There is a lake in Ohio named Grand Lake St. Marys. It is not a very large lake, by Tennessee standards, and it is fairly shallow. I’ve been told that its not more than eight feet deep anywhere in the lake. The lake was hand dug with scoops and horses many years ago to feed water into the Erie Canal. Today it is a recreational lake.
I used to live some 20 miles from this lake, and my father described it well when he came to visit us. My father used to say that we lived close to “The Troubled Water.” He said that because it seemed that the lake was always choppy with white caps, and sometimes it was so rough that small boats dare not set out. The reason the lake was so rough was that it was shallow and there was almost always, it seemed, a wind blowing. Put shallow water together with the wind and there is a recipe for danger.
I read this morning in Matthew 14 about Jesus’ disciples out on the lake at night caught in a storm. The wind and the waves were beating on them and they were terrified. When I read that I immediately thought about the “troubled water” in Ohio. And I thought about how even a strong faith is sometimes challenged when the winds and the waves begin to beat down. And I thought about how a lack of faith hardly stands a chance against the storms that we will surely face.
What we all need to understand is that “troubled water” will come upon us, and the only way we can deal with that is through our connection with Jesus. Without a connection with Jesus we are left to the wind and the waves. But with Jesus, Jesus provides a way to navigate into calmer water.
Peace
Jim
