toward a rock outcropping along the shore. Drenched and exhausted, we were grateful for that rock that provided safety and shelter from the storm. 

Saints, how about you? I’ll wager that you’ve been there too. Maybe not in a canoe, but in life. Have you ever been caught by an unexpected storm in life? How do you survive those storms? Be assured, when we are caught in the waves of worry that wash over us and nearly swamp us, or in the threatening thunders of adversity, we have a solid Rock on which to seek refuge from the storm. 

We have a God who promises to be with us ALWAYS, to the very end of the age. In a frightening flood of anxiety, we have His unchanging promise: in ALL THINGS, He works for the good of those who love Him. In the howling winds of warfare and worry, in the storms of sickness, suffering, and sorrow, we have His unwavering and unchanging guarantee: NOTHING can separate us from His love! And He proved it. 

He sent His own Son, Jesus, to give up His life to save us from our sins and give us eternal life! Because of those promises from the Storm-stiller Himself, we will be able to withstand and stand in every storm of life. Psalm 18 suggests a solution to storm survival: “The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer, my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge.” We can seek refuge in our Rock, our unchanging God. He is our Shelter in the Storm.

1. A Mighty Fortress

Just in case the word picture of God as our Rock doesn’t conjure up a picture of strength and stability, the Psalmist adds a few more word pictures that surely will: “Fortress.” Immediately, our thoughts turn to Martin Luther’s Battle Hymn of the Reformation (which we are about to celebrate in just a couple of weeks): “A Mighty Fortress is our God.” Webster tells us a fortress is a “fortified place, a stronghold.” A fortress is a place of protection, where we can seek refuge in the storm from anything that would hurt or harm us. 

Isn’t that exactly what Crean Lutheran High School is, Saints? A place fortified by God’s Word. A place of protection from the attacks of those who would steal the souls of our students. A place where students find refuge in His promises. A place where His mighty arms surround them with power, peace, and protection.

Sometimes we need rest and respite from the winds of war swirling around us. Sometimes we need a breather from the battles of life. In those moments, God is our Fortress, and Crean Lutheran is a place fortified by God’s Word where students can seek shelter in God’s powerful, protecting arms.

2. A Formidable Arsenal

Every fortress features an armory and an arsenal, places that provide the weapons of war so that soldiers are prepared for battle when they venture out from the shelter. Saints, this is what Crean Lutheran is all about. It isn’t so much a shelter to hide from the world as an arsenal where students are armed with the sword of the Lord (the Word of God) to do battle with an unbelieving world with courage, clarity, and conviction, a world that seeks to separate them from their faith. Psalm 18 describes this divine arming:

Dear Friends, we understand that the main reason your children are here is that Crean Lutheran is a Formidable Arsenal, a place where Saints are equipped for the battles ahead in every part of life: college, career, culture, and calling.

The last on the list of word pictures of God as our Rock and Fortress is “Deliverer.” Our Rock provides a firm foundation when our lives lack stability. Our Fortress provides a stronghold and a shelter in the storm, where we can find respite from the battles of life; it also provides an arsenal where He arms us to wage war with a sinful and darkening world… and win. 

He is also our Deliverer; we don’t have to fight those battles alone. He takes up our cause, leads us into battle, and fights at our side. Here at Crean Lutheran, from its inception, He delivered and guided us through the Great Recession as we were just getting on our feet as a school. When our world was aflame with terrorism, when politics reeked of cronyism and corruption, when North Korea was saber-rattling, when Russia was invading Ukraine, when Iran was a powder keg ready to blow, the Lord continued to lead and grow Crean Lutheran on an even keel by His grace. He has delivered this school from a pandemic, from an inferno that scorched the earth right up to the perimeter of our campus, and finally from a flood. We know He will continue to deliver us from catastrophes and calamities in the years ahead. David describes His delivering activity, which we have experienced firsthand: