Room for Jesus’ Rest

God, where are you?

Do you even care?

God, I've been looking for a job for months and months and months,

and it seems like nothing is out there,

and I'm pretty sure that if I don't find a job soon,

my family is not going to be able to stay in our house

because we can't afford rent anymore.

Where are you?

God, we just got back from the doctors,

and the report doesn't look good.

And if it was my health, that'd be one thing,

but watching my kid have to go through that,

I don't know if I can handle this.

Do you even care, God?

I think these two questions, God, where are you,

and God, do you care,

are at the center of a lot of our questions to God and about God.

I would guess that pretty much everyone in this room

at some point in their lives has asked those questions

in some form or another.

God, where are you?

God, do you care?

There's questions that reveal to us the fact,

or that show the fact that we live in a broken world.

We're broken people surrounded by brokenness,

and we want a place of safety and a place of refuge

in the midst of that brokenness.

We cry out,

God, where are you?

And if you're here,

do you care?

Do you care about these storms

that are happening in our lives?

Are you with us through them?

And in the Christmas season,

these questions become even more pronounced

because we talk about things like hope and peace

and love and joy.

And they're such wonderful, beautiful ideas,

but for so many people in our world,

they're things that are dreams and not realities.

And yet, the Bible tells us

that there's something that happened,

something amazing that happened on Christmas.

that can give us true love, joy, hope, peace.

And so today, we're going to look at a story

from the book of Mark that you just heard read

about Jesus and his disciples on a boat.

And we're going to hear his disciples ask the same question,

do you even care?

And we're going to see what Jesus' answer to them is

and how that connects to our lives today.

And spoiler alert, he does care,

and that makes a huge difference.

So my name is Eric.

Welcome to Watermark Church.

We're so glad to have you here with us today.

If you have your Bible or bulletin,

you can flip open to the story.

And the first thing I want us to see in this story

about Jesus and the disciples on the boat

is a set of contrasting reactions.

Contrasting reactions.

So if you're following the storyline,

Jesus has been teaching.

He's been teaching and teaching and teaching.

There's so many crowds that he has to go out

on a boat on the lake

so that he can speak to the crowds

and not get smushed or wet.

And he finishes teaching,

and he says to his disciples,

all right, let's go across the other side of the lake.

You know, the crowds are exhausting.

Let's get some rest.

Let's go away.

And the disciples say, all right.

The disciples, they're Jesus' followers.

A lot of them are fishermen.

They know this lake like the back of their hand.

A lot of them have spent thousands of nights

out on this exact lake fishing again and again and again.

And so for them, a trip across shouldn't be a big deal.

Jesus says, let's get in the boat.

Let's go across.

They say, sure.

They head out to sea.

And as they get to sea, a great storm hits.

Now, like I said, these guys were fishermen.

They had been in the sea before.

They had probably faced lots of storms before.

They were experienced in facing storms.

But this one wasn't just any storm.

It was a great storm, a furious storm.

I think in life, each of us faces storms.

Each of us faces difficulties and issues and problems,

whether that's in our job, in our relationships.

Jesus and his disciples on the boat, they faced a literal storm.

There was rain splashing down from the sky.

There were waves that were crashing over the edge of the boat.

The boat was getting full of water.

And the disciples were doing everything they possibly could to keep the boat upright and keep everyone on it alive.

They, obviously, are terrified, as I think any of us would be in that situation.

When we think about boats today, we think about, like, huge cruise liners that can face any storm.

These guys were not on that.

They were on a fishing boat that was maybe as long as this stage right here and made out of wood.

And there were waves coming up, crashing over.

I'm sure they thought it was just a matter of time until one of the waves split their boat in half.

They were scrambling.

They were panicking.

They were afraid.

Can you relate to the disciples?

Being in a situation in life where you're doing everything you can to fix it, to make it better.

And yet, no matter how hard you try, it seems like it just keeps getting worse.

And there is nothing that you are able to do to fix it.

And yet, they keep trying and keep trying.

And if we look, we see a contrasting reaction in Jesus.

The disciples are panicked.

The disciples are rushing and hurrying and trying to make everything better.

And Jesus is napping.

How is he able to do that?

That's my big question when I read this story.

How on earth is Jesus able to nap in this situation?

For me, I remember when we first got married, my wife and I had a big discussion because I love blackout curtains in the bedroom.

Because I like it pitch black when I sleep.

I like quiet and dark and calm and a soft mattress.

