Just another traveler on life’s highway hanging out in the slow lane. It’s quiet. It’s peaceful. Beyond the horizon is rest calling my name. Green pastures, still waters, my cup overflows.
How many times as children during an electrical storm have we run to hide in a room without windows or pulled bed covers up over our heads? We felt we were safe because we could not see the lightning flashing outside. And then, when the thunder cracked in the heavens, we plugged our ears with little fingers.
As an adult I thoroughly enjoy an electrical storm, smelling the air, feeling the energy in my body, hearing the claps of thunder and seeing the spectacular display of lightning in the skies. I no longer hide as I did as a child, but that doesn’t mean I will stand outside in an electrical storm under a tall tree, or on a golf course with putter in hand, or on the water in a boat. Why? Because I know today not to tempt the power of nature and I don’t believe God protects foolish men on golf courses or fishers on the lake.
But soon a fierce storm came up. High waves were breaking into the boat, and it began to fill with water. Jesus was sleeping at the back of the boat with his head on a cushion. The disciples woke him up, shouting, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to drown?” Mark 4:37-38
Naturally, the disciples feared for their lives. This body of water on which they were being tossed about furiously was not some little backyard pond. But, instead of taking measures to save themselves by bailing water out of the boat, they awakened the sleeping Jesus and questioned his concern for them. Don’t you think in that situation, one would awaken Jesus and throw a bailing bucket to him yelling, “Get ready to jump, can you swim?” How many times in my life have I confronted God, “Don’t you care about me? Why are you allowing this to happen?”
The passage from Mark goes on to say that Jesus woke up, calmed the waters and told the wind to be still. In the same manner when I begin to panic, God says to me, “Relax, son. Be cool. I’ve got this under control.”
“I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.” Psalms 34:4
Seeking the Lord in times of turmoil and surrendering the outcome to his mercy and grace is easy. In the storms of life I usually have no other options and the resulting relief is welcome. Conversely, seeking the Lord when life is good, the skies are sunny, and I’m enjoying a great day is a challenge. I’ve retrieved my white flag of surrender, the crisis is over, and I am once again doing the driving. “OK, Lord, thanks for the help, but I’ll take it from here.” It would be wonderful if I could surrender my will and my life just one time and be done. But my life simply does not work that way. I am still a work in process and apparently have many future lessons to learn.
This physical existence which we experience gives no guarantees to our survival. Car wrecks, disease and illness, crazy shooters at our local WalMart – we are not assured that tonight we will return home safely to loved ones. But, it’s always been that way. Rocko, the cave man, never knew whom in his neighborhood had a bigger, more deadly club. The Jews, during Jesus’ time were at the mercy of the Roman conquerors and the religious hierarchy. Jesus was not the only one crucified. History tells us that thousands were hung on a cross during the rule of the Roman Empire.
Rational fear in the temporal world is probably a good thing. It keeps me alive and out of harm’s way. I have learned not to run around my neighborhood looking for a hairy caveman with a big club and I don’t seek out soldiers wanting to crucify me. But what about fear in my spiritual world? As a child I became an extremely fearful person listening to the stories of a judgmental, white-haired, bearded, vengeful, fire-breathing, old man sitting in the heavens just waiting for an opportunity to BBQ me in hell. The people telling those stories were not evil; they were merely misinformed.
That childhood fear was irrational, not based on truth. Today, I have the truth in front of me in the words and teachings of the man whom Jewish countrymen hoped to be the deliverer from Roman and religious oppression. He was not that messiah. He died like many other victims ignobly hung from a cross. Centuries later the Roman church fathers assembled writings about Jesus into a plan for successful living which suggested we could have freedom from fear.
I believe that is what the book of John tells me.
“If therefore the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.” John 8:36
It’s not rocket science. In his lifetime, Jesus spoke to his disciples and his followers in parables. Analogy and metaphor detailed what he was trying to teach about the spiritual world in which he dwelled. Essential to delivering those teachings was not only the faith of his followers in who he was, but also Jesus’ faith in an eternal, everlasting presence which he named as God, his Father.
Scriptures tell us that Jesus suffered the human condition just as we do. He displayed anger, compassion, doubt, disappointment, and fear. The lowly carpenter from Nazareth probably suffered the same concerns about clothing, housing, and providing food for his family as we do. He enjoyed the company of his Jewish brothers and sisters, attended weddings, and partied with sinners. That’s what gives me hope. Jesus was not a saint when he was alive on earth. He became divine centuries later only when the fathers of “Christianity” proclaimed him to be so. But, while alive on this earth, Jesus was just like you and I.
That gives me tons of hope and reason to have faith. I, too, can be a better version of me. Temporal fear is a life-preserver, but soul fear is merely an absence of faith in what Jesus can do with me as a child of God. A Psalmist from long ago told me to not be afraid of walking this earth even when death and darkness surround me because the love and compassion of God will protect my soul, will lead me out of that deep valley into a place of gentleness and kindness where I will dwell forvever in His mercy and grace. Amen, my cup is overflowing.
lpb quest - the twilight dance 