Thought for March 11

 History:

  • 1669: Mt Etna erupts killing 15,000
  • 1774: Sotheby's holds its first auction
  • 1824: Bureau of Indian Affairs created
  • 1892: First public basketball game
  • 1918: Private Albert Gitchell is first documented case of Spanish flu in US
  • 1942: First deportation train leaves Paris for Auschwitz
  • 1958: Charles Van Doren loses on "Twenty One" after inning $129,000--later proved to be fixed
  • 1958: American League requires batting helmets
  • 1983: Scott Hamilton wins World Figure Skating Championship
  • 1966: NFL adopts instant replay
  • 2020: Covid proclaimed a pandemic
  • Born: Shemp Howard, Ralph Abernathy, Rupert Murdoch, Bobby McFerrin [Don't Worry Be Happy], Douglas Adams ["Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"], Becky Hammond [1st woman to coach an NBA team]
  • Died: Alexander Fleming [penicillin], Oscar Mayer, Earl Stanley Gardner, Whitney Young, Vince Edwards, Betty Hutton, Merlin Olsen
Thought:
Yesterday, I was focused on Matthew 8:13 and the faith of the centurion. On the same page in my Bible is the story of the storm at sea [8:23-27]. The other synoptic Gospels also describe this event. Jesus is in the boat with the disciples and goes to sleep. A storm arises on the sea, the waves and wind are fierce and the boat begins to take on water--yet Jesus sleeps. Finally the disciples wake Jesus up. Reading all the accounts, they say, save us, we are perishing, don't you care. Jesus calms the storm by saying "hush".  Now look at 8:26-27 for the responses of Jesus and the disciples:
  • Jesus has rebuked the wind and waves and then He rebukes the disciples--why are you timid, where is your faith? 
  • The disciples response is they marveled and ask---what kind of man is this? 
Interesting that yesterday, the centurion had faith and Jesus marveled. Today, the disciples have no faith and when Jesus acts, they marvel. The centurion was not surprised when Jesus spoke and the servant was healed. The disciples, those that are following Jesus every day, see Jesus speak and the wind and waves obey and they don't understand. The centurion understood authority---the disciples do not. The centurion knew what kind of man Jesus was, the disciples don't understand. 

This little story causes me to ask myself:
  • Am I timid or bold? Do I exercise the faith I have? Do I trust Jesus and His promises, really trust?
  • Does Jesus have to ask me, "where is your faith." I have said before that a child has faith--a child that cannot swim will jump into the deep end of the pool if their father or mother is there and promises "I will catch you." Do I have the faith of a child to believe God's promises? 
  • Do I really understand who Jesus is? The disciples thought He was a man who could calm the sea--I think He is God who made the sea. Does that change how I respond to His word, His commands, His calling? 
If a mustard seed of faith can move mountains, just imagine what a mountain of faith could do. Lord, increase our faith and help our unbelief, fear and doubt. We marvel at Your love, grace, mercy, power, patience--let me live so that You can see that I have faith in You.

Blessings
Larry

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