Texas District

At the end of July, many of us will travel to Victoria, Texas for our Annual Gathering. This year’s theme is “All in the Same Boat” and is based on Mark 4:35-41. In this story, Jesus’ disciples were crossing the Sea of Galilee when a great windstorm arose and began swamping the boat. Fear struck the disciples, but Jesus was sleeping through it all. The disciples woke Jesus up: “Teacher! Don’t you care that we are going to die?” Jesus then got up, rebuked the wind and calmed the sea.

 

This story reminds us that we face tumultuous “storms” as we seek to navigate the journey of faith. This is true for individual followers of Jesus the same as it is for our congregations. And the storms that we face are scary, dangerous, and threaten to sink us. Over the next couple of months, we will unpack this story as we discover the hope that we find in Jesus through this timeless passage of scripture.
The first lesson for us to take note of is this: Who is in the boat? Were the disciples facing this perilous situation all by themselves? No. Jesus was in the boat with them the entire time!

One of our great temptations as we encounter difficulties in life is to believe that it all comes down to us… that we have got to “do something” about it! This is true whether facing an individual crisis or a congregation is facing a crisis that threatens the whole church. Either way, the temptation is to think that we need to find the strength and fortitude within ourselves to overcome the challenge all on our own. We often hope that it will simply all work out if we try our best and do what we can. And when we recognize that the threat exceeds our abilities to overcome it, we all too often live with the fear, worry and anxiety of the impending doom over which we have no control.

 

In other words, we forget that Jesus is in our boat! We overlook the fact that the one who does have the power and control is right there beside us and is in the storm with us. We are not alone, nor are we left to our own devices to weather the storms of life.

 

If you are facing a personal challenge that has got you overwhelmed or afraid or if your church is facing storms that threaten the congregation and its future, remember that you are not alone. First, we are all in the same boat! We share the journey of faith together. We are knit together as the Body of Christ to come alongside and encourage one another as we face similar storms in our lives. But most importantly, we remember that Jesus is with us, too. And that makes all the difference in the midst of the storm!

 

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