rescue is revealed

Good morning.

I’m sure you’ve heard this story before about the disciples. The camp that I worked at one summer even had a song about it. “Peter was rowing across the lake.. Hey! Peter was rowing across the lake.. Hey!” But this time, I hope you find something different.

One day he [Jesus] got into a boat with his disciples, and he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side of the lake.” So they set out, and as they sailed he fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water and were in danger. And they went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” And he awoke and rebuked the wind and the raging waves, and they ceased, and there was a calm. 25He said to them, “Where is your faith?” And they were afraid, and they marveled, saying to one another, “Who then is this, that he commands even winds and water, and they obey him?”

Let’s break this down. Normally this passage is preached as Jesus calms the storm, Jesus calms the storm in our lives, blah blah blah.

Different perspective.

I see a few different parts to this story that make it so unique.
First:
Jesus gives a promise. Did you see it? “Let us go to the other side of the lake.” Jesus doesn’t say, “Well, let’s get in the boat and see what happens.” He gives a destination, a purpose for their journey. He makes his intention for their journey known. The other side of the lake. We’re going, and we’re going to make it.

Second:
The disciples forget it. Did you hear them? “Master, master we are perishing!!” We are perishing. We aren’t going to make it. They forgot what they were doing and where Jesus said they were going.

Pause.
Both these points have profound theological impact for the way we live our lives. Jesus makes us a promise. We forget it. Over and over and over and over again. Jesus tells us that he knows where we are going. We forget it. Over and over and over again. But thats not the end of the story! Don’t miss the next half!!

Third:
Jesus rescues them. In this story, the timeline of things happens in this order: Jesus promises, the disciples forget (and give into their fear) and then Jesus wakes up. First thing he does? “He awoke and rebuked the wind and the raging waves, and they ceased, and there was a calm.” He rescues them, removes the reason for their fear. Saves their lives. Rescue comes first.

Fourth:
Jesus rebukes them. Where is your faith? Easy enough, right?

Fifth:
The disciples marveled. Their faith was strengthened. More of who Christ is was revealed to them through the rescue. Let us marvel at what Christ is doing to redeem our lives, our doubts, our disbelief, and our pain.

How often does God promise us something and because we haven’t seen it carried to fruition, we think it won’t? Who is Christ revealing himself to be through your pain? Through your rescue? How is your faith being strengthened because of it?

We can’t see the promise for the pain. It’s not just you. Even the disciples who saw Jesus face to face struggled.
What we miss through the pain, is that our PAIN is God’s agent for change and strength.

My church this year has focused on strengthening families for life. Strengthen your family through the pain, by seeing the promise at the end.

Personally, I’ve seen this happen. Years ago, when I was in high school, I was having a rough time with some close friends. (who didn’t have a rough time in high school?? geez.) Alone in my room one night, I broke down. Cried out to God, because I was so deep in the pain, I couldn’t see the end result.

God speaks through our pain. God revealed his promise for me that night. I heard him say, “Do not be afraid. I have a plan for you. Life is gonna rock.” (yes, God says ‘gonna’ and ‘rock’.)
I haven’t yet reached that point. I haven’t had the total fruition of that promise come to pass. And I admit, sometimes I miss the promise through the salt water in my eyes. (Oh man does it sting!!)

My hope for you is this:

My hope for you in the new year and beyond is that you are faithful to the process through the pain so that the promise is fulfilled. And that you keep your eyes open for what the rescue is revealing, because God is faithful.

Thank you for letting me love your children. And to my youth: thank you for letting me walk beside you. Be faithful. Live so that Christ is revealed.

And
I.
am.
sure.
of this: that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. (phil 1:6)

amen.

 

fall on me..

fall on me, grace
before i fall apart
take these battered run-down knees of mine

take my heart before it beats its last
take my hands Lord
before they fail

fall on me, grace
before I fall apart
take the pain of broken bones Lord
and heal my heart

fall on me, grace
like rain on fields
renew, restore me

take my soul before it fades Lord
take my life before it wanes

Fall on me, grace
like breeze on the sea
Fall on me, love
come from Thee

may my longing after You be a desperate run

 

An Autobiography (or, a story in twelve parts) Piece Two

To lose life, but that was not the end of that year from hell. Oh no. Life was lost in different way, again. Divorce.

Severance.

Separation.

And all the other horrible words you can think of for such an act where people no longer are married and live under the same roof.

But this story is not about that story, only the effects of that story. That, coupled with death, makes for an interesting combination.

The human mind can only take so much tragedy, yet in the face of extreme tragedies, more resilience than we knew we had surfaces.

Surface it did, along with questions. Questions about life, about living, about dying, about the breaking point of relationships. It was then that the ultimate question came about in the mind of one so young.. the ultimate wondering.

Is there more to God than this?

There has to be more to God than this…

No longer cut and dry, no longer scripted faith, no longer easy answers. The world of black and white and white and black had a big grey lump dropped in the middle of it.

If you were to ask that question to yourself, what response would you give? Is there more to God than what you are seeking right now? Is there more to God than what you are being given by the institution that represents His name?

I return to C.S. Lewis, because so often someone else’s words are so much better than my own; he speaks in the Screwtape letters, of a person praying to God. The demons laugh amongst themselves, saying ‘Oh how much more powerful the prayers of Christians, if they would only pray to the God we know, that big huge powerful, frightening presence, instead of a spot on the wall, or some vague painting in their minds..” To pray to God as He knows himself to be, not as we perceive him to be.

At this turning point, the institution the young mind found itself in no longer served what God seemed to be screaming out in words as silent as a rainstorm.