Stormy weather

It's a fairly long trip across the lake, the Sea of Galilee as it is called. You see mountains, or at least very tall hills, all around the lake and in the morning you see the mists rise like hands of praise to heaven.

Many years ago, Jesus said to his disciples, 'Let's cross to the other side of the lake."

When he said that, the disciples and our master were on the Jewish side, near the Roman town of Tiberius, which still exists. He was talking about going to the Decapolis, which was a group of Gentile villages on the far side of the lake.

They got into their amazingly small boat for such a lake and the number of people in it and began to cross.

The thing about the weather in Galilee is it comes up quickly over those mountains, so that when Jesus settled down to take a nap as they made their way across the lake, a storm came up quickly.

The disciples were terrified. The boat was filling with water. The disciples went to Jesus and asked for help.

Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and the raging waves and suddenly the storm was stopped and all was calm. Then he asked them, 'Where is your faith?"

Don't know about them but my first reaction would have been, "We came to you. What faith are you talking about?"

See, what Jesus is talking about happens all the time in our lives. Our faith is called upon when the storms come up quickly, and he's basically saying, "I'm in the boat with you, do you really think I'll let you sink?"

We don't have to worry, fret and cause uclers when the storms come. We know they will. But we have Jesus in the boat with us, not watching from a distance. Our faith is that he will not let us sink, not that he will make everything calm. He could do that with but a rebuke of your problem. What good would that do you? How would that stretch your own faith?

The disciples answered, instead of mine, "Who is this man?"

That's the question for you today. Who do you say he is?