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 windstorm 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?"

He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said o the sea, "Peace! Be still!"

Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. He said to them, "Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?"

And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, "Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?''- Mark 4:35-41 (NRSV)

 

Reflections on Storms 

In the boat and in the storm,
Though it be anomaly or though it be norm,
Tossed and swamped, and dramatized,
Sleeps One who cannot be traumatized.
Sways to left and rocks to the right.
Sun grows dim, land out of sight.
It seems He's asleep until He's awakened,
That One is still and cannot be shaken.
"Wake up, Master Jesus for all that we cherish
Is now being rocked! Don't you care that we perish?"
He got up and sat up, and spoke to the winds
And turned His attention and spoke to His friends.
"I see you're afraid; do you even know why?
Have you no faith; Don't you know it is I?"
He was there in the boat, along with His fellows,
But resting in peace, then commanding the bellows.
Just a word from His mouth and the seas would be calm.
He is wellness, shalom, deliverer, and balm.
And filled with an awe that enshrined that dark hour
They wondered aloud who He was with such power.
We've each had our storms and at times been aware
Of unshakable Presence and a Word that was there,
But never imagined the difference He makes,
Maintaining the peace while everything quakes.