One day he got in the boat with his disciples… and while they were sailing he fell asleep. A windstorm swept down on the lake, and the boat was filling with water…. They went to him and woke him up, shouting, “Master, Master we are perishing!” And he woke up and rebuked the wind and the raging waves; they ceased, and there was calm. He said to them, “Where is your faith?” — Luke 8:22-25.
Now I wonder if the compliers of the gospel didn’t clean up this passage. Imagine being in a small boat about to sink or capsize and turning to your sleeping leader and saying “we are perishing.” I suspect their language was a little saltier and direct. But don’t let my weird humor take you away from the lesson.
I don’t know about each of you, but on many occasions I was sailing along in life, when in what seems to be only a moment something happens that in Elizabeth Fitzgerald’s words is akin to “all Hell done broke loose.” Jesus tells us to remain calm when the storms of life suddenly appear, and when they do to rely on the steady presence of God. As we sail through life he is with us during the calm and the storms.
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