Texas District

I am so excited for our Texas District Gathering July 25-26 in Victoria! This year’s theme is “All in the Same Boat” based on the story of Jesus calming the sea in 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.

 

In life and ministry, we all face challenging “storms” both as disciples of Jesus and as communities of faith. In this Mission Moment series, we have been leaning into the hope we have in Jesus in times of trouble. First, we remembered that we are not alone: Jesus was in the boat with the disciples the entire time the storm raged and he is with us in our storms as well. Last month I pondered whether we had grown complacent and left Jesus alone to fall asleep. Hopefully it does not take a 9-1-1 emergency for us to call on Jesus and wake him up! Instead, we should seek a relationship with Jesus through the regular reading of scripture, prayer, worship, and service.

In this final article, we recall Jesus’ actions and words once the disciples woke him in Mark 4:39-40: “He got up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, ‘Silence! Be still!’ The wind ceased, and there was a great calm. Then he said to them, ‘Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?’” Here Jesus connects faith and fear: When you have faith in Jesus, you have nothing to fear. Our Lord says to his followers: Trust me; Count on me; I am with you; I am ultimately in control; I will shelter and protect you; Have faith over fear.

 

Many people confuse this to mean that God won’t ever let bad things happen to good people, but that simply isn’t true. Bad things do happen all the time as the result of living in a sinful and broken world. What this really means is that in the midst of the bad things… in the suffering and hardship… when the world seems to be spinning out of control: God is with us, to help us, to strengthen us, to give us hope and see us through the storm.

 

Jesus calls on his followers to have faith and be at peace; to trust and not be afraid. In John 6:33, Jesus tells his disciples: “‘I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.’” When God is in control, he is working for our good and his glory, even through the hard things of life. As Paul writes in Romans 8:28: “We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.”

 

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