Cease be still…

I have just returned from the first of the Australasian Longboard Qualifying contests, held at Sandy Bay NZ. The wind was howling onshore for the whole event and the ocean was turbulent but still surf-able.

The officials and the surfers could be prepared and fit the site was beautiful and ready but they could not control the wind or the waves.

In the Gospel of Mark Jesus disciples encounter such a man; they were filled with fear and remarked of him… Who then is this, that even wind and sea obey him?
Jesus was the man they encountered yet they saw him in a new light. His command over the elements left them wondering again just exactly who he was. These men were fishermen and mostly came from the coastal town of Galilee they were used to seeing and experiencing first hand the elements and the power and ferocity of the wind and waves. They knew try as they might they could not control them; yet Jesus just spoke to them they obeyed his words.  37 a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. 38 But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing? 39 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.

Jesus power was beyond there comprehension so rather than awe they were filled with fear… We can be used to being controlled by the storms in our lives… Not only the natural storms created by weather systems… storms of rage, pain, financial hardship, emotional distress. These things too are not beyond Jesus power or reach…

Jesus once encountered a man whose mental emotional issues were in control of every aspect of his life. His demons drove him to destruction (literally) Mark 5: 1 They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes. 2 And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit. 3 He lived among the tombs. And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain, 4 for he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the chains apart, and he broke the shackles in pieces. No one had the strength to subdue him.
5 Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out and bruising himself with stones. 6 And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and fell down before him. 7 And crying out with a loud voice, he said, What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?

This man was in the midst of an emotional mental super storm… He recognised that Jesus had the authority to change his circumstances and ran to him. Jesus changed his circumstances by casting the demons out of him he commanded them and just like the storm there was peace and he became still… 15 And they came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man, the one who had had the legion, sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, Note however that the response to Jesus power is the same as the disciples… and they were afraid.

They were more afraid of Jesus and his power to control things that were out of their control, rather than being happy that the man was in his right mind and and restored to them.

Sometimes we don’t like the storms, but we become used to being controlled by them driven along in our lives by things we believe are beyond our control. We are afraid of change and doubt Jesus power to truly change us. Either changing our circumstance and or our reaction and responses to those storms.

Are we happy in the storm… happy to just keep and maintain the status quo?

Or can we throw ourselves at Jesus feet and beg him for change to come….

Dear Lord Jesus… You are the Lord most high you have power and authority. Speak afresh through your holy spirit into our lives so we might be changed into the new creation you speak of in the bible. Help us to embrace the changes you are making in us, let us react out of love and trust in you rather than out of fear of change… Amen

  Change is the essence of life be willing to surrender what you are for what you could become…

“Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.” -Andre Gide

“Getting over a painful experience is much like crossing monkey bars. You have to let go at some point in order to move forward.” -C.S. Lewis

If you accept the expectations of others, especially negative ones, then you never will change the outcome.    Michael Jordan

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.        God through Paul the Apostle.

From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.    God through Paul the Apostle.