March 17 Home Communicator – One of my favorite stories from the Bible is when Jesus calms the storm. Jesus and his disciples are sailing away on a boat to get away from the crowds for a while. Jesus falls asleep and continues sleeping through a furious storm. His disciples start freaking out and wake Jesus up, asking him to save them from the storm. Jesus says a word or two to calm the raging waters and then turns to his disciples, wondering what happened to their faith.
Author and illustrator, John Hendrix, shares this story in his picture book Miracle Man: The Story of Jesus. In the book, after the storm has calmed, Jesus asks his disciples, “Did you forget who was in your boat?” Every time I read the book, that question makes me catch my breath a little. “Did you forget who was in your boat?” How often do we take matters into our own hands and completely forget who God is and the power he has? Psalm 62:5-8 says this:
Yes, my soul, find rest in God;
my hope comes from him.
6 Truly he is my rock and my salvation;
he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.
7 My salvation and my honor depend on God;
he is my mighty rock, my refuge.
8 Trust in him at all times, you people;
pour out your hearts to him,
for God is our refuge.
Yes, these are crazy times. Yes, there is a lot of uncertainty and fear in the world right now. However, we serve a mighty God who is bigger than anything the world can throw at us. In the words of a song some of our youngest students sang for us in chapel recently,Our God is a great big God and he holds us in his hands.
We can do a lot of things to keep ourselves and others healthy and to help each other journey through this uncharted territory, but through all of this, let’s not forget who is in our boat with us, calming the waters.
Trusting in Him,
Tricia Kiepert, Elementary Principal
(Student challenge:In the coming weeks, take some time to read the story of Jesus calming the storm from Matthew 8:23-27, Mark 4:35-41, or Luke 8:22-25. Find a way to respond to the story by writing or drawing, take a picture, and send it to me at tkiepert@4hcs.org. I’d love to see your work!)
