23 When Jesus got into a boat, his disciples followed him. 24 A huge storm arose on the lake so that waves were sloshing over the boat. But Jesus was asleep. 25 They came and woke him, saying, “Lord, rescue us! We’re going to drown!” 26 He said to them, “Why are you afraid, you people of weak faith?” Then he got up and gave orders to the winds and the lake, and there was a great calm. 27 The people were amazed and said, “What kind of person is this? Even the winds and the lake obey him!” (Matthew 8:23-27, CEB)
Every time I read one of these passages about Jesus calming the storm, I am reminded of a song from Camp Luther that was called With Jesus in my Boat. It was a song where you removed a word and replaced it with a sound. I have forgotten most of the words and what replaced them, but I remember the first time I heard it, because one of the words removed is Jesus. So we are singing it and the counselor says, “Take out Jesus!” And I just thought, that is wrong, why are we taking out Jesus, there are so many theological issues with removing Jesus, plus can we really remove Jesus. Now I know that isn’t what they meant, because With Jesus in our Boat we can make it through the storm.
Most of us would be worried about the storm and how Jesus could be sleeping through it. Because we need to plan and know the outcome, where Jesus has faith in the one who created the plan. And if we would have faith in the one who created the plan, we could nap through the storm too.
So remember Jesus is in the boat, and it is all under control.
