“On the same day, when evening had come, He said to them, ‘Let us cross over to the other side.’” Mark 4:35

 Destination: Other Side

Walk His Way Revisited

Q: Why did the disciples cross the sea?

A: To get to the other side.

When I was about ten, my mother married a boating enthusiast. He owned a boat that sat on a trailer in our front yard. It looked enormous in that setting, but when we launched it into the deep, dark ocean waters, it morphed into a tiny, unsafe bobber on a fishing line.

On the weekends we would pack sandwiches and Kool-Aid and head out, pulling our home-away-from-home behind us. We’d launch the boat, steer it out into the middle of the deep, turn off the engines, and sit there while my stepfather and brother fished.

One day, the bilges that pump water out of the engine compartment stopped working. We began to take on water; my mother fretted. We kids and my mom began bailing with pots and Dixie cups, while my stepfather told us again and again that we were fine—no worries!—and tried to rig up some kind of fix. Fuel fumes swirled around our dizzy heads. We headed for the nearest harbor, which was a long way from where we’d started, all the while fearfully bailing. The waves were higher than I’d ever remembered them, the swells deeper, the seasickness more forceful. Seagulls cried overhead; to me, they were vultures, just waiting for us to perish. There was nothing to do except…keep going, keep trying.

Because of this experience, I relate to the disciples in the boat with a sleeping Jesus. Jesus had been teaching the multitudes from a boat just offshore, while all the people sat or stood on the shore to hear Him. At some point, Jesus decided it was time to go to the Other Side and they sailed away. A storm arose, causing great fear, and Jesus calmly slept in the stern (that’s the back end). The waves began to fill the boat with water (no bilge pumps or Dixie cups) and they became very afraid.

Fear can make you say things you don’t mean. The disciples said to Jesus, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” (verse 38). You know the story: Jesus, unafraid, caring very much, and in full confidence of arriving at the Other Side, spoke peace into the storm, and it obeyed Him.

Why did Jesus want to set out, even though He surely knew a storm was coming? Because, although the Other Side was the destination, there were teaching events along the way. The storm was a situation that would require intense prayer, that would give a desire for deliverance, that would convince them they desperately needed a Savior, and how completely unable they were to deliver themselves. The storm was a situation that not only proved His power, but proved to them how much He cared for them.

If Jesus has allowed a storm in your life, learn to pray intensely. Identify your desire for deliverance. Know that you need a Savior, and watch to see His hand of love as He brings you to the Other Side, the destination He knew you were headed for at the very beginning.

Jesus, we know that You are working a greater work in us than just arrival at the Other Side, the Gates of Heaven. Speak peace into our storms—when we have learned our lessons. Amen.