Rev. Cathie: 0:19

Welcome back. This is episode 2 of Will you Walk With Me as we get started? I do pray that the season we just ended offered you an opportunity to be with family and friends and share the precious gift of time with others. If you remember from our first episode, we reflected on the peace that God offers. Second Peter 1, verse 2, says May God give you more and more grace and peace as you grow in your knowledge of God and Jesus, our Lord. And as I shared last time, one of the many ways we can break through the possible isolation we can experience in challenging times is to grow in our relationship with God. Now, the term relationship means different things to different people, and that's just fine. God is multi-dimensional and ready and willing and wanting to meet us wherever we are on the journey. So, as we work on building that relationship, one of the ways open to us is a deeper study of God's word and how we can connect it to our own lives. But that's only one half of the circle. The second part is very important. It's great to be able to quote scripture by chapter and verse, to know what Jesus said and did, to know God's plans for humanity, taken from the text. What's also very important, though, is sharing our journey with others, the challenges, the joys and everything in between. If we can connect our journey to something learned in scripture, well, I think that's just icing on the cake. What a joy.

Rev. Cathie: 2:01

I remember my homiletics professor in seminary, dr Simpson, telling us that we have to be able to wrestle with the text. Homiletics, by the way, is a study of and for the preparation of sermons, but to wrestle with the text means to me not to just take it at face value. We're called to ask questions, to look at different translations, to talk to others about what they feel. Whatever you can do to get in there, don't hold the word at a distance. For some people, the word wrestle might be too strong. I can see that. So if that word doesn't work for you, maybe the word embrace or embody the text would be better. No matter what word you choose, the object is to dig deep, listen for the Holy Spirit to offer you an educational experience far beyond any you could ever imagine. So let's dig in Jesus, in the Storms of Life. Our foundation scripture today will be taken from Mark's Gospel, chapter 4.

Rev. Cathie: 3:12

On the same day, when evening had come, he said to them let us cross over to the other side. Now, when they had left the multitude, they took him along in the boat as he was, and the other little boats were also with him, and a great windstorm arose and the waves beat into the boat so that it was already filling up. But he was in the stern asleep on a pillow. They woke him and said Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing? Then he arose, rebuked the wind and said to the sea Peace, be still. And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. But he said to them why are you so fearful? How is it that you can have no faith? And they feared him exceedingly and said to one another who can this be that even the wind and sea obey him? Now I want to take that same passage and read it to you from the message translation, and the subtitle of it is the Wind Ran Out of Breath Late that day. He said to them Let us go across to the other side. They took him in the boat as he was. Other boats came along, a huge storm came up, waves poured into the boat, threatening to sink it. Jesus was in the stern with his head on a pillow, sleeping. They aroused him and said Teacher, is there nothing you're going to do? We're going down, awake now. He told the wind and he said Pipe down to the sea, quiet, settle down. And the wind ran out of breath. The sea became smooth as glass. Jesus reprimanded the disciples. Why are you such cowards? Don't you have any faith at all? They were in absolute awe. Who is this anyway? They asked when and see are at his beckon call.

Rev. Cathie: 5:18

I like the message translation because it helps put me in the story. I can absolutely see myself scared out of my mind being on a boat in the middle of a storm. Actually, it happened to me once. My husband and I were in Maine and we were traveling from the mainland to Monhegan Island on a ferry boat. We were trying to beat an incoming storm, but we didn't and the storm started. Not only was I scared, but I had to hide under a large tarp, sitting like sardines, with people on each side of me. My husband was on one side, but on the other side was a person who was consistently throwing up. Well, that was pretty gross, and over the past 30 years, anytime I ever think of that story, it still makes me nauseous.

Rev. Cathie: 6:08

But besides being scared. Being in a storm any type of storm can cause us to become isolated. You know, we can't let anyone know how fragile we might be. We have to put up a front, smiling faces, bold words, so we can seem strong. In the meantime, we feel like the apostles did, we feel like we're just going down. Sometimes, isolation and fear can cause us to get angry. Eventually it pushes us to the point where we start to yell at the one who could have changed things, the one who was supposed to understand. Why, why, why, god.

Rev. Cathie: 6:50

I'm going to share with you three different stories to illustrate this point. Two are actually from the world of film and television. Yes, god can definitely speak to us through the arts. The first story is from the movie Forest Gump, a very famous movie. Many of you have probably seen it, but, just to recap, the story takes place through the course of Forest Gump's life and at one point he's in Vietnam and his commanding officer, lieutenant Dan, played by Gary Sinise and of course Forest Gump is played by Tom Hanks was injured in battle and he had to have both of his legs amputated.

