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I’ve been thinking a lot about the story in the Bible about how Jesus was asleep on a cushion in the stern of a boat while his disciples were battling a terrible squall. (Mark 4: 35-41)

They woke Him up and said, “….don’t you care if we drown?”

He got up and quieted the storm and then addressed them and said, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

They were terrified and began to question, who is this that even the winds and waves obey Him?

Imagine the conversation among the disciples before they woke up Jesus.  Maybe some didn’t want to disturb Him, after all, He must be exhausted to sleep through a storm.  Others were concerned with their own lives and decided that it was time for Him to be frightened as well.  And then, I imagine, there was one or two who thought that He could do something about it.  After all, they had seen Him perform some pretty unbelievable things in the past days and months.

The first thing that Jesus did was calm the storm.  And then He asked them about their lack of faith.

It seems as though they still didn’t get it, however, because the conversation among the disciples continued with questions about someone who could command the elements.

Do you suppose that if they had enough faith they would have left Him sleeping?  That’s what Jesus implies, don’t you think?

So, what does that mean for me?  There are storms in my life…..I can name them, I can name each wave as it crashed on me.  So many times during the worst of my ‘storms,’ I try to wake up Jesus too.  “Where are you, do you even care, do you see how much in pain I am, are you listening?”

Perhaps my prayer should be that of another man in Mark’s Gospel (Mark 9:24):

 “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

And then….maybe…..just maybe, instead of trying to wake Him up, I will climb in next to Him and sleep peacefully.

 “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”