It looked to be a good day of fishing in the Gulf of
Mexico. The weather forecast was for
coastal thunderstorms- welcome to Florida.
Thirty minutes after leaving the dock, and ten minutes after running out
from under some dark clouds, I looked over my shoulder, back toward the safety
of land, and I had a bad, sinking feeling.
It was barely 9 am, and those dark clouds had gone to ugly menacing
black. The only safe water was further
out, further from the safety of the shore!
Within a couple hours, those “coastal thunderstorms” had ballooned and pushed
us 25 miles offshore. Even there, the
lightning and cold threatening wind was enough to unnerve all of us aboard the
boat. The waves built into these blockish
, close together three to four foot tall walls of water, slamming into the hull
like heavyweight punches, causing the boat to take on this eerie lurching
shudder. I’d spent enough time on boats
to know that the voice in my head that was saying “Not good” was right on the
money! Every boater knows that there is
an inverse correlation between boat size and wave size. A 30’ boat feels quite spacious on a calm sea. In 5’ stacked seas, that same 30 footer feels like
a teacup!
And so I come to think of 2 Gospel accounts involving boats,
men, and waves. The first is Matthew
4. Crossing the lake, the disciples are
left to sail while Jesus takes a nap at the rear of the boat. A violent, nasty storm comes up. The disciples, some of whom were pretty
“salty” and veteran sailors, with years of experience on the water, were
hearing a warning go off in their heads that sounded like “Not good”. “Bad storm”.
“Danger”. It was an “I could die
out here today” kind of storm.
Meanwhile, Jesus snores…
This, as the story recounts, becomes a kind of embarkation
point for faith. Jesus quiets the storm,
asserting his dominion, and points out how little is the faith of his
disciples. The message is clear and
simple, even if not easily learned.
Jesus is always with us. No
matter the circumstances, even when we think He’s asleep, He is always, in a
certain sense, “in the boat”. That is a
difficult lesson, all by itself.
Next, in Matthew 14, Jesus ups the ante. Jesus actually makes the disciples get
into the boat and head across the lake.
Jesus, essentially, sends the disciples into harm’s way, into the storm. I can relate to that! How many times have I felt like God actually
exposed me to harm? At least, that was (and
sometimes is) my perception. But,
besides the “keep your eyes on Jesus” message that is blatantly obvious, there
is a deeper message. While Matthew 4 is
the starting place of faith- believing that Jesus is with me, Matthew 14 is a
place of maturing in faith.
Maturity is not about weathering the storm, enduring the
buffeting, and clinging to Jesus in a sinking boat (although I admit I have
felt like this a lot in my life).
Rather, it is about leaving the boat, what appears safe, and stepping
into the storm. Now, walking on water is
miraculous all by itself, even on calm water.
But, stepping into a storm takes WAY more faith than stepping onto flat
water. Calm water offers, at least, a
momentary illusion of stability. And if
it doesn’t go well, treading water on a calm day isn’t too hard. But, when the waves are taller than your
head, and the wind is so strong that it blows the tops of the waves off, sinking
equals drowning.
And that is the place of mature faith. Ultimately, “Stepping into the Storm” is our
call as Christians. Wherever that storm
is, whether in our hearts, in our families, or in our culture, we are called to
step right into storm!
So you aren't left hanging, we ran upwards of 70 miles that day, dodging lightning, wind and rain squalls. In the end, we found a little gap between 2 nasty thunderheads, and shot through it to a beautiful afternoon, a beautiful sun-drenched shore in the distance.
