When each of our three sons turned 16, I took them on a Canadian fishing trip. When it was my middle son’s turn, we went to Lake Ogascanan in Quebec. Ogascanan is about 15 miles long, and we were staying on an island in the southern basin of the lake. One morning, we left the cabin and, with the wind at our stern, we guided our 14-foot boat nearly due north, and kept going until we reached the lake’s end. Near the northern-most part of the lake, we passed through a narrow straight (less than 50 feet across) and into smaller, more protected bays.
We fished in those bays for a few hours. All the time we were there, the winds continued to grow stronger, so that even those small bays had whitecaps. We finally decided to head back on the long ride to our cabin. As soon as we crossed through that narrow straight into the main body of the lake, our bow was struck by four to five-foot waves, directly out of the south. Sometimes the gusts were so strong, I thought our small boat would flip from bow to stern. I was afraid to turn toward shore and take the waves broadside, for I thought we would capsize for sure. I later learned that we had 40-mile-per-hour sustained winds, with gusts that were much higher.
The wind was so strong that it lifted water off the wave crests and threw it into our faces. When we were within a quarter mile of our island, I noticed the gas can was floating in the stern. Its gauge read empty. Fresh fear surged through me. If we ran out of gas even a hundred yards from the dock, we would be driven far from safety, adrift in the storm.
If in that moment, someone had said to me, “Why are you cowardly?” I do not think I would have taken it well. But that is exactly what someone did say to Jesus’s disciples at the very moment a dangerous storm was swamping their boat (Matthew 8:26, NET).
Who said that to the disciples? Jesus. Ouch!
I might be tempted to ask Jesus why he was so unkind to these men who had committed their lives to him, but that would be a mistake. Jesus was not being unkind, though it may sound that way to us, who are disadvantaged by the fact that we cannot see his face or hear the tone of his voice. Even if it did not sound harsh to the disciples, I think Jesus sounded serious. The issue of cowardice or fear is one that his disciples need to face and overcome.
As if a perilous storm were not enough to evoke fear, when they beached their boat they found two extremely violent, horribly demonized men running toward them. It is as if they got out of The Perfect Storm just in time to enter The Exorcist. It was almost like Jesus was taking them through exposure therapy to help them overcome their fears.
But in exposure therapy, people face their fears in a safe and controlled environment. That is hardly what I would call a violent storm at sea and violent demoniacs on land. But though that is not what I would call it, that is what it was. The disciples were safe because they were with Jesus.
That is not to say that those disciples might not die. It is to say even when Jesus’s people die, they are safe with him. Nearly all the men in that boat, including Jesus, would go on to die unnatural and violent deaths. Jesus’s people may die, but they will not be unsafe, and because that is true they can overcome their fears.
Fear is a barrier to what God wants to do in our lives. I do not write that as someone who long ago overcame his fears but as someone who wants to, and by God’s grace will, one day overcome them. Fear is the enemy of holiness, the barrier to success, and the thief of joy. No wonder the Bible has the words “Do not fear” more than one hundred times, along with something like 365 verses related to the subject. Fear is a big deal, and God does not want it to hinder his work in and through us.
The Way Home 
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