Master Strokes (Twelfth Ordinary)

Jesus said to the sea, “Peace! Be Still!” Then the wind ceased, and there was dead calm. He said to them,

“Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith”. (Mark 4: 39 – 40)

My sister who lives in the apartment below me, called to say she was hearing weird noises with her washing machine. “It seems like water is flowing out somewhere, but I don’t see any leaks. Can you come take a look?” It was nearly midnight. Reluctantly I crawled out of bed. My husband and daughter were fast asleep.

On entering her apartment, I immediately heard a loud swooshing sound like a waterfall. I started to investigate and eventually entered the bedroom adjacent to the laundry. I pulled the bed away from the wall, and – Holy Moses! – there, gushing straight from the wall, was a massive Jetstream. I had never seen anything like it.

Without saying a word, I walked out of the room and up the stairs. My sister didn’t even question my actions. We both knew it was time for extreme measures. I walked into my bedroom and nudged my husband, “Honey, there is water shooting out of the wall downstairs. Can you please come and take a look?”

“Oh, for crying out loud,” he said, or, ahem, stronger words to that effect ( I had just broken a cardinal family rule not to wake Daddy). He put on his slippers, walked downstairs, looked at the wall, went out to the backyard, turned off the water, went to the laundry, pulled out the washing machine, saw that a hose had cracked from wear (which had forced water to shoot through the drywall into the room beyond), replaced the house with a new one (that we just happened to have), pushed the machine back, walked upstairs, and went back to bed. All this was achieved in under 30 minutes.

Sometimes, when the storm arises and the boat is rocking, you have to wake the master.

When has the Lord calmed the stormy seas of your life?

What fear would you like the Lord to help you overcome?

All posts