Mark 4:35-41
The young baseball umpire just couldn't get it right. The umpire trainer was seemingly moving him around on every pitch: a step up or back here, a step to the right or left there.
The umpire trainer explained that to be an effective umpire, you must anticipate the right position to see and make the call. In short, umpiring is largely about positioning yourself correctly.
The Bible tells a story (Mark 4:35-41 NIV) of when Jesus's disciples wondered if they are in the right position when they encountered a threatening storm on the Sea of Galilee.
That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”
He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.
He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”
With hindsight, we can be hard on the disciples for not trusting Jesus. But let's give them credit; they had found their right position in the boat with Jesus.
We modern-day disciples must also choose to be in the boat with Jesus. When the storms of life come, we want to be in the boat with Jesus. Whatever outcomes occur, we can receive the peace and calm that comes with being obedient to Jesus's command to get in the boat and with his power to quell any storm.
Like the young umpire, we must learn to find the right position.
I could argue that, like the umpire trainer, Jesus is always placing us in new positions. That's the message rippling throughout my new book, "From Comfort Zone to Trust Zone: How Jesus Urges Us to Take Leaps of Faith for His Kingdom." Jesus invites us to get out of our comfort zones and into uncomfortable boats where we must rely on him as we serve him in new ways. Please find it on Store.CecilTaylorMinistries.com and at online booksellers like Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and others.