Steve-o's Devos: Calm in the Midst of Pressure

This week, we begin a new weekly Bible Study at By The Way that focuses on dealing with Life's Pressures. At first, in the "dog days" of summer, you might think that pressures seem to recess a bit. For some reason, we tend to move a bit slower in the summer, perhaps because we have all lived the first part of our lives in the hustle and bustle of the academic calendar since Kindergarten (or earlier for some of us!). We get that minimum 2 month summer break and our families also have to readjust their lives as well. So it often means a vacation here or there, or at least more time spent together as a family.

Yet, life's pressures don't go away and if you even casually pay attention to the news, people are dealing with all sorts of pressures that seem to begin with the increased costs felt in their budgets. Budgets? If you are an average person even having a budget is seemingly a long way off. Perhaps the biggest shift in our culture these past few months has been from anxiety of the unseen (fears of security, and a "surprise attack") to anxiety based on real tangible stress (cost of gas, food, housing).

Think about this for just a minute. It is very easy to convince people to be afraid of something they feel they cannot control and to accept the controls imposed to help "keep them safe." It is much harder to convince people that things "are ok" when they begin to sense something is not right in their own everyday lives and every decision seems connected to their personal choices.

Believe it or not, this does relate to a reading from Matthew's Gospel (linked for your reference). Jesus has been under some pressure as he and his group of followers move from town to town and talk with different people--they had just fed 5000 people and healed a lot of the sick too. So Jesus takes a little vacation, if you will. He heads up to a mountain to spend some one-on-one time. (There is something about getting away from it all and heading into nature that does seem to bring you a new perspective.) His friends, perhaps a little disconcerted, decide to go boating. Many were familiar with a life involving water and boating so it seemed like a logical choice. Plus, they probably just felt like taking a nice little ride instead of walking, with Jesus, to the other side.

So Jesus heads into the mountains and plans to meet up with them later. All this happens in Matthew's story in a single sentence!

Now things get a little crazy. While out on the water, a storm brews up. Soon water is crashing over the sides of the boat. You would think that these guys, many experiences with the ways of boating and similar storms, would have been able to handle it. But they panic. And in the midst of the windy night they see Jesus coming towards them on the water!

Peter, always trying to prove his worth, realizes it is not a ghost but Jesus himself. He jumps over the side of the boat, much to the amazement of the rest who certainly think he is crazy. While he keeps his eyes on Jesus all seems to go well. It must have been quite a fantastical scene these two men walking on water. But when Peter takes his eyes of Jesus he begins to sink and must rely on Jesus to come to his rescue since no one else dares to jump in to help.

Once Jesus grabs Peter's hand and they get into the boat, the wind dies down. Now, I don't know about you, but if I was in a boat tossed about that suddenly came completely still, that would be more frightening than even what I had just witnessed.

But maybe that says a bit more about me. Sometimes we thrive on the business and hustle of daily lives because it is often easier to be busy than to suddenly be struck still. When things die down we are forced to look at what we do with our time, how we work on our relationships. We are not really good with that quiet still time. Even harder is finding time to be calm when the many pressures of our life surround us.

It is perhaps a good time then in the midst of the mostly calm summer, that we take a moment on our vacation, to see if we can put Jesus in our boat and sail out into a calmer water filled with different perspectives on living. What do you think?