No commotion.

No waves splashing in on me.

No people running around screaming.

No my life being in danger.

I like blackout curtains.

I like blackout curtains.

I like a soft mattress underneath me.

Jesus did not have those things on the boat.

And yet, he was sleeping calmly.

How is he able to do that?

When I think about my life, back to my desire for comfort when I sleep, I realize that as much as the environment and the darkness and the quiet helps me sleep,

there's actually one much bigger thing that can get in the way of me sleeping.

Stress and anxiety.

If I have a fight with a friend, I can lay in bed awake for hours.

Replaying the conversation in my head over and over.

I should have said this.

Can't believe I said that.

Next time, I'm going to fix it.

Next time I see this friend.

Maybe I should give them a call right now.

No, they're probably asleep.

Maybe I'll call them first thing in the morning tomorrow.

But then when I call them, what should I say?

And I replay everything in my head over and over and over because I'm stressed and I'm anxious.

And stress and anxiety get in my way of sleeping.

And I think something that we realize when we look at this story is the disciples are stressed and anxious.

They're running around.

They're afraid.

They're trying to save their boat.

And Jesus, in contrast to the disciples, has peace.

He has rest in the midst of this raging, furious, massive storm.

If you look at the original language, the word used to describe the storm is mega.

It's a mega storm.

And he's asleep on the boat.

Because he has perfect faith in God's provision and protection of him during that time.

When we were little kids, my brothers and I, we'd sleep in our beds.

And in the middle of the night, if we woke up and we were scared, we would walk down to mom and dad's room.

And we'd walk in there and we'd have our blanket and our pillow with us.

We'd lie down on the floor next to them.

And we'd be able to fall asleep.

Even though it was less comfortable than our beds, we were around the most powerful people that we knew.

And we knew that the most powerful people we knew loved us and would protect us in that moment.

And so even though we were in less than ideal circumstances, we were on a hard floor instead of a soft bed,

we were able to sleep soundly.

Because we knew that we were safe and protected in the presence of mom and dad.

And I think that's exactly what is happening with Jesus on the boat right here.

The disciples are panicked.

They don't know where God is right now.

They don't know whether God cares about them.

But Jesus does.

Jesus knows that God has perfect love for him.

And so he's able to lie down and sleep in the midst of the storm.

While the disciples have a wrong reaction that leads to desperation,

Jesus has a right understanding of God's love for him

that allows him to lie down and get rest in the midst of the greatest storm that anyone on that boat had ever faced.

And this contrasting reaction leads to a confused question.

Because when the disciples look at Jesus' rest,

they don't see perfect faith.

They don't see confidence in God's provision.

They see apathy.

They look at Jesus and they don't think,

oh, he's resting perfectly in God's love.

They think he doesn't care about what happens to us.

He doesn't care if we die.

He just cares about his nap.

And they go to him and they wake him.

And they yell out,

teacher, don't you care that we're all going to die?

Now this is a ridiculous scenario, just by the way.

The disciples are fishermen.

They've been on this sea thousands of times.

They've faced plenty of storms.

They know what they're doing on the water.

Jesus was trained as a carpenter.

And in the storm,

the fishermen on the boat

come to get the carpenter to help them save the boat.

If you want a little modern equivalent of this,

imagine that you work on the trading floor at HSBC.

And you look at your computer screen

and all of a sudden everything goes red.

And the markets are crashing

and you have no idea what to do.

And they're going down, down, down.

And you're like,

surely they're going to fix themselves.

Any moment now, I hope?

And they don't.

They keep going down, down, down.

And I'm pretty sure in Hong Kong,

they have a fail-safe, right?

That if the market goes down a certain amount,

it's supposed to stop trading immediately.

But you reach the fail-safe point

and it just keeps going down, down, down.

The market's down 20%.

And you turn to your neighbor

and you're like, what's going on?

And they say, I don't know.

And you look back and it's down 30%.

And you try everything you can figure out

to save your portfolio

as you watch everything that you've been building up

crumble to pieces.

And then you think, I know what to do.

I'm going to call Tobin.

He can fix this.

That's what the disciples did on the boat.

The fishermen call up the carpenter

to come save their boat.

It's like the banker calling up the pastor

to say, hey, fix this market crash.

But here's the difference.

The disciples knew that there was something special

about Jesus.

They knew that he was powerful

in a way that none of them were.

They knew that there was something unique about him

that none of them had going for them.

