Relation"ship"

Riddle for the day, what do the following scenarios have in common? Driving through and to an unfamiliar city, walking down a dark alley in a not so friendly part of town, and being tossed about in a boat at sea during a storm? Well, I had one commonality in mind when I started today's message, but as I thought about it a few other potential answers came to mind. I guess the first would be that these all involve places that could be labelled dangerous. Another thought could have been that these all involve traveling, in a car, on your feet, or in a boat, each situation involved someone going somewhere. My third thought was actually my first and what I wanted to center our conversation around today. In each of the three scenarios, those are places where having someone journeying with you gives you a sense of security and comfort. In life, having someone journey with us each day, every step along the way provides us with that level of safety in numbers. Traveling with someone through life's journey in a day to day manner creates a partnership between the two parties, in our society we call that partnership a relationship. Today, we will focus on building that relation"ship" with the One that will see you through all of life's dark and stormy days that come your way. 

 

Storms are inevitable, literally and figuratively. I've been fortunate to not have experienced a true storm out at sea, but from what I've seen over the years on movies and other video footage a storm at sea could quickly create a sense of abandonment in a desperate situation. Thunder and lightning, winds gusting uncontrollably, and a constant onslaught of waves tossing your boat haplessly back and forth. Definitely not a situation where you would want to be. Especially not by yourself. 

 

In more of a figurative sense, storms of life are just as daunting and challenging to navigate. Relational storms, health related storms, finances, addictions, and even the loss of a beloved one's life occurs and those same feelings of hopelessness and loneliness toss us about much like that ship at sea. Unfortunately, too often we attempt to weather life's storms on our own. We fall into despair or we get angry and attempt to shift the blame towards bad luck or someone else. Even worse, during life's storms some people fall into a sense of hopelessness and shout out, "God, why??" 

 

In Mark 4:35-41 we read about a time when Jesus and His disciples were caught in a storm at sea. Actually, Jesus was under the deck resting when a storm abruptly fell upon their tiny boat as they were crossing the way. The disciples in their fear woke Jesus from His sleep and questioned Him about whether He cared that they were about to drown in the storm’s waves. "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?” These were men who watched Jesus heal the sick and lame, He raised the dead to life, and He just stopped a life-threatening storm with the sound of His voice. The disciples were amazed, they could not believe what had just happened. Jesus, this man who they were following, just told the storm to stop and it obeyed immediately. The good news here is this, He still controls storms today, literal and figurative, and God is there for you in your own life's storms. God wants a relation"ship" with you.

Having a true relation"ship" with God means you know you are never alone. Life will have challenges, you will feel tossed about at sea at times and you may even feel like you have no control over the circumstances you are enduring. Have faith, as the storm winds gust and as the rain blows sideways, you are not alone. The relationship you have built through reading His word, studying the lives of the heroes of the Bible as they endured typhoon type storms in their own lives builds hope for our own situations. When you develop a true relationship with God through prayer and spending time in His presence, you begin to realize that during life's storms we can't do life on our own, we need God to hold us and guide us through the storms. At times we endure and that may very well be a part of God's plan at that moment, yet through the relationship that we have built, we know that nothing happens by chance and God's plan is bigger than we can imagine. So, we move forward. We persevere, we grow gritty, and we place our trust in someone bigger than anything this world has to offer. Our trust, our faith, and our confidence are placed in the One that calms the storm just as He did for the disciples that day at sea. 

 

If you have a relationship with God that you rely on during life's storms, thank Him. If you know God, but your relationship is not in the place where you place your trust in Him during the hard times in life, then move closer to God. Nurture your relationship, and allow God to carry you through the storms you face. If you don't have a relationship with God, get one. Being tossed about in life's storms is overwhelming. Storms will come, at times they will seem like they are not going to ever subside, yet being in the "ship" with God gives us the strength to endure and the drive to journey forward!

 

Coach Carter