Johnny's Adventure

Johnny left this morning for his trip to India. He will be preaching and teaching at a pastor's conference while he is there. I am so excited for him to go. I can't wait to hear what it's like there and for him to share with believers from another culture. It makes me really excited about my upcoming trip to that part of the world as well. It was hilarious, however, when I was helping him pack his suitcase last night. I love to go new places and try new kinds of foods. There have been very few places that had foods that I just could not eat. I didn't particularly care for octopus that I had both times I went to Greece and I had an allergic reaction to something I ate in Italy. However, I once had a hoagie sandwich at preteen camp that I just could not eat...I still almost gag everytime I think about it. And that was in the great state of Texas. Thank goodness for good 'ole PB&J! Anyway, Johnny's suitcase is full of crackers and pop tarts and snacks so he won't go hungry!! I can think of a lot of things I would eat in a foreign country before I would eat a pop tart, though!

So, here I am, sitting at my computer. I have been researching for my exegetical paper and making notes but it's time for me to start writing the paper and putting it together. It's on Mark 4:35-41, also looking at the same story in comparison from Matthew and Luke. Jesus had been teaching, healing, and teaching in parables. They were up at the Sea of Galilee. In Mark 3:9 Jesus told the disciples to have a boat ready because of the crowds. Sometimes He used the boat to teach and sometimes He used it to get away from the crowds. Either way, it was evening and Jesus got into the boat with His disciples to go to the other side of the lake. Jesus was tired, because while He was all God He put on the restrictions of humanity and He needed to rest, so Jesus went to sleep. It must have been a sound sleep because a storm rose up so violent that the disciples feared the boat might sink. When I was in Israel I saw a boat that was preserved that could have been about like a 1st century fishing boat. It wasn't very big and some mighty waves could certainly have begun to fill the boat up with water. The questions of the disciples, "Don't You care?" and then when He had calmed the sea, "Who is this that even the wind and sea obey?" Who is this, maybe they asked, that heals the sick and lame and demon possessed? Who is this that seems to know our needs and answer before we even ask? I am getting away from the text but here's my point: the disciples had already seen Jesus do some pretty amazing things and still they had doubts. They didn't really fully get it until after the resurrection. That comforts me in a crazy sort of way. God has done some pretty amazing things in my life. He definitely knows my need and answers my prayers when I call on His name. Yet, sometimes, I doubt. I don't doubt that He's real or that He's redeemed me or that He spoke and it was or that He is sovereign over all the earth. It's in the little things...that Josh's broken heart will mend, that Jessica's disappointment will be filled with something else, that Jacob will find a way to make a difference in that kid's life, that I will be able to write my paper without Johnny...

So, I better get to it. The paper, that is. Pray for Johnny as you think of it over the next week and a half. Pray for safety and that he will have just the right words of encouragement from the Word to those he will meet.

Serving the King,

Jeanette