Nice Day for a Boat Ride

I’m sure we all have experience with days that start off so beautiful. Sunshine, nice breeze, good company, maybe a family picnic or someone’s wedding day. Then all of a sudden, a phone call or email changes everything. The day that started out so nice has turned into a deadly storm. 

We read in Mark 4:35-41 about a day that started very nice. How excited his disciples must have been when Jesus invited them on a boat ride across the lake. Could you imagine? They must have said to themselves, “It doesn’t get any better than this!” The day was so nice that Jesus decided to take a nap!
But then, all of a sudden dark clouds appeared. Then rain and strong winds — before long they were in danger.

In this passage the disciples said to the Lord what I myself have said plenty of times in my forty years of ministry. “Don’t you care if we drown?” (v. 38). How foolish of them and I to say that to the One who cares the most. Jesus said to them, “Why are you so afraid?” (v.40). The Lord knew that their insult, “don’t you care,” was because of their fear. After they woke the Lord up from his nap, he told them in today’s language, “no worries, I got this.” He rebuked the winds and told the waves to be still. The disciples went from being afraid of the storm to being terrified! They said in verse 41, “Who is this that even the winds and waves obey him?” The disciples did get to the other side of the storm safely, only to face another kind of storm, but that story is not for today.

My main point is that since Jesus is in the boat and in the storm with us, He will get us safely to the other side.

After the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, it is reported that General Ulysses S. Grant said, “Dark clouds have come upon us today, but God still reigns.”

Please join me in continued prayers for our beloved Missionary Church, for each pastor, each leader, each missionary, and all the disciple makers of the Body of Christ.

In His Service,

Jimmy Santiago