Simple Thoughts

  I was weeding this evening, and I want to tell you why.     We have a flower bed in our front yard, and when we first moved into our house, it was empty.   So, we bought a palm tree and flowers, and it looked great. We were so excited because we finally had a pretty flower bed.     A couple years have gone by.   We sometimes weed.   We take care of it every once and a while. For the most part though, we did pretty good and it stayed nice.     But then this summer hit. It’s so hot outside.   I honestly can’t remember the last time the full flower bed was weeded.   I would walk by it multiple times a day, thinking I needed to take care of it.   But the weeds just kept growing bigger. I tried to convince my daughter that this could be a chore and that she could make money.   Even that didn’t convince her.   I tried to tell my family we could make it a family event.   Not happening.   It’s just too hot...

  Recently, the question came to mind: “What do we do with doubt?”  As I pondered this question, I thought of three stories with Jesus and people who had doubt. I want to go through each of those and then at the end, look at similarities that I found.  1. Wind and Waves Obey Jesus   Luke 8:22-25 Now it happened, on a certain day, that He got into a boat with His disciples. And He said to them, "Let us cross over to the other side of the lake." And they launched out. But as they sailed He fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water, and were in jeopardy. And they came to Him and awoke Him, saying, "Master, Master, we are perishing!" Then He arose and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water. And they ceased, and there was a calm. But He said to them, "Where is your faith?" And they were afraid, and marveled, saying to one another, "Who can this be? For He commands even the winds and water, and they obey Him...