Rev. Cathie: 7:30

He came from a military family. With his injury and now his career being over, he isolated. He couldn't stand the devastating change to his life and it caused him to go into a downward spiral that landed him in the world of drugs and alcohol. Meanwhile, forest had also lost a good friend in the war and started a business to carry on his friend's dream. He formed the Bubbush Gump Shrimp Company and he got Lieutenant Dan to help him run the business to see if it would give him purpose in life.

Rev. Cathie: 8:07

After lots of days of no luck at all catching shrimp, a huge storm came up. Sound, familiar Waves poured into the boat that Forest and Lieutenant Dan were in, and it was the last straw for Lieutenant Dan. He climbed up a pole on the boat which, when I told this story in my congregation, they told me was called a crow's nest, and he yelled and he screamed and he wanted to have it out with God. In this case God was the storm and having it out with God was his way to break his prison walls. The very first time I saw that movie I remember thinking man, just get it all out. God already knows everything you're thinking, the pain and the suffering. He's taking all the anger. So the character and us could be free.

Rev. Cathie: 9:01

Then from television, the West Wing, one of my favorite shows and somewhat of a similar story, president Bartlett, played by Martin Sheen, grieving the loss of his executive secretary, played by Catherine Judson, who was killed by a drunk driver while driving back to the White House with her brand new car. Not only is he grieving, but he has to reveal to the country that he has an illness that he hid during his first election. He isolated himself from his deep grief. He knew his secretary from when he was a teenager, when she worked for his father. He isolated himself from the country in order to be strong and hide his illness. The scene in the episode, the Two Cathedral, takes place in the middle of a huge storm, not a sudden one, it was predicted, but huge just the same. After the funeral, the president asks for private time in the church because he too needs to have it out with God. Why, why, why, why did this woman have to die? I believe that God wept with President Bartlett and Lieutenant Dan as they summoned the courage to break their prisons of isolation.

Rev. Cathie: 10:26

Now one final story, and this one is true because it happened to me. It was the early summer of 1993 when we noticed that my dad was losing weight. He eventually went to the doctor and found out that it was colon cancer. The treatment plan was surgery, chemo, radiation, standard stuff. The surgery was to take place in July and I worked at putting together a prayer chain for my father for the 24 hours surrounding the surgery. I was going to God with this and I knew God was going to be with us. Each hour there was at least one person praying for my dad. The doctors, nurses and everyone involved participated with everything they had believing, believing in the healing power of God, and by the time I was through asking people to participate, there were over 50 people and 12 church families participating in this prayer chain. It stretched across the country.

Rev. Cathie: 11:36

Well, the surgery was successful and after a few months my dad was healed enough to go back to work and he lived an active life for the next 14 months or so, until one day he unexpectedly threw up. In the weeks ahead we noticed a change in him that was not good and went back to the doctor to find out that the cancer had returned and spread to other areas of the body. That was in October of 1994. By the end of January 1995, the doctors told him that he should get his affairs in order. That pushed me over the edge. There was no hope now, just a waiting game. I was angry, but I held it together, kept myself in control, focused on work, helping to manage my parents' affairs.

Rev. Cathie: 12:31

And then one day, a Saturday, I went to my church to set the altar for the Sunday service. While I was working, I stared at the statue of Christ on the wall and the storm inside of me exploded and I started to scream and cry and throw things all over the church. I couldn't understand why. We prayed, we tried all different kinds of medications, everything. Lord, don't you hear me? I don't know how long I went on, but at some point, after making a huge mess, I just laid on the floor and fell asleep. When it was over, I could feel God saying to me are you finished? Would you please clean up my home now? There was no punishment, there was no chastising, there was no shame, no-transcript.

Rev. Cathie: 13:35

The important thing for me was that I got out the fear, the sorrow, the confusion, so I could be free. It didn't change anything from my dad Unfortunately, he died about two months later but the experience changed me. I was trying to be strong for myself, for everyone else, and out of fear. I needed to be strong so I would not fall apart and be too afraid that I would never be able to pick myself back up. In that intimate time with God, the walls came tumbling down. There was a big crack in the isolation and I was able to love through the rest of those days and into the future.

Rev. Cathie: 14:25

That's my story and, please understand, I'm not trying to say that the only way to break out of isolation is to yell at God. In fact, in my own journey, I practice talking to God every day about all aspects of my life. I'm sort of preparing God. Yeah right, like God needs a briefing on from me, I'm the one who needs to get the words out. I'm not trying to let the wall go up in the isolation return, and I do mean trying. It takes practice Because for most of us, we were not taught how to communicate with God beyond written prayer when we were children, and so now we need to learn it as adults.

Rev. Cathie: 15:13

Let's get back to the scripture. There are some interesting similarities in these stories. First of all, jesus was tired after a long day of teaching. Jesus was human, just like us. He needed rest. He needed rest to clear his head rest to keep focused. In these three stories I shared, there is fatigue Different reasons, but fatigue just the same.

