The Storm Within

Mark 4:35-41
Jesus Calms the Storm

That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, "Let us go over to the other side." Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, "Teacher, don't you care if we drown?"

He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet! Be still!" Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.

He said to his disciples, "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?"

They were terrified and asked each other, "Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!"

Today's gospel tells not only of how powerful God is to be able to command the wind and the water, but of the faith that we should have in God no matter what the situation is. During the sermon, the priest told a story... there was this battle ship out on the sea during a very big and vicious storm. The winds were howling and blowing and the water very treacherous that the soldiers had to take refuge inside the ship to wait out the passing of the storm. They could do nothing as what is going on outside is totally out of their control. Suddenly, they heard a big, loud crashing sound inside the ship. All of them knew very well what it was as they are very familiar with that sound... one of the cannon balls came out loose - probably due to the constant ravages of the storm on their ship. Everyone knows the damages a cannon ball can do to a ship, that is why they use it in battles! Knowing that the ship can withstand the wrath of the storm outside, but not the damage or peril from a loose cannon ball, a group of soldiers volunteered to go down and look for it and secure it back into safety.

They were not worried about the storm, they were willing to just wait it out. But they just had to do something about that loose cannon ball inside the ship because they know that will bring them far more danger.

In our lives, we also face many storms, many problems... some too big and too difficult that we think it is too much for us to handle. In reality we are always facing two storms, the storm outside - which is the problem, and the storm within us - which is our faith (or lack of it) that we will be able to weather out this storm. Many times we feel weak when we are faced with problems and we think of giving up because we lose the faith that God will see us through this as He always does. The storm within is far more dangerous because it makes us weak, it makes us lose hope and it makes us give up - it destroys us. It is this storm that we have to face, fight and overcome first for us to be able to stand up and weather out the storm outside.

I have been going through something very personal for the past few months and it has been very difficult. There have been many sleepless nights, I cried myself to sleep, had feelings of depression... like everything in my world suddenly came crashing down, deeper and deeper everyday, and it felt like I would not be able to pull myself up and get out anymore. I know this is my storm within and I have to fight it. I believe that I will weather this out, this too shall pass. Armed with my faith, I just pray for God to continue giving me the strength to hang in there and hold myself up through all these. May we all have the faith that through God, nothing is impossible and that He will never leave our side especially in our most trying moments.