And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling. But [Jesus]  was in the stern, asleep on a  pillow. And they awoke him and said to him, “Teacher, do You  not care that we are perishing?”

What is rocking your boat today? Our boat rocked when our precious  six year old son was diagnosed  as having cancer. It rocked when our financial plans went awry and I couldn’t keep teaching in the States because I had been born in Canada. And it has rocked many times since-and it will rock again. Because we live in a fallen world, such crises are unavoidable.

One of the worst things about a crisis is that awful feeling of being out of control. But the truth is that  most of  life is beyond our control; the crisis simply rubs our faces in that reality. But while we cannot really control what happens, we can control our response to what happens.

In this story the disciples gave in to panic; Jesus was at peace. Calmness in crisis is a direct result of concentrating on God’s closeness and care. We fear too much because we trust God too little. But the disciples did do something healthy in the midst of their crisis; they went to Jesus. Why don’t you try that in the midst of your next crisis?

Thought:  Nothing is out of control when it’s in God’s control.

Jan Congo