Good morning on this glorious Monday. This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it. I want to continue where we ended last week. That is, I want to keep us in the boat with Jesus on the Sea of Galilee. If you remember Friday’s devotion Jesus was walking on the water, appearing almost like a ghost to the disciples. This time Jesus isn’t walking on the water, he is in the boat asleep and our text from Mark 4:39 says, “And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still! And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.”
I once heard a pastor say, “There are three kinds of storms: The storm you are in, the storm you just got out of and the storm you are heading into.” Storms can stir up quickly on the Sea of Galilee. I have never been there, but I have been told by those who have, that the sea sits below sea level and is surrounded by cliffs. And so what happens is the winds funnel through the hills and whip up sudden and violent storms.
Many times our storms hit us quickly, seeming to come out of nowhere. None of us could have imagined just two months ago that our world, as we know it, would be turned upside down because of the coronavirus. Like the disciples we cry out to the Lord, “Don’t you care about us?”
Yes, Jesus does care about us. He died for us and rose again for us. Jesus promises to always be with us. In fact, he is the only pilot who can guide us safely now and eternally. If you do have an LSB hymnal at home, look up hymn 715. Rev. Edward Hooper, who was pastor of the Church of Sea and Land in New York, a church which existed until 1972 when the congregation was dissolved, wrote this hymn for his seafaring congregation that still provides comfort and encouragement for us today, for all the storms of life we are in, headed into or being delivered from.
We close with these words:
“Jesus, Savior, pilot me Over life’s tempestuous sea;
Unknown waves before me roll,
Hiding rock and treach’rous shoal.
Chart and compass come from thee. Jesus, Savior, pilot me”
(LSB 715:1)
Blessings,
Pastor Bryan E. Drebes
Rev. Bryan Drebes is Pastor at Pacific Hills Lutheran Church in Omaha NebraskaPastor Drebes attended Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri, beginning in 1997. He spent the summer of 1999 teaching English to Chinese middle school teachers in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China. He served a four-month vicarage at St. John Lutheran Church, Plymouth, Wisconsin, followed by eight months at Bethany Lutheran Church, Overland Park, Kansas. Pastor Drebes was ordained into the Office of the Holy Ministry at Zion Lutheran Church, Palmyra, Missouri on August 19, 2001, and installed as Associate Pastor of Bethany Lutheran Church, Overland Park, Kansas on September 9, 2001. He served Bethany for 14 years. Pastor Drebes accepted a Divine