As most of you know, last week Toby and I took a whirlwind trip (left Friday came back Monday) to CO to fly fish. So, this time last week, on Sunday am, we were on horses heading back into the Rocky Mountain National Park. Now, Toby and I have done a lot of wilderness stuff… a lot of fishing--enough to know when we are out of our depth, enough to know when we need to turn it over to someone else. So, we make a point in unfamiliar territory to hire a guide to take us out. They give you pointers about where the best fishing is, what the fish are biting on, how to find your way through the mountains. And most importantly, when you get into difficult situations, they are the ones that will get you through. And this trip was no exception. We rode up to this gorgeous alpine lake at about 10K feet and fished most of the afternoon. Then about 4pm we heard the rumble of thunder. Now you have to understand, an electrical storm at that altitude is a serious matter. AND we were standing in water with 10 foot fishing rods… next to animals with metal horse shoes. Not a good scenario. Up there, storms blow in really fast. They come up over those ranges and you are caught before you know it. Sure enough, within 15 minutes the storm was on us and we were untying the horses heading out. We stood there holding the horses, watching the clouds blow overhead and the thunder rumbling around us and I looked at our guide and said, “ah, are you SURE we should ride out? Don’t you think we should stay here—wait it out?” The guide pointed up and said “there is no lightening in this one—this isn’t the one we need to worry about… it’s the one behind it.” I’m looking at the ominous black clouds overhead thinking O-kay!” So, we mounted up. About ten minutes into the ride, it started hailing… and here we were on a high ridge, thunder booming, hail falling and again, I yelled to the guide, “are you SURE we should be here?” He pulls his horse up along side mine, and says, “Susan I grew up here. I know these mountains, I have been guiding here for 20 years.” I guess I still looked a bit shaken, because he paused and said—“What is the point in hiring a guide, if you don’t trust them?” I thought about it… he was totally right. We hired this man to do this job to help us be safe, because that is his expertise. Yet when the storm comes, I doubt him, I question him.

I smiled, and shut up for the rest of the trip. Sure enough, after about 30 minutes, the storm overhead had fully dissipated. However, when we looked behind us in the distance to our fishing spot on the lake we could see another storm blowing up over the ridge, lightening bolts everywhere. And I thought, hum, if I had not listened to him I would be sitting under a tree by the lake waiting to be struck.

I couldn’t help but think of our scripture today with the panicked disciples in the boat with Jesus when that storm blew up on the Galilee. Granted our guide didn’t rebuke the storm. But I am not sure stilling the storm is the point of that story.

Lets look at the scripture. This story appears in all three synoptic Gospels: Mathew, Mark, and Luke. And this storm theme is a common story line from ancient NE mythology that has influenced biblical works. For example, there is a famous story of the storm God triumphing over the sea monster chaos. Makes us think of Jonah. There are also scholars that believe that Mark was influenced by Homer and the story of Odysseus. So, the theme of the storm is something that Mark draws on from many ancient sources.

So let’s look at the story itself. It was the end of a long day where Jesus had been teaching and the disciples had been listening to parables -- all day. Just read chapter four and you’ll get it. Jesus had been doing non-stop parables, and as interesting as they were…after a whole day I am sure it can get a bit tiresome. The best example that they were getting tired is in a few verses back. Where Jesus tells the seed parable—you know the one where the farmer sows seed on rocky soil, thorns and then good soil. And the seeds in the good soil grow bigger than the rest. And the disciples didn’t get that. OBVIOUSLY, they were tired.

So at the end of this loooonnnnng day, when you know the disciples are so ready to crash, Jesus says hey, pointing at the Galilee, ‘lets go to the other side.” This is at least an hour sail. And who does the sailing? The Disciples, of course.

So if that isn’t bad enough, a big storm blows up. The disciples are panicked. Now keep in mind that at least four of them were professional fishermen on the Galilee, so this must have been one honkin’ storm. And let me cut them just a little slack. Believe it or not, I have actually seen this boat. It may not have been this exact boat from the story, but there is an original, olive wood fishing boat from the first century that was found by divers on the Galilee sea floor and excavated, raised and preserved in an air tight glass case near Tiberias on the Galilee. This is a small boat. Like the size of the first ten pews or so. So in a large storm, this would not be a place any of us would want to be.
So as this storm whips up, Jesus is fast asleep. Not just resting his eyes, but asleep in the stern—the rear-- of the boat. Now for any of you who have been in a boat in rough waters, you know that the stern ain’t exactly the most stable or smooth place to ride it out. It pitches and yaws, Yet, the scripture says, Jesus “was in the stern, asleep on the cushion.” The juxtaposition of this image of Jesus’ peaceful rest to the disciples panic, is pretty stark.
The disciples then wake up Jesus and shout “teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” Which I find quite funny, given that Jesus is IN the boat with them. I mean if they are going down, he’s coming too…
Jesus, I am sure is jarred awake. He then rebukes the storm and turns and says to the disciples “have you no faith?” These words, his utter frustration at the disciples complete lack of faith IN the storm…with him IN the boat…right there WITH them.

To me this is the whole point of the story. Many focus on Jesus quieting the storm as the point. This idea that God can quiet the loudest of storms. That thought is quite comforting… and inspires great awe in the almighty. But, I ‘m not drawn to this as the point of the story. Because the reality of life is that the storms we face, do not always lift. The clouds do not always part. The gales do not always cease. It is not a question of having the storms stopped, it is a question of riding them out.

Those Disciples chose to give up their lives, their families, their careers and follow Jesus. They chose him as their guide so to speak, yet, in the first face of danger, they doubted him. And I think, how familiar. How many times have we supposedly put our faith in God, until the storms roll in. How many times have we questioned God? How many times have we cried “Teacher, don’t you even care that I am perishing?” I think again of what our guide in the mountains said… what’s the point of hiring guide, if you don’t trust them?
If there is nothing else from this scripture, we should know this one thing: IF Jesus sends us into a storm, we can be assured that he goes with us. If we find ourselves on a sinking ship, he is going down with us. If we find ourselves in the lowest of places in the life, he is right there with us. We will be sent into some huge storms in this life. It is a given. However, while we must come to expect the storms of life to be great, we should expect God to be greater. I once heard someone say: Don’t tell God how big your problems are; tell your problems how big God is. This is the whole point of faith. And I think perhaps this scripture. If you chose Jesus as your guide, then you must trust him… in the fair weather and in the foul. And frankly, most importantly in foul, for it is there we most need the protection… For what is the point of hiring a guide, if you don’t trust them. Perhaps psalmist said it best… have mercy---soul take refuge, in shadow of wings take refuge, until destroying storms pass by.