what if?
Whilst thinking about what to write about in the first Oasis blog I kept coming back to the question of ’what if?’ This question seems to come up a lot at the moment in conversations I have whether through the uncertainty of the current economic climate, the potential pandemic we are being warned of or on a more local level the exams many are facing.
It is only natural to wonder ‘what if?’, the challenge is not to allow these answers to this simple question to be the focus of our attention as it soons leads to concern, worry and fear and leaves us feeling immobilised and hopeless.
There is a story in the bible where Jesus is crossing a lake in a boat with his friends after a busy day. Jesus quickly falls asleep in the boat whilst he is asleep a huge storm hits the boat. Jesus’ friends, some of whom are hardened fishermen, begin to feel completely overwhelmed by the storm and quickly get to a conclusion to the question ‘what if?’ and that is that they are going to drown. In desperation they call out to Jesus, Jesus immediately takes control of the situation and brings peace.
You see somewhere along the way they forgot Jesus was in the boat, they became more focused on the storm and the potential what if than on the one who was in the boat with them.
Our lives are like boats and from time to time we will encounter storms, the challenge is will we be left looking in to the eye of the storm wondering ‘what if’ because if we do, believe me from experience, it will only lead to a deep feeling of hopelessness. Or will we stop and remember who is in the boat with us, Jesus!
Remembering Jesus is in the boat may not mean that the storm disappears but it does mean that we are not alone and Jesus always promises to give us peace. Ultimately remembering Jesus is in the boat means that we can know hope!
For those of us who know Jesus the challenge is to remember that Jesus is in our boat whatever storms we hit. He can provide peace and will get us through it.
For those of us who don’t know Jesus there is an invitation to let him into your boat to bring the hope amidst storms that only he can bring.
