You’ve heard the saying when it rains, it pours. If that rings true, we’re on flood watch at this point.
We’ve had to make lots of tough decisions lately, and I have watched my sweet patients in my nursing home finally succumb to the coronavirus. There have been more than enough showers around here, even if we were asking for rain a few weeks ago.
I’m sure you’ve got your own storms you’re weathering. New storms. Old storms. Unexpected storms. A storm on the horizon.
It made me think about Mark 4 when Jesus was sleeping in a boat during a storm. Circumstances swirling around, water swamping the ship. Ya know, I get it Jesus. It’s exhausting trying to stay afloat. Maybe a nap would help.
But you know what’s better than a nap? The teacher.
Being tethered to the teacher has been my greatest joy. Facing new perils head-on, knowing that even if I drift a bit or am tossed about on the waves, I am still connected to Jesus. I am still being led even through the choppy waters. When I don’t hear from God, I am still anchored in His love.
I imagine myself sleeping in that boat, knowing the teacher is fighting the battles around me and that with a single word, all if it can be stopped.
In reality, I feel a lot more like a kite barely tethered to a toddler. The flimsy makeup of a dollar store airplane doesn’t really allow for much control or stability.
Doesn’t your life feel like that at times? You’re holding on by a thread as you twist and turn erratically, unable to tell up from down, waiting for the next gust to throw you into the barbed wire fence. Maybe you feel as if you are holding on for dear life, anxiously watching the thread and waiting for it to snap.
You can still see the One holding the string if you look hard enough. But with all of the changes and currents you’ve found yourself on, it’s easy to think that because you are so far away from the teacher, He either feels that way towards you or that He intentionally left you high and dry.
However, at the other end of that string stands the teacher. He’s watching all of your aerodynamics. He’s tugging the string to pull you back in, giving you slack when you need it. He sees you when you’re coasting on the current. He sees you when you’re preoccupied by the fence, rather than focused on the father. He knows you are temporarily blinded by the fog rolling by, but also knows He is in control of the fog and how long it will stay in your path.
Have you considered that maybe He is moving you to a better spot? One with exceptional views and fewer gusts. Maybe He let you drift a bit farther so that you wouldn’t run into the storm that was unfolding a little lower. Maybe if He had reeled you in sooner, you would have thought that you were the one pulling the strings.
Whether you feel that you are treading water in the depths of the ocean or just winging it in the stormy sky, rest in the knowledge that you are tethered to the teacher who stands on solid ground.
Mark 4: 35-41 “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?”
They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”
Matthew 7:24 “The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. “
Psalm 36:5 “Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies.
Salty but Sweet 