That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, "Let us go over to the other side." Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, "Teacher, don't you care if we drown?"
He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet! Be still!" Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.
He said to his disciples, "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?"
Mark 4:35-40.
Sometimes, we see a reflection of ourselves when we read the word. When I read Mark 4 this morning, I could see myself in full view. Currently, I am in the midst of somewhat of my own storm. I can feel the waves breaking over my boat if you know what I mean. I have done EVERYTHING I can to fix the situation but still- the water overtakes. And to be honest, I can hear Jesus snoring. He is snoozing away.
I think the point of this story is in verse 35 where Jesus says, "Let us go over to the other side." Jesus said it. And when Jesus says something, you can take it to the bank. Jesus told the disciples that they were going to the other side. That means, they were going to get there. There may be a fierce storm along the way... but where Jesus says we're going... we're going.
That reminds me of a time when I was on a youth trip and a storm came up on the way home from an event. And I mean a storm!!! As we pulled the church van into the hotel parking lot, we drove into to a puddle of water that turned out to be more of a flood. The van cut off in the middle of the flooded area. And we knew, the van was going to need a push. So, as we watched the teenage boys dallying to fold up there precious Abercrombie jeans, Gina and I jumped out of the van to give it a much needed push. It was dark. It was pouring down rain. The lightning was popping. And we were knee deep in water.
Our first reaction was to hop around like two idiots. After all, the lightning probably wouldn't get us if we were too fast for it. :) But, very quickly, we realized that hopping around and screaming would probably not get the job done. So, we put our back into it and got the van out of the flooded water.
I think we can all say that we have hopped around and screamed before in the middle of one of life's storms. We have splashed and treaded water as if the end was near. All the while, God said... "Let us go over to the other side." I don't know about you, but I need that reminder. God may be resting while I flail and holler in my knee deep water, but He's got a plan. And I am going to get to the other side.
