Christ Church Daily Devotion Jan 21 2024

In today's Daily Devotion, we read about a scene where Jesus and his disciples were caught in a storm on a boat. The disciples were terrified as the waves broke over the boat, but Jesus remained asleep. They woke him up, and he calmed the storm with just his words. This showed the disciples his power, and they were in awe. The message is that even when we face storms in life, we should turn to Jesus for help and have faith in him. The worship option for today is to join in worship and stay connected to Jesus for hope during difficult times. Welcome to Christ Church's Daily Devotion for January 21st, 2024. Today, we will be reading from Mark, chapter 4, verses 35-41. 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, and 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. I must say, I am with the disciples in this scene. I would have been panicking, too, when it says the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. I would be thinking, if there is any time to be panicking, now is the time. Somebody wake Jesus up. First of all, I am amazed that Jesus could sleep through such a stormy scene. Then I share the terrified reaction of the disciples, when he speaks to the wind and waves, and they obey him. When somebody has that kind of power, we all tend to be scared of them. Storms can so suddenly appear in our life, that we immediately have a sense of panic. I don't know how to handle this situation. Even if we are connected to Jesus, we can still have that experience. The key is the disciples knew where to turn. They knew who to seek. I am guessing they didn't know exactly what he would do about it, but they had seen him heal people and cast demons out of them. Even when you do your storm prep work, there can still be times when you do not know what to do. Just remember the one you have been prepping with. Your personal worship option today is, join us in worship today as we continue this series on hope during the storms, and stay connected each day to the one who provides that hope.