Thrashing Around in the Sea

Thanksgiving was much different for most of us this year. We miss family and friends. We are exhausted. We wonder about the ‘return to normal’.

I thought about Jonathan Martin's, How to Survive a Shipwreck - Help is on the Way.

The following quote is a highlight of the first chapter.

"You can lose your boat, lose your house with all the pictures inside it, lose your job, lose your most defining relationship. And still not lose you. And still not lose your soul. And still not lose your faith. Make no mistake: You will be stripped down in the shipwreck. But you will not be lost."

"On the other side of them (shipwrecks), there is a stronger, deeper, richer, more integrated life. That on the other side of the storm that tears you to pieces is a capacity to love without doubt, to live without fear, to be something infinitely more powerful than the man or woman you were before it happened."

Some might be in the throes of personal shipwrecks and some might never have experienced one. But there are better than average chances that someday you will be pummeled in a sea of change.  

Worldwide trouble currently demands that we look for ways to stay afloat without the benefit of known expiration dates.  Yet, we are blessed with this season of preparation. Throughout Advent, we look to celebrate the birth of Jesus knowing that He overcomes.  He's got us.

John 16:33

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Mark 4:35-41

"That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”

"He got up, rebuked the wind, and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm."

"He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

"They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”