Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Faith in the storm

Mark 4:37-40 says, "And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. 38But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?" 39And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, "Peace! Be still!" And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. 40He said to them, "Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?"

Tonight was the epitome of understanding what it means to have a faith that is "unshakeable."

To start though, I'll visit the mindset of the disciples.  They have been following this rabbi around that is talking against the laws that have been taught and re-taught for hundreds of years before.  The crowds are so big that Jesus tells the disciples to get on a boat and cross the sea.  

Then the storm comes, the disciples freak out, and lose faith; Jesus jumps in and saves the day.

So here's what happened.   It's only 11 days until we move to Hong Kong.  We are packing the house, saying goodbye to friends, having the last lunch break with students, the last boot camp, last staff meeting, canceling dish network, internet, changing banks, and cleaning out my office to get ready for the new change.  On top of all of this, we find out that the car won't start at Chipotle.  We were able to jump the car, get it started, and drive it back to the house with the plan to work on it after I finished stuff at work. 

After our last minute boot camp decision, we worked out, came home and started packing the bathroom (my wonderful wife has done an AMAZING job getting us organized and packed up).  Packing led to more packing and we looked up at 8pm and remembered Auto zone closed at 9!  We ate a real quick dinner, jumped the battery and drove to Auto zone.  We got the battery tested and low and behold, it was a bad battery.  

We bought a new battery and took the company's offer to install our new battery.  Have I mentioned that there is a HUGE thunderstorm moving closer and closer with each minute?!  I was standing next to our 'mighty battery installer,' holding my cell phone flashlight over the battery as he worked on removing the old one and installing the new. 

It seemed that everything that could make the process go longer, did.  He had issues getting the right bit for his ratchet, the bolt holding the battery down was huge, the rain started coming, he removeed the battery, put the grease on the components, dropped the battery felt, tightened the connection, realized the felt dropped, undid the battery, put on the felt, and reconnected the battery.

FLASH, FLASH, FLASH, FLASH  -- The lightning is all around us, but the thunder is still a good distance away.  The rain though, starts to pour.  

Finally, the battery is installed, the downpour begins, and the lightning is flashing like another 4th of July celebration.

As this all is happening, Stacia was sitting nervously in the car.  With each flash of lightning, she jumped and covered her face.  She was worried that we were going to be struck by lightning.  She was on the brink of calling off the repair and moving it till the next day, but we kept going.

As I was standing in the lightning and rain, I watched as my cell phone battery was flashing at me saying "I'm tired, turn me off, or plug me in," I felt like my faith was being pushed.  The cell phone could have died, the rain could have been hail, the lightning could have been on top of us, and so many other things could have caused me to stop the process, or not allow us to finish. 

Todd Agnew sings a great song called "This Fragile Breath".  The chorus of the song says:
     " You speak with thunder and lightning
        Your voice shakes the mountains
        The foundations of the earth
        All I can offer is this fragile breath
        With each one I'll praise You
      With each one I'll praise You more"  (take a listen)





Like the disciples, standing in the storms of the world, God tells us to be calm, and trust him.  Most times, our human-ness gets in our way and we balk on our faith.
I am starting to understand more and more that faith is going to be the key for us as we enter into this move to our new home.  The thunder and lightning are all around:  Will I be able to teach? Will the kids respect me?  Will I be able to dress like an adult?  These are all thoughts that Satan wants me to believe, but God reminds me that we are walking with Him in our move.  I don't know what is going to happen, but I know that we are boarding the boat, the storm is going to rock us, and Jesus is going to remind us of how powerful He truly is!

1 comment:

  1. Great song and a great story of yours to go with it! Step by step you're making it to HK!

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