Who is in our Boat?

A small hiatus again with the usual computer issues.....that's the life with a lap top and tons of kids using it.

We had a minor emergency on Thursday.  Well, two....but only one of them needed stitches.  I asked the Lord when my first son came out, "Why a boy?!  I only know how to deal with girls!"  Then, when my second boy arrived, same question, "Why another boy?!  I only know how to deal with girls!"  Then.....3 more boys.....I figured I was supposed to be a mother of boys and girls by that point......However....I knew it was going to mean trips to the emergency ward.....

So, my oldest son is into weapons of all kinds (need I say more?).  He collects every kind of knife you can get, swords, axes, arrows.....My husband already did a number on his hand with his bow a little over a year ago.  Shouldn't we learn from our mistakes?  But no, we continue to collect more.

With his own money, he recently purchased a higher grade set of throwing knives.  We found a huge stump for a target and away he went.  How can that be dangerous?!  But on Thursday, it was very cold out and the stump of wood was frozen solid.  He threw the knife and it bounced back at him, nicking him on the shin quite deeply.  I couldn't and wouldn't look at it.  He quickly bandaged himself up and waited until Dad came home to look at it a little while later.  I had to wait for him anyway as I had no car until then.  One look said, "Get in the car...we're going to the hospital."

Fortunately it was only a couple of stitches.  Earlier on that day he'd been holding the same knife that cut his leg, tossing it up and catching it in his room.  One toss didn't go so well and it landed on his thumb, slicing it also!  Again, shouldn't we learn by now!?  I did manage to look at that one.  I still had no car so we just bandaged him up.  He should come away with a couple of cool scars.  If my girls have boys of their own someday, I'll try to be super supportive, watching all their girls while they head off to emerg with their boys!!!!!  (Who am I kidding....my girl was the one who broke her arm!)  Life of a mom, I guess......sure makes life exciting!

Yet, I'm reminded from Mark 4 that we will have storms in our life always.  Little ones, like getting stitches, to big ones that can be much more serious.  Yet, as the pastor said yesterday, Jesus is in the boat with us.  The story goes that the disciples took Jesus "just as he was" with them in their boat at his request, "Let us go across to the other side."  Surely he knew what was ahead.  "And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was filling."  But he was "asleep on the cushion".  I'm sure they weren't too impressed as they had to wake him up.  "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?"  He doesn't even respond to their question.  He just quiets the storm with three words, "Peace!  Be still!"  But then He says to them, "Why are you so afraid?  Have you still no faith?"  They asked themselves after that, "Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?"

So many things strike me in this story.  I had never noticed that they weren't the only boat out on the water that day.  It said, "And other boats were with him."  It so often seems that when we are in a storm, no one else is, and it can make you feel alone.  It seems like everyone else is home safe and sound, but that simply isn't the case.  There are other "boats" out there beside us as we go through out storm, even if we can't see them for the wind and waves.   Even if others in our lives are not in major life traumas, everyone does go through storms of all kinds.  We are never alone in our storms.  That can help us to realize we don't have to listen to the lie, "No, it's just you.  No one else has difficulties."  We all have struggles, big and small.

The disciples fear is something I can relate to, though I have made huge progress in this area.  I really struggled for awhile with this.  I see Jesus in my boat, just like they did and I get frustrated with him, too, wanting to wake him up, "Don't you care?!"  That question is so real.  I love that it is included in the Bible.  They really thought He didn't care, even though they'd seen so many miracles already.  I have seen many miracles, too.  How can I possibly question if God cares about me?  His rebuke reveals their faithlessness and mine at times.  The question is, "Who is in the boat?" Don't we know yet who is in our boat with us?  The same God who created the whole universe is in our boat.  We have to stop and realize Who is in our boat, in our storm, with us....all along.  Does He appear to be sleeping, not caring?  That's what we see and think, but He's fully there, able to calm our storm with a word.

So, I have to ask today, "Why be so afraid?  Ever?"  Life's storms are such a great challenge to deepen our weak faith.  Jesus allowed the storm to come up.  He could have stopped it before it even started, but He didn't.  Last night we had another huge windstorm.  If I had been on a boat, it would have no doubt been like the one the disciples went through.  I'm grateful for the many times I don't even know that He's protecting me from a greater storm.