Thanks for the Memories

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One of the constant struggles I've had in my Christian life is what I call "selective memory". That is, when I'm faced with a trial in my life, I worry whether God can or will be able to help me with it even though he has done so over and over again. It's seems so easy to hang onto the pain and trials from the past, but hard to hold onto the victories Christ has given me.

The truth is, the disciples struggled with the same thing. In Mark 8, we come across an amazing case of "selective memory". Earlier in the Bible account, Jesus has performed the miraculous and fed five thousand people with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. The disciples not only witnessed it, but they collected 12 additional baskets of bread when it was over! Now, in Mark 8, here they are with four thousand hungry people and would you believe the disciples are wondering what to do? Jesus tells them that the people need to be fed and their answer is amazing, "But where in this remote place can anyone get enough bread to feed them?" Huh? Are they kidding? Isn't this like deja vu' to them? When I read it, I often think I would say, "Hey, let's give him a muffin and see what he does with that!" Ha! But instead, the disciples selectively forget what Christ can do. Jesus chastises them in verses 17 & 18 for their selective memory, "Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don't you remember?"

While it's easy to criticize and poke fun at the disciples expense as we look at the situation 2000 years later, in reality, we are no different. When difficulties come, we question him yet again. What we need to do is to REMEMBER. Remember when you accepted Christ as your savior, and the feeling of completeness that rushed into your soul? Remember the times that God stepped into your life and/or the lives of your family and friends in a way that was unmistakable? Remember how God saw you through a difficult situation where you thought there was no way out? The Bible says in Hebrews 13:8 that "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." That means that he can and will do all those things again and more if we simply put our trust in him.

No matter what struggles you're facing today, he can still bring miracles into your life. All we need to do is hang on to the memories and expect His best!

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Walking on the Water

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Every time I read the story of Jesus walking on the water, I'm fascinated! It's an incredible story and so many books have been written about it alone including John Ortberg's best seller, "If You Want To Walk On Water, You Have To Get Out Of The Boat". (Awesome book by the way.)

But while it's often looked at as a story of one of Jesus' miracles, the real power in the story for me is not about Jesus, but about watching Peter. In other words, the question this story answers is not "Does Jesus have power?", but "Can the power of God impact ME, in my life?" Watching Peter step out of the boat and walk on the water with Jesus... the answer is "Yes" and the story provides clear perspectives on what we must do to receive that power.

Many of those perspectives are obvious and have been discussed before, such as:

• You have to be willing to step out in faith (get out of the boat)
• You have to keep your eyes on Jesus only.
• Etc.

But a different one hit me today. You have to always be looking for Jesus in your situations. The scripture tells us that Jesus "... saw his disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them." (Mk 6:48) In other words, they were in a fierce struggle for their lives and were simply focused on surviving it. However, in the midst of the storm, Jesus came walking. Actually, the Bible account tells us that "He was about to pass by them..." when they saw him, and if they hadn't looked up, they might have missed it.

Sometimes, we struggle in life and it's hard to understand why? Even though we've been faithful to trust in Him in our lives, we find ourselves "straining at the oars" to stay afloat. At those times, no matter how hard we look for answers, try to find ways out of the situation or rationalize the reasons, we need to always be checking the horizon for Jesus. This story gives us peace that He knows our struggle and that if we seek Him, He will come, even if it's not until the "fourth watch of the night".

Whatever you're struggling and straining with in your life, don't let Jesus pass you by... keep your eyes on the horizon, and get ready to climb out of the boat.

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