Fear in the Storm

The following story may be considered hearsay due to the author being a baby when this was told. If any details are wrong or furbished for dramatic effect, that is not the author’s doing.  :))

When I was two weeks old, there was a small accident. My mom was stepping out onto the stoop of our trailer when she tripped and tumbled down the steps and onto the grass. She screamed, not tears of pain but tears of anguish, because she was holding me. 

I was bundled in her arms tightly nestled in the crook of her elbow and protected by the uncomfortable turn of her shoulder. She cried and screamed, “James! I killed her!” 

My dad flew from the trailer and took me from my crying mother’s arms, “What do you mean, Samantha?” 

“I killed her! I killed our baby!” 

“Samantha…” He said, “She’s still sleeping.” 

In Mark we hear about the storm that shook the boat of the disciples so drastically and mercilessly that in their fear, they questioned God’s intentions.

Imagine being in the physical presence of Jesus and still having that level of fear for the unknown. Even while having our savior with them in the flesh, they were terrified. Does this show a lack of faith or is this just being human? Jesus was also human. 

Even after watching miracles performed before their very eyes they still questioned the Lord asking if he even cared that they may be swallowed by the sea at any given moment. 

Do you find yourself crying out to God like that? Asking if He is even still there? Asking if He cares if you drown?

I used to find this passage a little funny because we serve a God who can sleep through all of that noise and chaos when I cannot sleep through my dads morning routine of coughing, clearing his throat, making a coffee, and doing 100 sit-ups. What was even more funny was that it was not the storm that woke Jesus up but the fear from His disciples that woke him up. He was probably having a good dream before being interrupted. 

We often ask God to stop the storm from happening completely. We ask that the storm in our lives be taken away and that it leave no lasting effects on our life, our relationships, our marriage. That was not the takeaway from this passage. That storm did not disappear from the disciples. He did not erase the fact that the storm happened in the first place. He brought peace upon it. 

Peace, Be Still. 

I do not believe the storm would have ceased if they had not cried out to Jesus. Their manner of doing so was more on the dramatic side with “Master, Carest thou not that we perish?” Jesus explained to them after rebuking the wind and sea that they did not need to have that fear. How are we approaching God with our storms? Are we accusatory that God is witnessing our anguish and doing nothing or are we approaching God with the reverence He deserves and saying: 

“God, You see all things. You see me in this storm. I pray that if I am not where You need me to be, You lead me there. I thank you for your mercy and watch over my family. I pray you continue to do so, in Jesus’s Holy Name. Amen.”  

When I was a baby nestled in the crook of my mother’s elbow, I did not know to have fear. I trusted the arms that were holding me. That child-like dependance is what our faith should look like and in a world so consumed with glorifying independence we as christians need to realize that WE are dependent on the hands  holding us. There is so much beauty in being held by the same hands that were nailed to the cross for us.