Matthew 8:26
But He said to them, "Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?" Then he arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.
Recently I was driving home from my friend’s house. About half of the hour and a half drive is on a two-lane highway across the high desert of southern California. It’s quite exciting . . . as you watch mile after mile of sand, rock and desert flora pass by (and stretch expansively in either direction). Ok, so not terribly exciting, but if you allow it to be, it can be relaxing. It’s a very straight, very flat drive.
On this particular trip, I was the second car behind a truck carrying a big backhoe (or some such piece of equipment). I fell in line and thought to myself that the truck was traveling at a pretty good pace (between 60 and 65 miles per hour) all things considered. Shortly after noting this to myself, I watched the car in front of me (directly behind the truck) poke out to the side, checking oncoming traffic. This was during a designated “do not pass” zone, mind you. There was, in fact, traffic coming, so the car got back in line.
This particular stretch of highway is broken into “do not pass” and “pass with care” zones periodically. Ironically, every time we entered a “pass with care” zone, we were faced with oncoming traffic. The driver of the car in front of me checked the traffic to see if he could pass the truck every few minutes for about a half an hour. I felt bad for the driver. I could imagine the anxiousness that he must have been feeling. That constant “check and see if I can go faster and get ahead” feeling can be quite wearing. I noticed myself thinking, “I’m glad I’m content to just travel along at this comfortable pace. Hey! This is a perfect illustration!”
We need to calm down . . .relax . . . and enjoy the drive. When we are distracted by our own agendas, we lose sight of the journey the Lord has laid before us. We become discontent with where we are, and anxiously try to change our course -- even if it means dodging oncoming traffic.
We need to take the time to slow down. We need to take the time to be in the Lord’s presence, to learn His will for us.
But He said to them, "Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?" Then he arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.
Recently I was driving home from my friend’s house. About half of the hour and a half drive is on a two-lane highway across the high desert of southern California. It’s quite exciting . . . as you watch mile after mile of sand, rock and desert flora pass by (and stretch expansively in either direction). Ok, so not terribly exciting, but if you allow it to be, it can be relaxing. It’s a very straight, very flat drive.
On this particular trip, I was the second car behind a truck carrying a big backhoe (or some such piece of equipment). I fell in line and thought to myself that the truck was traveling at a pretty good pace (between 60 and 65 miles per hour) all things considered. Shortly after noting this to myself, I watched the car in front of me (directly behind the truck) poke out to the side, checking oncoming traffic. This was during a designated “do not pass” zone, mind you. There was, in fact, traffic coming, so the car got back in line.
This particular stretch of highway is broken into “do not pass” and “pass with care” zones periodically. Ironically, every time we entered a “pass with care” zone, we were faced with oncoming traffic. The driver of the car in front of me checked the traffic to see if he could pass the truck every few minutes for about a half an hour. I felt bad for the driver. I could imagine the anxiousness that he must have been feeling. That constant “check and see if I can go faster and get ahead” feeling can be quite wearing. I noticed myself thinking, “I’m glad I’m content to just travel along at this comfortable pace. Hey! This is a perfect illustration!”
We need to calm down . . .relax . . . and enjoy the drive. When we are distracted by our own agendas, we lose sight of the journey the Lord has laid before us. We become discontent with where we are, and anxiously try to change our course -- even if it means dodging oncoming traffic.
We need to take the time to slow down. We need to take the time to be in the Lord’s presence, to learn His will for us.
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