On This Day: The Savior Who Calms Our Storms

   On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” (Mark 4:35-41)

   I was amazed by how many life lessons stood out in something so familiar as this account of Jesus calming the storm. But what the spotlight focused on the most was how impossible it was for the disciples to walk away from the situation. There simply was no opportunity to do so. And that is a good thing.

   When I heard Jim Wilder talking (through a book) about the value of “staying together in negative emotions”, I realized that this was something I had not experienced. I only knew how people would reach a point where they were “done” and I was no longer part of their lives.

   But when I heard about this novel idea of staying in relationship with people amid negative emotions, it rang true like finding treasure. I desperately wanted to learn how it worked.

   I began to replay life experiences and realized I could identify the way different people in my life always “left” a situation whenever negative emotions were involved. Some would leave physically; others would just disappear inside themselves. But the pattern was obvious, and the outcome was always the same: we never learned how to walk together in the negative emotions that came up because people wouldn’t stay together and grow up.

   So, it stood out on today’s stage that the disciples had no choice. There was nowhere to go. It was a storm-tossed boat or the storm-tossed waves. Take your pick!

   But I know what that feels like. I can now look back on such storms-in-boats and thank God for how I got to know him in situations full of negative emotions that people who walked away or hid in self-protection never experienced. To know the feeling of “the fear of the LORD” that is greater than the negative emotion of fear (or terror) can only be experienced by staying with Jesus in our storms. 

   I do not know if God is preparing me for the next storm or letting me have the joy of sharing a life lesson with others that will help them get to know God better than they have ever known him before. But today I am encouraged to watch for situations of negative emotion and seek to attach to Jesus in faith so I can walk with whoever else is involved in love. 

© 2024 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8

Email: in2freedom@gmail.com 

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.)