It is I

It is I

there were the disciples

a boat

a storm

and someone walking towards them in the storm

the ones in the boat were fishermen, and so used to the water and storms  ... they were trying their best to get through the storm by doing what they had always done in the past ... rowing and rowing and rowing ... but "were not making headway".   it does not say they were frightened by the storm ... they were frightened by what they saw in the storm .... someone approaching them right in the storm ....and when this someone was invited into their boat ("they were willing to take him in") they immediately reached shore ... where their feet would be on solid ground, a place of safety, a place where the storm could not affect them, a place where they could rest from their efforts .....

how often do we ask that the storm cease?  that the winds and waves would stop?   so busy "rowing " hard that we miss noticing the one right in the midst of the raging winds and swirling waters .... there is no need to ask that the storm be stopped ... the only need is to invite Him into the circumstance, to be close with us in the swirling and the raging, and we, too, will reach shore with our feet on solid ground .....

is it possible sometimes we are frightened by the very thing that could bring us peace and safety ?

is it possible to stop and be still in the midst of a storm and dare to look right into it to find one walking towards us, waiting to be invited in?

is our fear so loud we could miss hearing "it is I" ?

just pondering a bit .....

marked by His cross

 Today I was making hot cross buns ... something I enjoy doing and have done many many times but today was different .... perhaps because right now the fire of my life is pretty intense .... First one must mix up the dough, and then let it rise (mature?)... once that step is completed, the dough is broken apart and shaped into individual buns ... again, the dough is allowed to sit (further maturing?) .. after the appropriate time, the oven (fire) is heated ... as the desired temperature is reached, one takes a knife and cuts a cross into the top of each bun ... the knife must not simply slide along the surface of the dough, it actually has to cut a bit into the dough ..... the buns are then placed into the hot oven to bake ... this baking forever imprints the shape of the cross in the dough and the buns come out marked and ready to eat. 

and is not this just like life with Jesus .... 

He takes the clay of us, shapes us, lets us mature a bit, marks us with His cross, sets us in the fire of life which burns off any impurities and we come out forever marked by Him ... His cross ....so that we can then feed others ...