On the Beach and In the Boat

Mark 4

[4.35-38] Late that day he said to them, “Let’s go across to the other side.” They took him in the boat as he was. Other boats came along. A huge storm came up. Waves poured into the boat, threatening to sink it. And Jesus was in the stern, head on a pillow, sleeping! They roused him, saying, “Teacher, is it nothing to you that we’re going down?”

Lord Jesus-Why is it that storms still surprise me? The scene must have been rattling to the disciples. Fishing and boats were things that they knew about.  The sea of Galilee was home to them.  They knew about the kind of quick and disastrous storms that could develop quickly on this little body of water.  I wonder if as they were getting into the boat did they think about the weather?  Were they aware like only experienced would be of the cloud formations and the direction of the wind...the smell and almost taste of the air as they were on the shore?

It is in the very situtaions in life where I think, or maybe assume that I have some level of competencey that can have the most storms and waves.  It is with simple things like the tools of my trade and the conditions that I have dealt with during a life time of experience. It was just another day...just another stretch of beach that the disciples found themselves on with you and the need to cross the same lake that they had fished on for years.

How often had they push off from the beach into the deep water? Thousands?  As you started to rest, I am thinking that it was a moment when for a brief period of time Peter and the rest of the fishermen on board saw the roles reversed.  Thy were being trusted with this task.

The wind picks up and the waves get bigger and the wind is not helping.  How long has they worked before they became overwhelmed and panicky?

 [4.39-40] Awake now, he told the wind to pipe down and said to the sea, “Quiet! Settle down!” The wind ran out of breath; the sea became smooth as glass. Jesus reprimanded the disciples: “Why are you such cowards? Don’t you have any faith at all?” [4.41] They were in absolute awe, staggered. “Who is this, anyway?” they asked. “Wind and sea at his beck and call!”

How long before I will get it that the storms are teaching moments if I just take time to listen above the sound of the wind and the waves that surround me?  The stuff of storms in wind, rain and noise.   The work of the Spirit in my life is about turning wind, rain and noise into the stuff of hope alive in my heart.

Maybe that is what you meant when you said...

Peterson, Eugene H. (2006-06-15). The Message Remix 2.0: The Bible In contemporary Language (Kindle Locations 30649-30654). NAVPress - A. Kindle Edition.