Today’s post is from my new book Love Like Jesus: How Jesus Loved People (and how you can love like Jesus). Last Saturday we posted Chapter 23: Love Like Jesus — Even If It Disrupts Your Sabbath. Love Like Jesus is due to be published in January of 2020.

And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.

Mark 4:37-39

A Storm Hits a Wedding Ceremony

I went to this wedding once where the person who took charge of planning the event had a beautiful vision for it. It was going to happen outside, and it was going to be done in a very particular way so as to make the setting spectacular. The only thing was, the entire plan was geared for the outdoors. It was arranged to happen outside, so the wedding and reception depended on dry calm weather. And whenever the person who was planning this thing was asked what she would do if it rained, she simply said: It won’t rain.

Well, guess what?

A storm arose, and it rained.

And the weather outside wasn’t the only storm that day. With no indoor venue or arrangements made whatsoever, the wedding planner just shut down. Panic ensued as the bride, the bride’s mother, and many others frantically attempted to pull something together.

Then in stepped these two women who were friends of the bride’s mother. In a very gentle and gracious manner they just sort of took over. They found a gym they could use at a Christian high school. They figured out how to arrange the outdoor tables and chairs to accommodate the guests, even though the gym was a much smaller venue than expected. They found a place for the caterer to set up. They improvised with the decorations designed for the outdoors. They were amazing.

It wasn’t long after these two engaged the problem that the storm subsided and a calm came over the bride and the rest of the wedding party.

How Jesus Loved People

When the disciples took Jesus across the sea of Galilee, and the storm came, there was panic. The disciples in the boat were terror-stricken — because of a storm — so Jesus calmed it.

How to Love Like Jesus

Jesus loved the disciples by calming their storm. You and I can’t command the wind and the waves, but there are other storms we can calm.

Just like Jesus, God has put you in a boat with a group of people. They’re the ones in your family, in your workplace, in your circle of friends. And just like the disciples in the boat, they’ll experience storms. And sometimes, like the two ladies at the wedding, you’ll have the power to calm those storms.

When someone you know is panicked, maybe you’re just the right person to bring them peace. Maybe their storm is a computer that’s down, or a car that won’t start, or the end of a relationship, or the loss of a job.

You just might be uniquely qualified to calm the wind and the waves.

Jesus calmed the storm for his disciples.

When you see an opportunity to help someone who’s panicked, engage the problem and calm their storm.

That’s how Jesus loved people.

That’s how you can love like Jesus.

Notes:

Wedding setup image via D.L. – Creative Commons