SHORE SURE

Dear All of Us,

"Don't rock the boat!'

"OK, OK, I won't.

"But what the hell do I do 
when this damn boat 
is rock'n the hell out of me?"

That's about where 
we all are these days.
We're in the same boat,
getting swamped,
afraid of sinking,
and so longing for

   SHORE SAFE.

About now what scripture 
do you suspect 
we need to let soak in?

You're right!
The disciples freaking out
because they and their boat 
threaten to go under 
in a violent storm.

    A furious squall came up, 
    and waves broke over the boat, 
    so that it was nearly swamped.

Where's Jesus?
He's snoozing in the stern
(what a nervous system).

The crew did what the storm didn't.
They woke Jesus up.

      "Lord save us!
      We are going to drown!"
      He woke up 
      and rebuked the wind,
      and said to the sea, 
      "Peace! Be still!"

Then Jesus had something 
to say to the disciples,
and quite frankly, 
to us in our current 
turbulence and peril.

       "Why are you so afraid?
        Do you still have no faith?"

The reaction of that boat load 
of shaken sailors and hopefully 
of our crew today?

         And they were filled 
         with great awe, 
         and said to one another,
         "Who is this , 
         that even the wind 
         and the sea obey him?"

( See Mark 4:37- 41 and Matthew 8:23-27)

With this Pan Problem 
we're all adrift at sea,
a rough and threatening one.
We're far from any

    SHORE SAFE.

We're swamped with uncertainty 
about health, even life.
We fear being drowned in
civil discord, unemployment,
a social distancing 
that separates for body safety
and endangers psyche and social cohesion.
Adrift in this boat battered to breaking,
we too want Jesus up and at'em.
We want him to act, 
to "peace" things to "still".
But we don't seem able to rouse him,
to get him to do what we want.

Actually, it's we who need to wake up.
Jesus is in this thing with us,
this boat load of danger.
We have his back and all the rest of him.
He wants the same from us.
That's faith - 
trust to the point of commitment 
and commitment to the point of union. 
In these rough seas, 
anything less will mean
horrid sea sickness,
being swamped by fear,
drowning in despair.
Faith is a fate and life shared.
The boat may be overwhelmed,
but we aren't because 
we have caught on that 
Jesus is with us no matter 
the severity and turbulence 
of our transit.
He's got a way of dealing with it.
We don't dictate the watch when
his "peace" will "still", bringing  us 
deliverance and destination, 
bringing us to
          
          SHORE SAFE.

Jesus may seem to be asleep on us,
but here he is in the stern of our transit.
He's with us.
Are we with him?
Will we trust him
to the point of commitment, 
a commitment that takes us 
to the point of union?
Faith doesn't make 
danger or difficulty go away.
It gets us through them. 
The furor of the moment
really roughs us up, 
toss us all over the place,
but won't sink us.

Faithless fear will. 

Fear there is.
This is a rough row
and will be for quite a while.
Faith it is that will 
power through fear
all the way to

            Shore Safe.

Let's all pray each other faithful.

    In the boat with all of us,

           John Frank

             ******


                                   SPECIAL EDITION

                                               OF

                                 "frankly speaking"

                                     NEXT WEEK


Quite different

       Hopefully A Positive Plus

                        A Tickle Or Two

                                 Encouraging

                                      Unique For Sure


                   Yep! right here next posting.

                   Goes Online Thursday, April 30th.

                   Will be up for a week, until May 7th.

   

                     FOR SURE PLEASE JOIN IN.

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               EVEN YOUR MOTHER-IN-LAW.



                                                ******


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                         "frankly speaking"

                     spirituality for the street

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                           ******


                  SEE YOU NEXT WEEK!!

                    WE'RE GONNA HAVE A GOOD TIME!!

         BE SURE TO BRING OTHERS ALONG WITH YOU!!


                          **********************