Living in the Spirit
June 20, 2015
Scripture Reading: Mark 4:35-41
On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, ‘Let us go across to the other side.’ And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. A great gale arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, ‘Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?’ –Mark 35-38
My mother was a notorious back seat drivers. It never seemed to bother my Dad. He was a good driver. Didn’t need the help. I think he rather found it attractive. Her children did not.
Mom had received a call from her sister saying her mother, my grandmother, had suffered a massive stroke and they did not know if she would survive. My dad was sick, at the time also, and could not take Mom. She called me and I drove her to Arkansas and her mother. While there, my grandmother stabilized, but we received word that my father was sicker. So with a weather forecast predicting ice, we hurriedly packed and headed home hoping the beat the freezing hazard. There were virtually no other cars on the road, and that was lucky for me. The drizzle was getting heavier and when I braked to stop at a light in Sapulpa, I did not stop, sliding completely through the intersection. The drizzle had turned to ice. An amazing thing happened on that treacherous sixty or so miles further on the journey home, my mother never once called out a panicked instruction. I am sure she was praying with all her might, but I think she knew intuitively that her calm would rub off on me. A mile or so before reaching Drumright, I topped the hill on what was then Highway 33, lost control of the car and plowed deep into the ditch burying my front axle. I swear it wasn’t two minutes later when a man knocked on my window, said he was in a winch truck, and thought he could pull me out and he did. He followed me to a service station as the ice turned to snow and the road became straighter. I have always identified that man as an angel. We made it home safely.
The answer is yes, Jesus does care about our perishing, all aspects of our lives actually, and no matter the outcome of the journey, even if we do not make it home safely, I have the confidence that He is with me all the way. I hope you feel that too.
Prayer: Lord I thank you for your abiding presence. Amen.
All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.