Calm in the Middle of…

July 26, 2023

I have about thirty photos I look through each time I begin a blog post. Well, there are thirty at the time I write this post. I move the images to another folder after I use them. The photos are set up to view as a gallery, so I just scroll through each of them and wait for God to place a thought on my heart. Sometimes I have to scroll back and forth many times and sometimes I have to walk away and come back later.

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This picture has captured my attention almost more than any other one for the last six months or so. I’ve never been impressed with a thought or message. It’s just that for some reason, I want to linger over the photo. If you walked up behind me and asked what I was thinking, I wouldn’t know what to say.

Until this time.

This time I looked at the image and thought, “How calm.”

Believe me, the Parisian streets were not calm that day. There were mopeds, cars, bicycles, and tour buses all jockeying for the perfect place in the most advantageous lane. The mopeds were the most active. I may write a post about this in the future, but at every stoplight they passed the other vehicles and bunched up at the front of the line, first to go when the light turned green. I’m glad we don’t have that practice here at home, though I’ve seen some locally do just that. But in France, we’re talking ten to twenty mopeds all at the same time—at every light.

While the tourists on the double-decker bus busied themselves with maps, conversation, photography, and pointing out their favorite sights. And while at the same time all the traffic jostled for position. And while pedestrians hurried from shop to shop. This gentleman calmly watched the world go by.

His calm demeanor reminds me of the time Jesus calmed the sea.

Mark 4 tells the story of Jesus and His disciples crossing the Sea of Galilee. The trip was fine until a furious squall came up. The storm was so fierce the Bible tells us waves broke over the boat, nearly capsizing it.

The disciples became fearful, so they approached Jesus, who was asleep in the stern, on a cushion. You know the boat had to be rocking if waves were crashing over it and almost filling it with water. And Jesus slept through it.

The disciples woke Him and asked if He even cared that they were going to drown.

“He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.” (Mark 4:39, NIV)

That scene, where Jesus with just a few words, commands a raging storm to be quiet and still is amazing in and of itself. A miracle by the miracle worker no doubt.

But, even more amazing is His teaching to the disciples. He follows his calming with this question.

“Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” (Mark 4:40)

We should be astounded by knowing that this man, Jesus, who was also God, walked here on earth with humanity. He performed miracle after miracle, all while the world around Him clamored after Him for a miracle on their behalf or frantically tried to find ways to get rid of Him.

But more than being astounded by His miracles, we should be humbled that He taught those around Him to find their calmness through faith in Him. Like the gentleman in the photo, we have to step away from whatever is going on around us and place our trust in someone bigger. That way, no matter what is happening, we can experience His calm in our lives.