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It’s funny…I never have any problem writing about the funny stuff that happens here. It just kind of pours out of me. I sit at the computer and snicker away to myself as I type. Whether anyone else is entertained or not, I certainly manage to entertain myself.
Then there are the days…sometimes weeks…when life isn’t that funny or entertaining. It’s a lot tougher to write about those moments. I don’t want to look like I’m feeling sorry for myself or fishing for a few “Oh, poor Ken” comments.
So I tend to avoid the blog. I don’t check to see if there’re new comments (which I do like by the way). I don’t write things in my head throughout the day and think about how to put them down on paper (or pretend paper as the case may be). I don’t really want to officially acknowledge that life is kind of lame some days. Or weeks…
I was talking a little bit with one of the guys about what’s been going on in my life recently, and he kind of smiled and said I was experiencing a “perfect storm”, a reference to the movie of the same name.
The imagery of a storm is used a lot here to talk about difficult or painful times. The idea of “passing through the storm...” There’s even a song we sing at church that talks about “peace in the middle of the storm”. It’s a pretty common metaphor. Which is maybe one of the reasons that movie was popular with the guys…the idea of a number of storms all coming together at the same time to create the perfect storm. People here certainly understand that imagery.
When Andres said that, it kind of tweaked my brain and started me thinking about storms and from there what the Bible had to say about them. I ended up in Mark 4 where Jesus and the disciples got caught in a storm as they were sailing across the Sea of Galilee. The Bible describes it as a “furious squall”. The boat was getting all tossed around and the disciples were freaking out and trying to bail. And what was Jesus doing? Sleeping. Which kind of made the disciples freak out even more.
Their big question to Jesus?
“Don’t you care that we’re going to die?!”
If they’d put their heads together and really worked at it, they probably couldn’t have come up with a dumber question. Seriously. After everything they’d seen and experienced with Jesus, that was their response when things got rough. “Don’t you care?”
In the midst of my self-righteous “dumb disciples” thinking, I suddenly realized (and I know everyone else got there way before I did), I was doing exactly the same thing. I was looking at everything that was happening and all the garbage going down, and maybe I wasn’t voicing it out loud, but I was definitely thinking it.
“Don’t you care at all about what’s going on?”
After everything I’ve seen and experienced here, the moment the waves start crashing over the edge of the boat and my feet start getting a bit wet…that’s how I responded.
When Jesus woke up, He turned to the storm, spoke three words and the storm was instantly calm. No waves…no wind…no lightening or thunder…nothing. Imagine how the disciples felt then. I’m sure there’s a list of good descriptive words one could use, but stupid comes to mind pretty quick. Then Jesus turns to them and says, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
That had to be a painful moment for the disciples. Think about it…five seconds earlier you were whining and complaining and thinking you were going to die, and then, in a moment, all the problems you thought were so huge just went away. And then God, who was in the boat with you all the time, asks, “Why were you afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
Storm or no storm, the disciples weren’t going to die. And guess what? The truth is, neither am I. The storm is still raging here as I write this, and yea, my feet are getting a bit wet. But for the life of me I don’t want Jesus to turn to me in the midst of my whining and complaining and ask, “Do you still have no faith?”
I don’t want to be that guy.
I could give you the list of things to pray for, but in the end, right now? It’s fine if you just pray. The details aren’t that important. God is faithful and the storm will end. That’s the point of the story.
It’s funny…I never have any problem writing about the funny stuff that happens here. It just kind of pours out of me. I sit at the computer and snicker away to myself as I type. Whether anyone else is entertained or not, I certainly manage to entertain myself.
Then there are the days…sometimes weeks…when life isn’t that funny or entertaining. It’s a lot tougher to write about those moments. I don’t want to look like I’m feeling sorry for myself or fishing for a few “Oh, poor Ken” comments.
So I tend to avoid the blog. I don’t check to see if there’re new comments (which I do like by the way). I don’t write things in my head throughout the day and think about how to put them down on paper (or pretend paper as the case may be). I don’t really want to officially acknowledge that life is kind of lame some days. Or weeks…
I was talking a little bit with one of the guys about what’s been going on in my life recently, and he kind of smiled and said I was experiencing a “perfect storm”, a reference to the movie of the same name.
The imagery of a storm is used a lot here to talk about difficult or painful times. The idea of “passing through the storm...” There’s even a song we sing at church that talks about “peace in the middle of the storm”. It’s a pretty common metaphor. Which is maybe one of the reasons that movie was popular with the guys…the idea of a number of storms all coming together at the same time to create the perfect storm. People here certainly understand that imagery.
When Andres said that, it kind of tweaked my brain and started me thinking about storms and from there what the Bible had to say about them. I ended up in Mark 4 where Jesus and the disciples got caught in a storm as they were sailing across the Sea of Galilee. The Bible describes it as a “furious squall”. The boat was getting all tossed around and the disciples were freaking out and trying to bail. And what was Jesus doing? Sleeping. Which kind of made the disciples freak out even more.
Their big question to Jesus?
“Don’t you care that we’re going to die?!”
If they’d put their heads together and really worked at it, they probably couldn’t have come up with a dumber question. Seriously. After everything they’d seen and experienced with Jesus, that was their response when things got rough. “Don’t you care?”
In the midst of my self-righteous “dumb disciples” thinking, I suddenly realized (and I know everyone else got there way before I did), I was doing exactly the same thing. I was looking at everything that was happening and all the garbage going down, and maybe I wasn’t voicing it out loud, but I was definitely thinking it.
“Don’t you care at all about what’s going on?”
After everything I’ve seen and experienced here, the moment the waves start crashing over the edge of the boat and my feet start getting a bit wet…that’s how I responded.
When Jesus woke up, He turned to the storm, spoke three words and the storm was instantly calm. No waves…no wind…no lightening or thunder…nothing. Imagine how the disciples felt then. I’m sure there’s a list of good descriptive words one could use, but stupid comes to mind pretty quick. Then Jesus turns to them and says, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
That had to be a painful moment for the disciples. Think about it…five seconds earlier you were whining and complaining and thinking you were going to die, and then, in a moment, all the problems you thought were so huge just went away. And then God, who was in the boat with you all the time, asks, “Why were you afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
Storm or no storm, the disciples weren’t going to die. And guess what? The truth is, neither am I. The storm is still raging here as I write this, and yea, my feet are getting a bit wet. But for the life of me I don’t want Jesus to turn to me in the midst of my whining and complaining and ask, “Do you still have no faith?”
I don’t want to be that guy.
I could give you the list of things to pray for, but in the end, right now? It’s fine if you just pray. The details aren’t that important. God is faithful and the storm will end. That’s the point of the story.
5 comments:
my fave saying is:
Life is not about waiting out the storm, but learning to dance in the rain! That is how I feel sometimes....I need to do a little more dancing!!!
This too shall pass my friend. Or at least that's what I tell myself when I get peed on. {Ok, sorry...I had to add a funny in there. Sounded like you needed one}
You know we are all praying up our own storm for you over here. Take care.
Thank you, Ken. Well written.
Hey ken, just thought i'd let you know i enjoy the blog. and if things do go crazy, at least your weather is predictable. in the last week or so it has been warm and sunny, rained, hailed, and snowed, all multiple times in no particular order. yay! so once and a while i smile and think of you.
aaron mac
Could be the greatest blog that I have read this week =D
-Sincerest regards
Dusty
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