Hello Advent Family,

Jesus did much of His ministry right around the Sea of Galilee. Several of His disciples were fisherman and they traveled often by boat. I will be on a boat for the next two days on a fishing trip with my dad and some other friends. I thought I’d choose a couple of “boat related” stories from Matthew 8 and 9 as devotional thoughts for the next two days. Hopefully on Wednesday I will come bearing tales of giant fish that were caught. Let’s look at one story in Matthew 8 together today.

23 Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. 24 Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. 25 The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!” 26 He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm. 27 The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”

I have always loved the fact that as the disciples are panicking Jesus is sleeping. They are the ones who were fishermen and should be used to the storms the would brew up suddenly on the Sea of Galilee. To Jesus it is just another storm that He can easily calm while the disciples are focused on the waves and think they are going to drown. How often do life’s storms hit us that way. We get stuck focusing on the wind, the rains, and the waves of the storms that life throws at us instead of focusing on the One who can calm the storm. The next time you feel a storm brewing in your life try and switch your focus from the storm to Jesus. I think you just may find that things will go a lot better.

In His Grip,
Pastor Dave