From the Desk of Pastor Stephen L Girsh, Sr

April 1, 2026

“In Your Time of Storm, Hang Onto the Cross”

There are seasons when life feels like open water — no shoreline in sight, no calm in the sky, no strength left in your arms. Storms don’t ask permission. They don’t wait for a better moment. They just come.

But the Cross… The Cross stands steady in every storm.

When Jesus stretched out His arms, He didn’t just die for the world — He anchored you. He anchored me. He anchored every weary soul who would one day find themselves sinking.

The Cross is more than a symbol. It’s a lifeboat.

A lifeboat doesn’t remove the ocean. It doesn’t silence the wind. It doesn’t stop the waves.

But it keeps you from going under.

In your time of storm, hang on to the Cross. When fear rises, hang on. When questions swirl, hang on. When you don’t know the next step, hang on. When the night is long and the heart is tired, hang on.

Good Friday looked like the worst storm in history — darkness at noon, silence from heaven, hope nailed down.

But Sunday was already on the way.

The Cross reminds us that storms don’t last, but salvation does. The Cross tells us that death doesn’t win. The Cross whispers that resurrection is coming, even when we can’t see it yet.

There’s something powerful about the Cross in the middle of a storm: it doesn’t move. Everything else in life can shift — people, plans, emotions, circumstances — but the Cross stays planted. It’s the one place where heaven touched earth, where love held steady while the world shook. And when you grab hold of it, you’re not just holding on to wood… you’re holding on to the One who conquered the storm, the grave, and every force that rises against you. The Cross doesn’t just save you — it steadies you.

So if the waves are high and the night is long, don’t let go. Grip the Cross with everything you’ve got. Because the same Jesus who hung there for you is the same Jesus who stands with you now. And the storm that feels endless today will one day become the testimony you tell — of how the Cross carried you through.

And this Easter season, as we remember the hill, the nails, the blood, and the silence of Friday… we also remember the sunrise of Sunday. The Cross is not the end of the story — it’s the doorway to resurrection. It’s the bridge between despair and hope, between death and life, between “I can’t” and “He already did.”

So today, I’m choosing to hold on. Not to my strength. Not to my understanding. Not to my plans.

I’m hanging on to the Cross. My lifeboat. My anchor. My hope.

And if you’re in a storm of your own… there’s room on this lifeboat for you too.

— Pastor Stephen