Rev. Cathie: 15:38

In the scripture, as they are crossing the sea, a great storm arises. Matthew tells us it was a sudden storm. The message says it was huge. This is not just a major storm, a storm that quickly comes, but the implication in these, in these scripture passages, is that the storm was the storm of the enemy and attack on the people. Yes, it was unexpected, but have you ever had unexpected storms in your life? You wake up that morning and think it's going to be a good day. Then you get sudden news the cancer is back, the relationship is broken, the job is no longer available. The death of a loved one didn't start out this way. But, as a matter of fact, you sigh and the fatigue sets in and maybe you just want to go back to bed.

Rev. Cathie: 16:41

The storm was powerful and it was overwhelming. It was coming in the boat and it tested the faith of the disciples. There was no end in sight. Where is Jesus? Jesus is asleep in the boat. He was tired and the disciples are going to get him up. Notice what they say. Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing. You can read the sarcasm, but Jesus says awake now. He told the wind to pipe down and to the sea, he said quiet. And he said to them why are you so fearful? Don't you have any faith? Ouch, that hurts. You know, jesus, we're just humans, don't you understand? Of course Jesus understands. He wants to take us to a higher level of trust and faith.

Rev. Cathie: 17:48

There's a storm all right, a rainstorm in two stories and an emotional storm in all three. There's fatigue all right, in all three stories. Fatigue is sometimes based in grief. And there's a point in all three stories that the person involved yelled at God because they were at the end of their rope. The walls they had built around themselves were crushing them and it is in that last desperate effort they screamed at God, maybe releasing their anger to someone they couldn't see, someone who is so distant but yet known as the creator of all. God listens. God does not judge. The important thing is to get back to living life, caring for self and others. God does not want the storms to steal our attention and distract us from what we are called to do.

Rev. Cathie: 18:54

Days after my experience in my home church, I was feeling guilty, not because I had felt that God was judging me. I just felt guilty for what I had done. I shared with my mentor and good friend, catherine, what I was feeling, and she said something that I have held on to this very day. She told me God is a big God and there is nothing you can ever say that he can't handle. Sometimes a word or a sentence can be life changing. Thanks, kath.

Rev. Cathie: 19:32

We do have tools in Scripture. Philippians 4-13 says I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me. Isaiah 54-17 says no weapon formed against me shall prosper. Matthew 19-26 says with God, all things are possible, and if we truly believe these things, they can be a strong foundation for us to stand on. Try saying them over and over, and over again, over and over, until they become part of your DNA.

Rev. Cathie: 20:09

And right now you may be saying to yourself it's not that simple, and I say you're absolutely right, it's not. And there's no one thing you can do to ease the pain and break through the isolation. But first, and possibly for some, the hardest thing to do is know that God loves you. You are created with a purpose and God desperately desires to walk with you through all of life's journey. Maybe no one in your life told you how special you are and how much God loves you. So I am doing that now.

Rev. Cathie: 20:52

Each and every one of us is a gift to the world from God and we need to care and cultivate. The very gift that we are Embodying the Scripture in one way is caring for yourself, along with eating healthy, getting enough sleep, exercise and all the things we hear over and over again from parents, teachers and the medical community, and you know what they're right. They're right because these things prepare the soil of our very being to receive the seeds that are planted and help them grow. Most importantly, sharing your journey with someone. It could be a long relationship, someone you meet on the grocery line, the line that never seems to end, and in many other different ways, reaching out to share and also to receive the gifts from listening. Remember, somebody else needs to share too, and it's when we are trapped in our prisons, not sharing, not listening, not engaging, that evil, the evil in the world, feels way more confident in knocking on our door.

Rev. Cathie: 22:11

Isolation tempts us to feel that we are not wanted or needed, or maybe that we should never have been born at all. That's not true. We have all come to this world with gifts to share. Isolation is prison, and Jesus came to set you free. I am inviting you to walk with me on this journey, a journey to know the healing, life-giving, life-restoring power of God, through Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit, and I would be honored to walk with you.

Rev. Cathie: 22:50

I hope that you'll join me in our next episode and I want to be sure that if you are in need of professional help something I treasure in my own journey and you don't know what to do, you can contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, accessible by dialing 1-800-273-8255. Also modeled after the 911 system, there is a three-digit code that you can call 988, the Suicide Crisis Lifeline. It's designated to be a memorable and quick number that connects people who are in any mental health crisis to a trained mental health professional. If you would like to reach out to us, please send us a note at podcast at willyouwalkwithmecom. I want to, as always, thank my producers, andrew and Catherine, and to all of you for listening. I pray that each of you see the hand of Jesus extended and you know that you are a child of God who can grab on and have a blessed partner for the journey forward. See you next time.