I don't know about you, but it seems like there has been one story that's dominated the headlines for the past month. Of course I am being facetious. The debt ceiling debate, talks, analysis and commentary has lead to temporary paralysis for our country as the rest of us wait for something to be voted upon, or dare we hope, passed in Washington D.C. No matter where your political ideals rest, most of us agree that we want something done and soon. And once it's finished, I submit that the phrase "debt ceiling" be officially banished from use in mainstream media.
But until then, what are we to do? Yes, we can call our Congressmen, Senators or the White House, but in the end, it's out of our hands. And that's the toughest part to swallow. Our future is, for the most part, out of our hands. It's disheartening and frustrating, and if you spend too much time reading and listening to the talking heads concerning this issue (as I have), then you end up worrying. Because when something big is on the line and we don't have any control, the natural tendency is to worry, be fearful and stew over it.
This is where I was on Tuesday morning as I surfed through articles online explaining, or rather reiterating that things haven't changed and we are still headed for crisis. I was worried. If this continues, how bad will things get? How should I prepare? Were the Mayans and John Cusack right about 2012, and the end is really near?
When I went into my extended prayer time, I was still worrying. It was hard to concentrate during prayer so I started sifting through scripture and ended up in Mark chapter 4. At the end of the chapter we find the disciples getting bombarded by the waves as Jesus was snuggled up to a pillow at the back of the boat. The disciples rushed to Jesus and woke him up to ask, "don't you care that we are all going to drown?"
After reading this a couple times, I had two questions. First, what kind of pillow was Jesus sleeping on? I have a new Tempur Pedic pillow that rocks but I'm not sure it would keep me asleep at sea during a storm. My other question was, did Jesus calm the storm to teach the disciples something about their faith or say "peace, be still" so he could hurry up and go back to sleep. Let's face it, being woken up from a nap or too early in the morning is quite possibly the most frustrating thing ever. I am slightly annoyed when my wife wakes me up a few minutes before my alarm is scheduled to go off. If I'm woken up to early and in the middle of a dream (where, let's say, I'm fixing pancakes for Warren Buffet), the only thought on my mind is how quickly can I get back to sleep and finish that dream? With that in mind, I have to believe that Jesus wanted to say, "you woke me up for this? Don't you remember who my Dad is?"
Even though we're amazed at Jesus, the subtle beauty of this story is that we all relate to the disciples. We all rush to the back of the boat and scream, "God, don't you care?" We all worry too much about anything and everything that we can't control. And if the crisis involves money, you can be sure that we will scream so loud that God and anybody near us would have trouble sleeping. This story reminds us though, that if we are riding in the ship with Christ, you don't have to worry. You don't have to scream. You don't have to fear. You can grab your favorite pillow, bean bag or snuggie and cuddle up in the back of the boat. Why? Because of faith. As the book of Hebrews puts it, "faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see."
Jesus Christ is the reason for our faith. He is the only one who can bring real and lasting peace to any situation. Whether Washington DC figures out the mess that is before them or not, we can comfortably rest in the peace that Christ is with us. If a storm is just ahead, we can weather it with Christ's help. As the scriptures remind us, He wants our burdens and He really does care. In fact, with a storm on the horizon, we might as well stop worrying and move to the back of the boat. As the disciples learned the hard way, that's were its most comfortable.
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