Photo by Jean-Pierre Brungs on Unsplash

All it takes is a few seconds for a big storm to be stirred up.

Major weather events can have devastating consequences and change lives in seconds. Car accidents happen in a blink of an eye. A diagnosis occurs with a few words.

The once peaceful and quiet lake of our life turns into a powerful storm at the snap of the finger.

While we all enjoy the calm waters, we are bound to experience those that are more choppy and stormy from time to time. The storm can be big or small, long or short. We can experience a storm externally or internally. 

None of us are spared from the experience of turbulence, not even the first disciples. 

The Gospel of Mark describes an evening when the disciples were on the boat with Jesus. All was going well on the Sea of Galilee until it wasn’t. 

“A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. But he [Jesus] was in the stern, asleep on the cushion, and they woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” And waking up, he rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Be silent! Be still!” Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm” (Mark 4:37-39).

Jesus does not promise us that we will not experience storms or difficulties in our lives. However, He does promise to never abandon or forsake us in the midst of our storms.  

The storms of our lives are a remarkable test of our faith. It can very easily feel like Jesus is asleep, that He does not care about us or have a concern about the welfare of our lives.  

When we falsely think Jesus is asleep or lacks interest in our life, it is so easy for us to forget about or abandon Him during our storms. Instead of turning towards Him, we turn towards our doubts, fears and anger. 

But Jesus is the boat! In his Angelus message on this Gospel in June 2021, Pope Francis reminds us to not forget that Jesus is with us in our storms. 

“In the boat, in fact, even if he is sleeping, Jesus is there, and he shares with his own all that is happening… The Lord is there, present; indeed, he waits — so to speak — for us to engage him, to invoke him, to put him at the center of what we are experiencing. His slumber causes us to wake up. Because to be disciples of Jesus, it is not enough to believe God is there, that he exists, but we must put ourselves out there with him; we must also raise our voice with him. Hear this: we must cry out to him.”

We must cry out to the Lord Jesus! He wishes to hear about our anxiety, frustration, disappointment and trial. Only when we are open and honest with Him about what we are experiencing and how we are feeling can He come in and minister to us. 

The storms of our life present an opportunity to give Jesus permission to enter in and be Lord over the storm. In Jesus, we find and can truly experience someone who wishes to offer shelter from the trouble and bring us peace.

And while it may feel like He is asleep we can have confident and expectant faith that He is with us in the boat! 

Patrick is a beloved son of the Father who desires to use his gifts to build up the Kingdom of God. You can read more of his writing on his blog.