Several responses to that question:<\/p>\n
+Some despise the question because they simply don’t want Jesus in their boat.\u00a0 But . . .<\/p>\n
“One day every knee will bow;<\/p>\n
One day every tongue will confess, ‘You are Lord.’<\/p>\n
Still the greatest treasure remains<\/p>\n
For those who gladly choose You now.”<\/p>\n
+Some who follow Jesus forget that He is in the boat.\u00a0 But He said . . .<\/p>\n
“I will never leave you or forsake you.”<\/p>\n
“I am with you always, to the end of the world.”<\/p>\n
+Some who started following Jesus expected a smooth ride.\u00a0 Truth is, Jesus said . . .<\/p>\n
“In this world you will have trouble;<\/p>\n
But be of good cheer—I have overcome the world.”<\/p>\n
“If the world hated me, they will hate you.”<\/p>\n
+Some who have Jesus in the boat still try to row it alone.<\/p>\n
Personally now:\u00a0 Do you face the storm with frantic fear, or faith?<\/p>\n
We try harder and find the storm gets worse—it’s too much for us.\u00a0 Jesus reminds us . . .<\/p>\n
“Come to Me, all of you who labor and are heavy loaded, and I will give you rest.”<\/p>\n
“My strength is made perfect in your weakness.”<\/p>\n
+Some remember to call on Jesus at the last desperate moment, and yell at him.<\/p>\n
Does Jesus help then, or fuss them?\u00a0 Both.<\/p>\n
He rebukes the storm, and it is calm.<\/p>\n
And, He rebukes his followers, “Why were you fearful, Oh you of little faith.”<\/p>\n
+But what if Jesus is not in the boat?<\/p>\n
Whose fault is that?<\/p>\n
And who caused the storm anyway?<\/p>\n
Sometimes Jesus shows up in the storm, not in the boat (and scares the living daylights out of us).<\/p>\n
Sometimes Jesus causes the storm, without consulting us.<\/p>\n
Unbelievable—can we trust Him then?<\/p>\n
Yes—we have to.\u00a0 Yes—we choose to.<\/p>\n
“Trust in the Lord, and do not lean on your own understanding.<\/p>\n
In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Several responses to that question: +Some despise the question because they simply don’t want Jesus in their boat.\u00a0 But . . . “One day every knee will bow; One day every tongue will confess, ‘You are Lord.’ Still the greatest treasure remains For those who gladly choose You now.” +Some who follow Jesus forget that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,2,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-educational","category-faith_based","category-inspire_lifter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2510"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2510"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2510\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2512,"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2510\/revisions\/2512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}