But you notice when they ask their question,

they don't actually come to him

and ask for help at first.

They don't come and say, hey,

can you do something about this situation?

No, they come to him and they ask him

the much more pressing question on their hearts,

do you even care?

Jesus, look at this situation.

We're about to die.

And how can you sleep through this?

We thought you loved us.

But now we know that maybe you don't.

Because if you truly loved us,

you'd obviously be doing something right now.

They misinterpreted his response of faith

as a response of apathy.

And because of that,

they didn't turn to him for help.

They turned to him to find out

whether he actually cared.

And because they weren't confident

of Jesus' love for them,

because they weren't confident

about the fact that Jesus cared about them,

they were scrambling around in fear,

anxiety, and stress,

trying to fix the situation

rather than turning to him,

which would have been the simple solution

if they had known that he cared about them.

I think the same thing happens to us a lot of times.

Something goes wrong at work.

We maybe say like,

God, please do something.

And then we figure,

he's not going to handle it.

I got to do this on my own.

And we go out,

and we spend 90 hours a week at the office

for the next couple weeks

to try and fix everything that's just gone wrong.

We don't trust that God's going to be good

and that God's going to care for us.

And we think,

I have to take everything into my own hands.

I have to fix it on my own.

And so we take it into our own hands,

and we don't turn to God to help us.

We act just like the disciples,

scrambling in fear and anxiety,

rather than like Jesus,

learning to rest in God's perfect care for us.

And so the disciples,

because they don't recognize Jesus cared for them,

come to him,

and they ask him the crucial question,

do you even care?

There's a problem with their question.

The problem with their question

is that they ignored the fact

that Jesus was on the boat with them.

Think about it.

Jesus is on the boat with them.

Which means even if we were in some hypothetical world

where he didn't care at all

about any of the other people on the boat,

he still cares about what happens to the boat

because whatever happens to the boat

is going to happen to him too.

By climbing onto the boat with the disciples,

Jesus has linked his fate to their fate

so that whatever happens to them

happens to him as well.

And he has to care about what happens to them

because he is on the boat with them.

The disciples question whether he cares for them

because they've forgotten the fact

that he is with them.

They lose sight of the fact that he cares about them

because they've lost sight of the fact

that he is with them.

You know, if he was standing on the shore

or if he was walking on the water

and this storm hit the boat,

maybe they'd have some grounds for asking if he cared.

But he's on the boat with them

when the storm hits.

His fate is tied to theirs.

He has to care about them

because he has become part of them

by stepping on the boat with them.

And so in response to the disciples' question,

do you even care?

Jesus gets up and he rebukes the wind and the waves.

He says, cut it out, and they do.

And it's not just that they slowly, gradually go away.

No, it stops.

The Bible says there was a great storm

and after Jesus says to calm down,

there is a great calm, a dead calm, a mega calm.

It's not just that the rain sort of stops.

But the rain stops, the wave stops,

the sea is as clear as glass.

You can look down and see your reflection perfectly

over the edge of the boat.

And then he turns around to the disciples.

He says, why are you afraid?

Have you still no faith?

Now put yourself in the disciples' shoes for a second.

They were just in a mega storm.

They were confident that they were going to die.

Fear is the logical response in that situation.

When you see waves bigger than your boat

crashing down on top of you,

fear is the natural response.

And yet the first thing Jesus says to his disciples

after they wake him up is,

why are you afraid?

I think underneath this is a bigger statement.

He's telling them, if you knew,

if you only knew that I was good,

and if you only knew that I cared for you,

then your response would not have been fear.

Your response would have been faith.

Rather than scrambling,

rather than trying and trying and trying desperately

and failing again and again and again

to save this boat,

you would have come to me

and I would have rescued you.

If you knew that I was good,

you would have turned to me

rather than turning to fear and anxiety.

You still haven't learned that.

Disciples,

when are you going to learn that I care desperately for you,

that I'm with you,

and I'm for you?

And I know this story happened 2,000 years ago

on a sea in a land that's thousands of miles away.

And that we here today could sit and listen to this story

and think, eh, what does that have to do with my life?

But the truth is that this story

has a deep continuing significance for our lives

because this story on a miniature level

is a picture of what Christ came to earth

to do.

Like I said,

the question the disciples asked

is one that basically all of us ask

at some point in our lives

in some way.

God,

do you actually care?

You care about me.

You care about the people I care about.

You care about the situations happening to us in life.

