Storms

I often share the story about my adventure with my friend Dan on the water. Dan invited me to go fishing with him once, which I was happy to accept. I was in the Air Force at the time and stationed in Idaho (there are some beautiful and great spots to fish at in ID). We set out with a small, metal boat attached to his pickup truck and headed to a local reservoir near the air base we were stationed at not knowing the perils we were about to face.
Everything seemed okay as we cast the boat from shore. The sun was shining, the temperature was not too hot and not too cold. We rowed out to the middle of a tributary of the reservoir and cast our lines for a quiet time of fishing. After a little time on the water, we began to see a storm off in the far distance. Dan wasn’t to concerned and thought it would pass to the west of us. So, we continued to fish even though the storm continued to move our way. It wasn’t until the water began to become choppy that we decided to head back in but of course was too late.
As we began to paddle, the choppy water began to hit against the side of the boat, the wind had also picked up and began to push against our attempts to get to shore. To make things worse, it began to rain, not a nice summer shower but a straight downpour. The boat began taking on water and there were a few moments that I thought we might have to swim for it (thank goodness we didn’t I might not have made it). After what seemed a life time of paddling, tired and weary we made the shore line almost a half a mile from where we cast off and Dan’s truck was parked.
When it comes to the story of the disciples in the boat with Jesus in the storm (Matthew 8 and Mark 4) I can relate. I could understand their panic as waves are battering them side to side, to see water filling up the boat and wondering if it was going to sink to the bottom. I would have been shocked to find anyone on the boat asleep let alone Jesus. The disciples, frantic for their life, wake Jesus and wonder if Jesus even cares that they might die. Jesus responds by calming the storm and then stating to His disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” to which the disciples stand in amazement of Jesus and His power over nature.
I think we can be just like the disciples in our lives. You might not be on a boat in the middle of a literal storm like I was in Idaho, but we face figurative ones through out our lives. These storms include things like financial hardships, broken relationships, deep seeded temptations/sins, waiting for a diagnosis to come back, facing a disease or upcoming surgery and many more which can be added to this list. All of these and more keep us up at night, flood the brain with worry and causes our bodies stress. Just like the disciples we can even be asking Jesus, “do you even care?”
The thing about the disciples in the boat was that they didn’t have to worry, they had the Lord of this world with them. Their boat and lives were not in real danger (though it may have seemed to be) because God Himself was with them. The problem was the disciples didn’t realize it and we don’t either. You see the same Lord that calmed the storm on the boat with the disciples, is the same Lord that can see us through ours. We must have faith though, to face the fear of the storm not by ourselves and our own strength but by knowing Jesus is right there with you. Jesus who defeated death and sin is there with us. Whether we see the storm taken away, pass through the storm or we cross over with Him, as believers we know that life is eternal in Him. So today I ask why are we so afraid, do we still have no faith?