HALFWAY ACROSS THE LAKE

“What am I doing here, God?  Why did you bring me to this place?”

It had been a rough day.  Trying to communicate what I wanted to buy in the market when I didn’t know the word for “beef” in the local language, forgetting which bus to take and ending up on the opposite end of town…  Why had God sent me to East Asia?  I didn’t know Asian culture, I didn’t speak the language, and I couldn’t even use chopsticks!  “You must have made a mistake, God, because I’m just not cut out for this kind of work!  I’m not going to make it!”

Not a Mistake For the Disciples Either

“Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to drown?”  The disciples sounded a lot like me.  Battling the raging storm that threatened to sink their little boat, they frantically searched for Jesus, shocked to find Him sound asleep in the stern.  After Jesus calmed the waves and the wind, he rebuked the disciples.  “Why don’t you have any faith?” (Mark 4:35-41).

When Jesus took the disciples out on the boat, he didn’t say, “Let’s go halfway across the lake and then sink in a storm.”  He said, “Let’s go to the other side.”  So when the wind rocked the boat and waves crashed over the edge, Jesus wasn’t worried.  He was able to lie down and sleep through the storm, because He knew their final destination.

That first year in Asia, I often felt like my boat was sinking in the storm.  But by faith I was able to continue, knowing that one day I would learn the language, believing that eventually I would figure out the bus routes, and trusting that He had a purpose in it all.  He didn’t send me out just to go halfway across the lake.  My destination is the other side.  And if He’s with me, I know I’ll make it.
“…and surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”   Matthew 28:20 NIV

Going vertical!
MJ