And maybe we don't ask the question in those words.

Maybe we don't actually ask or think the question out loud at all.

But we have actions

that reveal the fact

that we don't believe that God cares.

And so we do things like we calculate out

how much money do I need

to be financially secure for the rest of my life.

And then we add $2 million to that U.S.

and stick it in a bank account

just to be safe in case.

And we think,

okay,

now I'm safe

just in case.

When they announced that layoffs are coming up in our office,

in the weeks leading up to the layoff announcements,

we lose sleep

wondering what's going to happen

if my name is on the list

and I no longer have a job.

We lose sleep

because we don't believe

that God cares for us.

We don't believe

that he's good

and he's for us.

And what's true

of the disciples

and of Jesus on the boat

is true of us

in our world today as well.

Confident

trust

in God's goodness

and care for us

leads

to rest.

Confident

trust

in God's

goodness

and care for us

leads

to rest.

And failure

to trust

in God's

goodness

leads

to fear.

If you want

to know today

how you're doing

at learning to trust in God

or failing at that,

a simple question

you can ask yourself.

Is my life marked

more by fear

or by rest?

If you're a guy

and you don't like to admit

that you're ever afraid

of anything,

then you can substitute

out the word fear

for stress

and anxiety

and concern.

Is my life marked

more by stress,

anxiety,

and concern

or by rest?

Because stress,

anxiety,

fear,

concern

are all symptoms

of the fact

that we have hearts

that are failing

to trust

in God.

But there's a deeper

question here too.

And that question is,

can we know

that God cares for us?

Because it's useless

to know how to respond

when God cares for us

if we can't know

whether he cares for us.

And the thing

we need to remember

in response

to that question

is that what was true

of Jesus

and the disciples

on the boat

is also true

of us today.

That just as Jesus

was with the disciples

on the boat

and therefore

had to care about

what happened to them

because he was with them.

That Jesus

is with us

today.

Matthew chapter 1

Matthew 1 · chapter mention

in talking about

the Christmas story

says that his name

will be called

Emmanuel,

which means

God with us.

In John chapter 1

John 1 · chapter mention

it talks about

the word

and it says

the word was God,

the word was with God,

the word was in the beginning

with God,

the word made everything

and then it says

the word became flesh

and dwelt among us

and we have beheld

his glory,

glory as of the only begotten

of the Father,

full of grace and truth.

The word,

Jesus Christ,

came and took on flesh

as a human being,

as one of us

and he lived among us

as one of us.

On the boat

he had to care about

what happened to the disciples

because he was with them,

because he had linked

his fate to theirs

so whatever happened

to them

was going to happen

to him too.

And in the Bible

it tells us

that we as humanity

were created

by God

for a relationship

with him

and that each

and every one of us

rebelled against God

and said,

I want no part in this.

But each and every one of us

said,

God,

I'm wiser than you,

I'm smarter than you,

I know more than you,

I've got this,

leave me alone.

And that each and every one

of us

deserved

a punishment.

We deserved

a great storm

of God's wrath

against us

for our rebellion.

And in coming to earth,

Jesus

perfectly followed

and obeyed God.

As one of us,

he came

and the Bible

tells us

that on the cross

he bore

the great storm

of God's wrath

for us.

The greatest storm

that any of us

could ever have to face.

And it wasn't just

whatever happens

to you

happens to me also,

like on the boat.

But it was one step

further than that.

It was,

I am going

to bear this

so that

you don't have to.

His response

to us

when we ask

do you care

is even greater

than his response

to the disciples

on the boat.

How

could I not

care?

I'm with you.

I'm one of you.

I faced

the greatest

storm

for

you.

Because I love you.

Because

I care.

because I want you

to know

my great love

for you.

So what does this

look like

in our lives

on a practical level?

For one thing,

we're going to face

storms.

If you look

at this story,

Jesus actually

tells the disciples

to go out

onto the water.

He says,

let's get in the boat,

let's go.

He knew

there would be

a storm

that night.

I don't think

they did.

And yet

he leads them

into the storm.

Not because

he's evil,

not because

he's apathetic

about what

happens to them,

but because

there's some part

of his character

that he wants

them to see

that they will

never see

unless they go

through the storm

with him.

And so even

if we're

with Jesus

and even though

he cares for us,

we'll still

face storms,

but as we

face storms

in life,

he's with us

and he cares.

And so we can

have confident

rest through

the storms

knowing

that the greatest

storm of all

has been faced

by Jesus

for us.

