June 22, 2003

Mark4:35-41

 “Sleeping Through a Hurricane”

     So, do you think we’ve had enough rain yet?  What has it been…ten rainy weekends in a row?  They say this is the rainiest year in thirty years.  Now that the Confirmation boats are finished, I’ve decided to order plans for an ark.  We have a Council retreat on Enders Island this afternoon and I’m afraid with all this rain we’re going to find the place under water like Atlantis!

     With all this rain I’m surprised there haven’t been more thunderstorms.  When we lived in Pennsylvania we got one just about every afternoon around three or four o’clock.  It was so humid in the summertime that the air just couldn’t hold the moisture and by mid-afternoon the thunderstorms would come rolling in.  We’d have a bunch of wind and rain for about twenty minutes and then it would all blow over and the ground would dry up again like nothing had happened.  We saw some really nasty thunderstorms there - limb-breaking, tree-swaying, leaves sticking-to-the-side-of-your-house thunderstorms.  We haven’t seen much of that here, but they say we had a big one several weeks ago.  That’s what they say.  I’m not sure because Kay and I slept right through it.

     Jesus was good at sleeping through storms, even the kind that sent waves over the side and swamped the boat.  The disciples, however, were in a panic.  They were digging out the life preservers and were trying to hail the Coast Guard.  They thought they were going to drown and there was Jesus, sleeping right through it.

     One of the trips I made to Fishers Island was on a stormy day.  The old ferry creaked and groaned and swayed back and forth.  We took some big waves over the bow and a couple on the beam and she raised up on the starboard side, sort-of hung there for a second or two and then came crashing down.  I wasn’t looking for the life jackets yet, but I was glad when we made port.  All the while, a fellow near me was asleep on a bench.  It didn’t phase him one bit.  He probably rode the ferry so many times in all sorts of weather that he was accustomed to the way she behaved when things got rough.  He knew the captain could handle the ship and was confident to the point he could snooze right through waves coming over the side.

     Wouldn’t that be great - to be so confident, so at peace, so sure of the captain that you could sleep through anything, even when waves are crashing in? 

     It’s nice when we can just cruise through life, when the sky is blue and the winds are steady and we’re on a good course.  But it doesn’t always go that way, does it?  Try as we might, we sometimes lose our bearings, make mistakes, make poor choices and things get rough.  The storms we get into might be our fault, the result of a blunder or a selfish decision.  We may say something we shouldn’t have said or do something we shouldn’t have done.  And just as likely, we may end up in a storm that blows in on us, catches us by surprise, the result of someone else’s poor choices or just some unfortunate circumstance of life.  Storms come and sometimes we know we could have avoided them if we had paid better attention and sometimes there’s nothing we can do to stop them. 

     I‘m sure the disciples didn‘t plan on sailing in rough seas that day.  The story tells us a great windstorm arose and they were caught in it.  Things got so rough they were afraid they were going to drown.  Finally, in desperation, they woke Jesus from his sleep, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”  Then, with the authority and power of God, Jesus said just three words, “Peace!  Be Still!” and the wind stopped and the sea went flat like glass.  Mark says there was a dead calm.

     Why do you think those guys waited so long to ask for the Lord’s help?  Why did they fight the storm until things got totally out of hand?  I think I know.  One word: testosterone.  They tugged on the lines, strained to reef in and then drag down the thundering mainsail, wrestled with the rudder, leaned on the rail, stretched every muscle, acted heroic, tried to prove they were real men conquering the sea while ignoring the One who could have, with three little words, solved the problem.

     You know, men don’t like asking for directions.  They certainly don’t like asking for help.  They’d rather risk drowning first!  I guess women can sometimes be that way, too.  But Jesus is there for us, not taking over or taking charge, intervening uninvited, but waiting for us to ask.  He says, “Seek and you shall find.  Ask, and it shall be given unto you.  Knock, and the door will be opened to you.“  He doesn’t say, “I’ll just step in and fix things for you.“  He is there in the storm for us, but we need to be willing to ask for his help. 

     We have an incredibly gracious Savior, one who even went to the cross for us, but he seeks a relationship with us, encourages our faithful response to his grace.  He is there for us with power and wisdom to guide us through rough seas, through anything we get ourselves into or anything life throws at us.  He is just a prayer away. 

     But it’s not easy giving up control when we’ve been holding on so tight for so long.  After all, letting the Lord take over may mean letting go of the rudder, letting loose of the lines, not getting things our way.  We may not want to admit we can’t handle things on our own.  We may not want to hear the Lord’s answer if it means a change of course or if it means weathering things out some more right where we are.  But the Lord’s way is the way of peace, of real and lasting calm.  If we dare to let go, let the Lord step in, let our agendas go, our demands go, we will at last find the right course, the one he sets for us.  “Come to me all who are heavy laden,“ Jesus says, “and I will give you rest.”

     Wouldn’t that be great - to be so confident, so at peace, so sure of the captain that you could sleep through anything, even when waves are crashing in?  This is what Jesus Christ offers you now. 

     Seek.  Ask.  Knock.  The One who conquered sin and death can certainly handle your storm.  Why wait?  Why fight it any longer?  He will not let you perish.  Let him speak those powerful words into your heart, your life: “Peace!  Be still!”