Sent into the Storm...

Matthew 14:22-24 Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone, and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it. His disciples are finding out what it means to follow Jesus. First, He made them do what they did not want to do: feed the five thousand men and their families. Then, rather than let them relax, He forced them into the boat to go to the other side, when it was near the end of the day. Worse yet, He was not coming along. Finally, here He let them experience a storm. This life following Jesus does not always seem like what we signed up for - blessing after blessing, miracle after miracle - but it is! The miracles come in the midst of the storm, at the times when we have almost forgotten Him, when we think He does not care, and it is "out of our view" that there He is, praying for us in the presence of the Father.