Below the Deck

We had seen storms before,

Dark sky rising, wind driving rain like daggers into our faces,

I’m not sure why it was so terrifying that day.

We had always mocked the menacing waves.

Taunting, laughing, screaming, sliding across the deck,

Thrown into fish-laden nets.

But that day, there was no playfulness in the wind.

The waves, furious at our mockery, exploded against the rails.

Ominous gutturals wrenched from the throat of our craft,

Like an arthritic old man in seizure.

We fought each other for safe places to grasp

With our wet, fish-slimed fingers.

Friends turned fiends, scheming and vicious

We raged against wind, rain, waves and each other,

Clawing for survival, despising another’s fortune

To find even a moment of security.

Then someone remembered He slept below the deck.

Awakened, He quieted the savagery, and our fear with it.

As long as there are seas and ships, there will be storms.

God will not permit it to be any other way. He knows that

The storms teach unteachable lessons to fellow passengers,

Like, storms sometimes make us enemies.

Or, turbulent survival is better than serene drowning.

Remember, the one below the deck, not only masters the storm,

He holds the ship together. He will save us,

And he will help us love one another again.

Comments

[fran]

Beautiful! Reminds me of a line in the song, "Peace in the Midst of the Storm."
....Jesus rides in my vessel, so I fear no alarm. He gives me peace in the midst of the storm.

Thank you, Jesus, for every storm you've brought me through!
Thank you, Bishop, for encouraging words of wisdom.