I need a gallon of milk and my ship is sinking!

April 29, 2014: I need a gallon of milk and my ship is sinking! Please "Share" this new Precious Prodigal Post: http://bit.ly/1ma1KjN

Mark 4:38 "...Master, carest thou not that we perish?"

Jeff and Judy were a young military couple, who were stationed in Germany at the same time as our family. He had been called to preach, and they came every weekend, staying in our apartment so he could preach at our small church on Sunday morning. It was a joy and a delight to have them there and to be a part of what God was doing. When we came home from Germany, we lost touch but then reconnected after many years.

As I read her long, chatty email, it was interesting to see how she remembered me. I smiled at her description of me surrounded (and sometimes overwhelmed) by six children. And I laughed out loud at her saying, “You were a one-woman pizzeria!” I remembered the fun of turning out a dozen or two homemade individual pizzas for our combined families. We had a regular assembly line going! Good times like that are fun to remember, aren’t they?

But one thing she shared convicted my heart and brought tears to my eyes. “Rita, I remember you used to pray about everything!” She recalled a time I realized we were out of milk so I prayed that God would remind my husband to bring some home. She told me she thought that was too small a “problem” to take to God and that she was astounded when my husband came through the door carrying two gallons of milk.

The disciples had something a lot more serious to worry about than whether they had milk. They were on the Sea of Galilee in the middle of a fierce storm, the waves had filled the ship, they were about to sink, and Jesus was asleep in the back of the ship. Pretty desperate circumstances, wouldn’t you agree? They didn’t wake Jesus by asking for help. They woke him with the question, “We’re dying here! Don’t you care?”

I remember those days when I relied on God to meet every need of my life, whether it was small or large. Somewhere along the line, though, I began to depend on myself…at least in the “little things.” I thought of that today when I read from Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening, “We need winds and tempests to exercise our faith, to tear off the rotten bough of self-dependence, and to root us more firmly in Christ.”

Did Jesus not care about them? He didn’t even dignify that with an answer except to ask why they were so fearful and without faith. I can assure you that Jesus did care. He cared for them, and He cares for you and me. Could it be the hard times that come are good for us because they remind us that all our problems are small to a God who breathed the universe into existence?

I don’t know what you’re facing today or what you are carrying. Maybe you need something as simple as a gallon of milk. Then again, your ship may be sinking, and you’re wondering whether you’ll make it. Oh, for that childlike faith…that confidence that God hears every prayer and calms every storm.

Challenge for Today: Can you, just for today, remind yourself that nothing in your life is too large for God, and nothing is too small?