Nov. 3, 2005

Rowing Into Darkness
Mark 4:34-41

As the ship battered crew near the end of their journey in The Voyage of the Dawn Trader they encounter The Dark Island. Their ship moves into total darkness which begins playing mind tricks with them. Just as they are beginning o go mad and give up on finding a way out of the darkness Lucy sees a sign of hope.

Lucy looked along the beam and presently saw something in it. At first it looked like a cross, then it looked like an aeroplane, then it looked like a kite, and at last with a whirring of wings it was right overhead and was an albatross. It circled three times round the mast and then perched for an instant on the crest of the gilded dragon at the prow. It called out in a strong sweet voice what seemed to be words though no one understood them…. But no one but Lucy knew that as it circled the mast it had whispered to her, “Courage, dear heart,” and the voice, she felt sure was Aslan’s, and with the voice a delicious smell breathed in her face. In a few moments the darkness turned into a grayness ahead, and then, almost before they dared to begin hoping, they had shot out into the sunlight and were in the warm blue world again.

Just as Aslan came and gave hope to Lucy and then lead the ship out of the darkness, Jesus in Mark 4 calms the storm when the disciples believe they are perishing. Jesus reminds the disciples to have faith, just as Aslan reminds Lucy to have courage.
The amazing thing about these stories is that we are reminded that although there are dark times and storms, Jesus is the one who will calm the storm and bring us into the sunshine again. Jesus is just asking us to have courage that he is in control. So, if you are in the midst of the storm, hold on and have faith.