We're All In The Same Boat

“Dealing with people” is how I see ministry. Therefore, I try dealing with them where they are at on any particular day. And when we deal with people every emotion can be brought to the fore. Sometimes we laugh, sometimes we cry, sometimes anger is aroused, and sometimes our hearts can ache for days on end. One thing we can be fairly certain of is that people generally feel their particular problem is greater than what others are facing at that time. Some years ago a friend arrived at our door in complete tears. She needed to talk and I was available. I was convinced, because of her tears, that the greatest of all tragedies had occurred. With all of her tears I had convinced myself that her husband must have left her or she found him cheating on her. I thought, ‘how could he?’ When finally calm enough to speak, she said that she had just been informed by the landlord that he needed their house for other purposes and they would have to move. I consoled her as best as I could. While she and her family were going to need to move, I knew of others who would have loved to have any home; location would matter little. In the same day I may speak with a widow over the loss of her husband and a 4 year old who lost his puppy. Now I don’t want to minimize any of this. In each case the person affected is hurting. The pain is just as real for each of them. Someone once said in commenting on a teenage love affair breaking up, “it may have been puppy love, but it was real to the puppy.” It’s not really our job to necessarily analyze the seriousness of the situation; our job is to listen with a caring ear and then try to show them that God still loves them, He has not abandoned them, and He has a greater purpose in all things.

Remember the storm in Mark chapter four? It tells us in verses 37 and 38, “A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke Him and said to Him, ‘Teacher, don't you care if we drown?’” The disciples looked at their situation and saw disaster. What they forgot was who was in the boat with them. When Satan was tempting Christ he quoted from Psalm 91:11, “For He will command His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.” He understood that that verse was written concerning Christ. God would overshadow Christ and not allow into His life that which was not already planned for Him. If the disciples would have remembered that verse, they could have crawled up next to Christ and had a good nights sleep instead of worrying about the circumstances of life. Sometimes we are quick to quote Hebrews 13:5, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you,” when it’s someone else in the boat. However, if it’s us in the boat we tend to think more like His disciples, “Teacher, don't you care if we drown?” God loves us beyond measure. When the storm-clouds hit, let’s try to remember that Christ is in the boat with us. Let’s crawl up next to our Savior and try getting a good night’s sleep, remembering who controls the storms of life.

I know that’s what I’m going to do. Well, at least until the boat starts to overfill.