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Mark 4:35-41:Fish and Faith

When I was living in Winnipeg we used to walk the streets Friday nights to share the love of Christ, offering friends a warm meal or a place to stay. Nights went very late; so, I was often exhausted and looking forward to my one day to sleep in – Saturday. This one Saturday about 6am my young daughters come bounding into our room.

“Daddy, what’s a trout?” my four year-old, asks as she and her sister climb on my bed. “What’s a trout?”
 “A fish, why do you ask?”
“A fish?”
“Yes, a fish.”
“Oh…Like Nemo…?”
“Sort of, I think Nemo is a Clown fish.”
“Oh”, she says.
“Daddy,” asks my three year-old who has been sitting here the whole time, “what’s a trout?”
“A fish.”
“Like Nemo?”
“No.”
“Daddy?”
“Yes dear!?”
“What’s a trout?”
“A chipmunk; a Chipmunk!” I snap back with all the composure of one who has not had enough sleep.

The girls run out of the room laughing. I pull a pillow over my head, trying to get back to sleep, wondering what just happened and why. Why I was woken up for a question that no one seemed to want the answer to anyway?

At this point, quietly in comes my wife. I know I have spoken a little harshly to my daughters, so I listen intently waiting to hear what she has to say; as she lifts the pillow from my head she gently asks me, “Dear, What’s a trout?”

Looking back at the scripture today, I imagine it must have been a similar feeling for Jesus. The disciples wake him with a simple request but they (unlike my daughters) are panicked. A storm comes up. They wake Jesus and ask, “Teacher, don't you care if we drown?”

They don’t ask, “Can you save us?” The disciples know Jesus can save them. What they don’t know is if he cares enough to save them. They are panicked. And Jesus tells them that their waking him to ask this shows that they don’t really have faith.

Today, do we really have faith? Not just a belief that Jesus can do things but a faith that Jesus will do what is best. In our world today, we are faced with many kinds of storms. We know that God can save us. Sometimes, however, do we lack faith that He will save us? Sometimes do we seem to treat Jesus as if he is sleeping and in need of waking up before he can help us?

Jesus was right in the storm with the disciples. They were not alone. They can have faith; Jesus can calm any storm. Today, Jesus can still calm any storm and so we too can have faith.  The Lord provides even and especially where we cannot. Even in our toughest times, we don’t need to panic; somehow, someway, our storms too will be calmed. We can have faith in Jesus.

When has the Lord delivered you in your time of need?
Originally presented to Swift Current Men's Breakfast, 23 October 2014
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