Rogue Waves (Testimony Sunday)
Testimony Sunday – Sunday, May 31st, 2026
Today is the fifth Sunday of the month, which means it is Testimony Sunday here at Liberty Vineyard Church! In place of our regular weekly sermon, today we will share stories with one another about how we have experienced God in recent months.
As I prepared and pondered and prayed, I sensed the Lord leading me to consider ocean waves, and, in particular, rogue waves.
A rogue wave, also known as a freak wave, monster wave, or killer wave, is a large and unpredictable surface wave. Rogue waves form when a variety of factors like high winds or strong currents cause waves to merge together, creating a single large wave. These rogue waves can be very dangerous, especially when they swamp ships or lighthouses by surprise. A few blockbuster movies are based on true rogue wave incidents, including The Poseidon Adventure and The Perfect Storm.
I don’t know about you, but if and when I envision my life as some kind of ocean journey, it is an adventure undertaken with beloved companions in which we experience vast stretches of nothing but the great deep, breathtaking views of the night sky, sightings of whales and dolphins and bioluminescent organisms, occasionally passing by other vessels, catching rare glimpses of land, and enduring an occasional storm. What I don’t include in my imagination are rogue waves. I only want to experience those with a bowl of popcorn in my lap. I do not invite, welcome, or want any kind of rogue wave interrupting the kind of journey that I think I want and need. But what do I know?
An ocean journey devoid of rogue waves is not how life works. Rogue waves do come. They are unpredictable. They are bigger than we expected. They mess up our hopes and dreams and plans. The reality is that we all have this human tendency to drift along on autopilot sometimes. We get stuck in our routines. We get distracted. We get comfortable. We forget to check our bearings often enough. We think we know what we want and need.
In God’s infinite grace and infinite love, God allows us to experience rogue waves sometimes. Maybe this is God’s way of awakening us to realize something we would not ordinarily notice. Maybe God wants to bless us with unexpected glimpses of the wideness of God’s mercy. We are not promised answers as to why difficult things happen in our lives or in anyone else’s. But we can be sure of this – God continually beckons us into deeper trust, deeper surrender. Jesus taught us to pray, “Your kingdom come,” rendered “Set the world right” in The Message (Luke 11:2). Jesus also invites us to imitate his prayer to God his Father on the night on which he was betrayed, “Not my will, but yours be done,” rendered “Please, not what I want. What do you want?” in The Message (Luke 22:42).
Before I invite you to share what God has been doing in, through, or around you, let’s listen to Psalm 42:1-8 – “As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and behold the face of God? My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me continually, ‘Where is your God?’ These things I remember, as I pour out my soul: how I went with the throng, and led them in procession to the house of God, with glad shouts and songs of thanksgiving, a multitude keeping festival. Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my help and my God. My soul is cast down within me; therefore I remember you from the land of Jordan and of Hermon, from Mount Mizar. Deep calls to deep at the thunder of your cataracts; all your waves and your billows have gone over me. By day the Lord commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life.”
I encourage you to consider ways in which you have experienced God’s presence, power, protection, or provision; special courage or comfort; a new taste of freedom; an unfinished testimony; a divine appointment; some kind of life-changing transformation; a glimpse of God’s generous grace; an experience of the Holy Spirit; a stirring of faith, hope, or love. I want to invite you to be brave and share your story. However small or insignificant it may seem, your courage to share will impart courage and encouragement to others, and the Lord will fill us all with joy. Come, Holy Spirit!
