THINK TOGETHER.
Have you ever been in a scary storm?
READ TOGETHER.
John 6:16-21. 16When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, 17got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. 18The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. 19When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were frightened. 20But he said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.” 21Then they were glad to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.
If you’ve ever seen a really bad storm, you know how scary they can be. I remember driving through a really bad wind and rain storm a couple years ago. I couldn’t see where I was driving, and branches were falling off trees. But at least I was on land, and in a car. Jesus’ disciples get caught in a storm on the sea, in a boat. You know it must have been a pretty bad storm for it to scare a bunch of fisherman.
But what was really scary was when they saw Jesus walking toward them ON THE SEA! In Mark’s gospel it says that they thought he was a ghost. A ghost, in a terrible storm, on the sea. That’s a lot to be scared of all at once. Have you ever been that scared? What do you do when you are scared?
One of the things that you can do when you are afraid is to confront your fear. Do you know what that means? That means that you face it head on, not running away from it, but walking toward it. And that is exactly what Peter did. Matthew’s gospel includes this part of the story:
Matthew 14:28-33. 28And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” 29He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. 30But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” 31Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” 32And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. 33And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”
Peter tried to face his fear by getting out of the boat and walking toward Jesus, but when the wind and waves got too big he became even more afraid and started sinking. That’s when he prayed the best prayer ever – Lord save me. You see, that’s how we really confront our fear, not by running into it (that can help sometimes), but by learning to trust Jesus in the middle of our fear. When we trust in Jesus and he becomes our Savior, he lives inside of us and is always with us, in every storm, and in every scary thing we face.
Remember, Jesus doesn’t always stop the storms, but he is always with us IN the storm.
Because of Jesus we are never alone in the storm.
With Jesus we don’t have to be afraid in the storm.
DO SOMETHING TOGETHER
Act out your fears. Have everyone think of something that they are afraid of and then act it out for the others like in a game of charades. Can you guess each other’s fears? Does Jesus already know all your fears? Is he always with you in your fears?
PRAY TOGETHER
Jesus, you always with me no matter what. Help me to trust you, even in the scary storms. Amen.
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