Luke 8:22-25 New Life Version (NLV)

22 On one of those days Jesus and His followers got into a boat. Jesus said to them, “Let us go over to the other side of the lake.” Then they pushed out into the water. 23 As they were going, Jesus fell asleep. A wind storm came over the lake. The boat was filling with water and they were in danger. 24 The followers came to awake Jesus. They said, “Teacher! Teacher! We are going to die!” Then Jesus got up and spoke sharp words to the wind and the high waves. The wind stopped blowing and there were no more waves. 25 He said to them, “Where is your faith?” The followers were surprised and afraid. They said to each other, “What kind of a man is He? He speaks to the wind and the waves and they obey Him.”

Yesterday morning, while singing the chorus of ‘Your love never fails’ on our worship team, I was reminded of being tossed to and fro on the raging Caribbean Sea…..

On the final night of our 4-day Disney cruise, I began feeling the motion of the ocean far greater than I had experienced the previous days. While packing for the next morning’s departure, the doors inside our stateroom began opening & closing on their own! As Doug and I tried to maneuver through the adjoining rooms, we occasionally had to brace ourselves against the walls and furniture to keep from falling over. At first, my response was jovial ‘uh…are we sailing through a hurricane, or what?!’ But, as the lurching continued, scenes of Leonardo Dicaprio & Kate Winslet in the motion picture ‘Titanic’ began playing in my mind. Although Doug tired his best to assure me that it was a huge ship and that the crew knew exactly what they were doing, fear began to creep in…one wave at a time. 30 minutes later, I insisted that he retrieve the children from the kids clubs so that our family could be together (just, in case, the warning bells sounded, signaling us to don our life jackets and report to our meeting station, just as we had practiced on the first day of our vacation!) After all the children dismissed my concern and whined about having to come back to the cabin “early” (it was 11:00p) we quickly began getting ready for bed, knowing that we had an early wake up calling the next morning in order to disembark on time. As my head hit the pillow, the fear of dying at sea began to consume me, but the reality of being seasick, knowing that vomiting was imminent took precedence. After I lost my dinner, dessert and glass of wine, I returned to bed and began praying. Immediately, I was reminded of the above passage and I quickly felt a sense of peace that God would also calm the seas that were tossing our boat about.

All of us encounter raging seas in our lives from time to time. Some of them are completely unavoidable. Some, unfortunately, are brought upon us because we have chosen to disobey God and navigate unchartered waters. Regardless, we, just as the disciples did, have Jesus in our boat- all we need to do is call out to him….and he will bring a calm to our hearts, even as the waves continue to crash all around us.

“And when the oceans rage

I don’t have to be afraid

Because I know that you love me

Your love never fails”

-Your love never fails, Jesus Culture