And that in

these other

storms,

that he's with us.

That he's protecting

us.

that we can

turn to him

rather than

desperately trying

to fix it

all on our

own.

So we can

have rest.

It's interesting

in this story

that the ability

to rest,

like Tobin

said,

we always assume

that it's based

on our circumstances.

But you notice

Jesus and the

disciples were in

the exact same

circumstances.

Both of them

were on the

same boat.

Both of them

were being tossed

by the same

storm.

And yet Jesus

had rest

and the

disciples didn't.

Because Jesus

knew that God

was with him.

And the

disciples forgot.

And if you

had asked any

of the disciples

at that moment,

why are you

so afraid?

They would have

said,

duh,

look around you.

How could you

not be afraid?

We're afraid

because of this

storm.

But that was

a lie.

How do you

know that?

Look at the

last verse

of this passage.

It says,

after Jesus

has calmed

the storm,

and they

were filled

with great

fear,

and said

to one

another,

who then

is this

that even

the wind

and the sea

obey him?

When the

storm hits,

they're sure

that they are

going to die

and they are

scared.

When the

storm stops,

they know

that they are

safe and

they are

more scared

than they

were during

the storm.

The storm

was not

what caused

their fear.

If the storm

caused their

fear,

then number

one,

Jesus would

have been

afraid with

them,

and number

two,

their fear

would have

stopped as

soon as

the storm

stopped.

But there

was something

deeper going

on in

their hearts.

There was a

fundamental

lack of

faith in

Jesus'

care for

them,

an ability

to provide

for them,

and that

led to

fear.

great

fear,

even after

the storm

was gone.

And so

our ability

to face

the storms

in life

isn't based

on our

circumstances,

but rather

on whether

we know

that Jesus

is in

the boat

with us

through

every storm.

And I

know that

that's a

really abstract

concept,

so I want

to give a

couple more

concrete pictures

as we close

up,

of what

this could

look like

functionally

in our

lives on

a day-to-day

basis in

Hong Kong.

And the

first thing,

sleep.

I know it

sounds simple,

but I read

an article this

week published

in 2011.

They did a

scholarly study

of sleep

habits in

Hong Kong

and discovered

that almost

40% of

people in

Hong Kong

suffer from

insomnia.

insomnia.

That's 2.2

million people

in the city.

And they

found that

the leading

cause of

insomnia

among the

people surveyed

was perceived

stress in

their lives.

And a

really sad

stat about

this study is

they checked

some people's

religious beliefs

to see whether

being part of

a religion

increased or

decreased your

chances of

having insomnia.

And out of

the Christians

surveyed,

the people

surveyed who

identified

themselves as

Christians,

they were

actually more

likely than

the average

person in

Hong Kong

to suffer

from

insomnia.

Exactly.

Now those

stats would say

that in a

room this

size,

maybe about

80 people

suffer from

insomnia.

Most of

them because

of perceived

stress in

their lives.

things.

And I know

there are some

people who

have trouble

sleeping because

of physical

stuff.

Like I woke

up this

morning with

my nose all

congested and

my throat dry

and it was

before my

alarm went

off and it

was a pain.

I'm not

talking about

that.

But after I

woke up an

hour before my

alarm went

off and I

blew my nose

and I drank

some water,

I climbed back

in bed and I

lied down to

try and go back

to sleep for

that last hour.

And all of a

sudden, stuff for

the sermon today

started running

through my head.

and it took

me a while to

fall back asleep.

That's what I'm

talking about.

How many of

us lie in

bed at night

unable to

sleep because

we feel like

we have to

have control

of the world

in our

hands?

Because we

don't trust

that God is

good and that

God cares for

us.

In the middle

of the great

storm, Jesus

slept.

I think for

us, one of the

biggest signs that

we're starting to

understand this

concept of God

caring for us

will be sleeping

soundly through

the night.

The second

thing, rest.

I know this is

difficult in Hong

Kong.

We live in a

city where even

when you have a

day that you

don't have to go

into the office,

you're expected to

constantly be

available for

emails, to

constantly be on

call to come in

for emergency

situations.

situations.

And even if

your office

doesn't necessarily

say that they

expect it, a lot

of us just do

that anyways for

various reasons.

And even if you

don't do that, how

many of us on our

day off just have

our minds full of

things coming up in

the office in the

next week?

Of how we're going

to handle the

different tasks that

we have coming up?

