When strong winds rock your boat, remember Jesus is sleeping at the stern.

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If you say there is a loving God, then why does he keep breaking people’s hearts?” That is the most thought – provoking question I have ever encountered. It came as a text message from a friend. This message did not come originally from that friend. But he forwarded it to me from another common friend. We were so worried about this friend when we received this message. She seemed to be falling down in her faith.

We all can identify with the statement above. There are certain times in our lives when we feel like there is no God. It is difficult for us to believe in a loving God because of the many trials and tribulations we encounter everyday. We are always worried. We do not know what the future holds for us. Everything is so dark ahead. We could not see where we are going and we become afraid.

As I pondered on the situation and searched the bible for the right passage to encourage that friend of mine, I fell into the pages of the gospel in Mark. It was about a time when the disciples were with Jesus in the middle of the sea. It was a cold dark night and the winds were blowing hard on the boat. It must have been a terrible storm. Water was filling up the boat that it was about to sink. The disciples were very afraid. So they called on Jesus who was sleeping peacefully with his head on a pillow at the back of the boat.

Here’s an excerpt of that passage in the gospel according to Mark:

^35-38Late that day he said to them, "Let's go across to the other side." They took him in the boat  as he was. Other boats came along. A huge storm came up. Waves poured into the boat,   threatening to sink it. And Jesus was in the stern, head on a pillow, sleeping! They roused him saying, "Teacher, is it nothing to you that we're going down?"

^39-40Awake now, he told the wind to pipe down and said to the sea, "Quiet! Settle down!" The   wind ran out of breath; the sea became smooth as glass. Jesus reprimanded the disciples: "Why are you such cowards? Don't you have any faith at all?" 

Can you imagine the look on Jesus’ face when he uttered those words to his disciples? Can you hear the frustration in his voice? How many miracles does he have to perform to make them believe? After everything that he had done for them, the disciples still does not have faith that he is the Son of God, the promised Savior. Isn’t that very frustrating?

This situation still is true for us today. When things are going well, it is easy to praise God. But when we are faced with so many problems, we tend to forget the goodness of our God. We become blinded by the circumstances and we become afraid. We become so worried about the storm that we forget that we have Jesus, the Son of the Living God at the back of our boat sleeping peacefully with his head on a pillow.

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[1] Mark 4: 35 – 40. The Message. Bible Gateway