Dear Church,
 
Dietrich Bonhoeffer preached a sermon fifteen days before Hitler came to power in 1933 called “Overcoming fears”.  In this sermon he makes an observation: “When Christ is in the boat, a storm always comes up”. This is ‘Counter Christianize’, isn’t it?  We tend to think if Christ is with us, things will go smoothly.  Bonhoeffer made this reference to the story in Mark 4:35-41 where Jesus calms the storm.  In this story whose idea was it to get into the boat?  Jesus’ idea. They got off to a good start, after all, at least four of the disciples were fishermen — James, John, Peter, and Andrew and they knew everything about the weather and sailing. As they started their journey, the lake was so calm that Jesus decided to take a nap. Suddenly a great storm arose whipping up the waves and causing them to come crashing into the boat.  In desperation, the disciples woke Jesus up and asked the question “Don’t you care that we are perishing?”
 
We have all asked that question in a thousand ways a thousand times. We never question the Lord’s compassion when things are going well.  Now, the reason the disciples woke Jesus up was because they were not sure if Jesus is still Lord of heaven and earth when he sleeps – When he awoke, Jesus spoke three words: “Peace, be still!”  Eugene Peterson offers this colorful paraphrase: “Awake now, he told the wind to pipe down and said to the sea, ‘Quiet! Settle down!’  Everything immediately became calm. The wind did not make a last second twist to break the sail or the waves did not make a final jump into the boat. This miracle fulfills Psalm 107:29: “He caused the storm to be still, so that the waves of the sea were hushed.”
 
Remember sometimes we bring storms into our lives because of the choices we make.  Sometimes they come because we have obeyed the Lord’s leading in our life and our path takes us right into the storm as in this case when Jesus told his disciples to get into the Boat with the full awareness of what is to come.  Here is the lesson we must learn:  If Jesus is in our boat, the storms won’t last, and the boat won’t sink.  You may be where you are right now not by accident but by your heavenly Fathers design.  Fear not, keep believing, Jesus is in the boat.
 
Be Encouraged,
Mathews