We can't get it out

of our minds, our

work.

It consumes us.

We're with our

kids.

We're playing at the

playground, but we

have one hand pushing

the kid on the swing

and the other hand

checking email on the

phone to make sure

that we're not missing

out on anything from

the office.

We're with our

friends at the

coffee shop, but

instead of being able

to hang out, we're

just studying because

we have the exam coming

up so soon and we

need to be ready.

And what Jesus wants

us to learn in this

story is to rest, to

truly rest, not just

to step away but still

have our minds consumed

by everything going

on, everything stressing

us out in the world, but

to learn to let God

handle it.

You notice when the

disciples come to Jesus

on the boat, they say,

don't you care, we're

drowning.

He doesn't look at the

situation and say, oh,

good job, guys.

You kept us up for this

long, but don't worry, I

got it from here.

That's not his

response.

His response is, guys,

why?

Why did you try so hard

for so long rather than

coming to me in the

first place?

Why did you waste so

much energy on fear

rather than just come

to me?

I've been here the

entire time.

I've been waiting.

So I think us learning to

rest is a huge, huge

indicator that we're

starting to get this

concept.

And I know rest looks

different for different

people in different

phases of life.

Maybe if you have kids,

learning to rest means

putting away the cell

phone while you're

playing with them.

I know some people get

the shivers just thinking

about that idea.

But is God in charge?

Maybe for all of us,

that means putting away

electronics during our

time with God,

reading our Bibles.

Maybe if you're a student,

it means learning to

close the textbooks for a

couple hours and go do

something you enjoy with

your friends.

You know, I have a

friend who's doing a law

degree for fun.

And I know what you're

thinking.

Who does that?

That's my question too.

But I was teasing my

friend about doing this

law degree for fun because,

again, who does that?

And this friend told me

that they had actually

gotten a really,

really grade, like top

grade in their class on

one of their entire

classes.

And so I thought,

who does a law degree

for fun?

And out of those people,

who outperforms their

entire class of people

who want to be lawyers?

And I was giving my

friend a hard time,

understandably, for being

a bit of a nerd.

And my friend looked at

me and she said,

Eric, you don't

understand.

Everyone in that class

has incredible stress

because they want to be

lawyers and they feel

like the grade they get

in this class is going

to determine whether or

not they have a job in

the future.

And so every minute of

studying for them is an

intense pressure cooker

of trying to make sure

that they're secure for

the future.

They feel like their

entire future depends on

how they perform in this

exam.

For me, I'm just doing it

for fun.

So I don't care if I get a

good grade.

As long as I pass,

that's fine.

Which means that when I

study, I'm able to

actually enjoy it.

I'm able to have this

freedom and rest that no

one else can have.

And so when I take my

exam, I'm having fun.

I'm enjoying the material.

And they are so stressed

that they can't think

straight.

And so I'm able to get

better grades than all

of them.

And we laugh.

And then, you know what

we're going to do?

We're going to leave here

today and we're going to

go home and we're going

to stress about the

upcoming week.

But God is saying,

stop.

Stop stressing.

Stop worrying.

Learn to rest because I

care with you and I've

proven it by coming to be

with you.

That's what the story on

the boat is all about.

That Jesus has to care

because he's with the

disciples.

And that's what Christmas

is all about.

That God has to care

about us because he came

here to be one of us.

He came here to be with

us.

And so when we ask God,

where are you?

He says, I'm right there

with you.

And when we ask God, do

you care?

He says, of course I care.

How can I not?

I'm one of you.

If you have any doubts,

look to the manger.

Look to the cross.

Stop stressing.

Stop worrying.

Stop being afraid.

Learn to come to me.

Learn to sleep.

Learn to rest.

Let's pray.

Father, we thank you for

your great love for us.

We thank you for Jesus and

for the cross.

We thank you for the boat

and for the great

illustration of the fact

that you care for us.

Thank you for your power

to save.

Thank you for the fact that

you are with us through the

storms.

Even when we can't see you,

even when it feels like you're

apathetic, that you care

because you're with us.

God, I pray that each of us

this week would learn to trust

in your care for us.

that we would learn to see

that you're good,

that we would learn to sleep,

we would learn to rest,

that we would learn to stop

stressing, stop being anxious,

stop being afraid,

stop scrambling to try and

fix everything on our own.

Instead, learn to see

that you are a good God

and a good Father to us.

In Jesus' name, amen.

Amen.

Amen.