Russell A. Cardwell Online

That evening Jesus’ disciples went down to the shore to wait for him. But as darkness fell and Jesus still hadn’t come back, they got into the boat and headed across the lake toward Capernaum. Soon a gale swept down upon them, and the sea grew very rough. They had rowed three or four miles when suddenly they saw Jesus walking on the water toward the boat. They were terrified, but he called out to them, “Don’t be afraid. I am here!” Then they were eager to let him in the boat, and immediately they arrived at their destination!

—John 6:16-21

What stands out to me most about this passage is not that Jesus walked on the waves, or that he calmed the storm, or that the disciples were afraid, or any of the usual lessons that are drawn from this scripture. What I see most clearly here is that the disciples got tired of waiting on Jesus and set off without him. Not surprisingly, they ran into some turbulence.

Isn’t this what happens to all of us? We get tired of waiting for God and set out on our own. What happens? The water gets rough, and we find ourselves in the dark struggling to stay afloat.

The LORD is good to those who wait for Him,
To the person who seeks Him.

—Lamentations 3:25

Wait for the LORD;
Be strong and let your heart take courage;
Yes, wait for the LORD.

—Psalm 27:14

Rest in the LORD and wait patiently for Him.

—Psalm 37:7

Though youths grow weary and tired,
And vigorous young men stumble badly,
Yet those who wait for the LORD
Will gain new strength;
They will mount up with wings like eagles,
They will run and not get tired,
They will walk and not become weary.

—Isaiah 40:30-31

• My Soul Waits for the Lord
• November 14, 2005
• The Lord is My Cellmate
• The Lord is My Global Positioning System
• Lord, Where Is Your Smile?

Even when the way goes through
      Death Valley,
   I’m not afraid
      when you walk at my side.
   Your trusty shepherd’s crook
      makes me feel secure.

—Psalm 23:4

Afternoon was waning and the hiker was still far from her destination. The terrain had been rougher than she had expected, and she had been forced to make some detours to get past unexpected obstacles. Now it was getting late, and although she didn’t think she was lost, she knew she still had a long way to go. And from the looks of things, the terrain ahead grew even more rugged. This worried her especially because she was afraid of heights.

There was nothing for it but to do the best she could. She quickened her pace and began to pray. Within minutes, though, a thick fog settled in, obscuring her view. Soon, all she could see was the path a step or two ahead of her. “Great!” she thought, “I start praying and it gets worse! Now I can’t even see where I’m going.” But on she went.

Pacing herself, sometimes jogging, sometimes walking quickly, stumbling a few times, but never falling, praying loud and fervently for God’s protection, disappointed and a little resentful that God was not helping her, she went on, plunging headlong and blindly along a path she could but dimly see.

Just at twilight, the road leveled. And as the last glow faded in the western sky, the fog began to lift. Ahead, she saw the lights of civilization and the promise of welcome rest.

The next morning, looking back over the terrain she had crossed, she could see by the light of day that for the last leg of her journey her path had been along the edge of a deep gorge. The slightest mis-step would have sent her plummeting to her death. Had it not been for the fog, her fear of heights would have caused her to lose her footing and sent her over the edge, or would have paralyzed her and left her stranded in the wilderness to die of exposure.

He [God] Himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. [I will] not, [I will] not, [I will] not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let [you] down (relax My hold on you)! [Assuredly not!]

So we take comfort and are encouraged and confidently and boldly say, The Lord is my Helper; I will not be seized with alarm [I will not fear or dread or be terrified].

—Hebrews 13:5b-6

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Those who go down to the sea in ships,
Who do business on great waters;
They have seen the works of the LORD,
And His wonders in the deep.
—Psalm 107:23-24

Those who remain in the shallow waters along the shore have little to worry about from the sea. It is out in the deep waters that the waves rise towering overhead, and the troughs send ships plummeting toward the depths.

Along the shore we feel safe—we are always in sight of dry land. We feel secure knowing we can fend for ourselves. Out in the deeps, there is no safety in sight; we are entirely reliant on God’s protection.

So why not stay in the shallows? It is only in the deep waters that the real work of the Lord can be done. In Luke 5, Jesus tells Peter to take his boat into the deep water and let down his nets.

But Simon answered and said to Him, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.” And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking.
—Luke 5:5-6

There is little to gain secure near the shore.

What about those storms at sea, though? Remember, it is God who commands the sea. He spoke it into being, and with a word, can “rebuke the wind and the raging waves,” as he did in Luke 8.

So why doesn’t he still every storm? First of all, just as storms at sea test the integrity of a ship’s hull and the character of its crew, it is in the storms of life that our integrity is tested and the strength of our character is built. Second, just as storm winds may blow a ship to a different port than it set out for, so too with the storms in our lives. A jujitsu master uses the force of his enemy’s attack to defeat him. And God is the greatest jujitsu master of all. When Satan stirs up a storm in our lives, God can use the enemy’s own force to propel us on a course of His choosing, sending us flying all sheets before the wind to a haven we never hoped to reach. Don’t forget that on Good Friday, it looked like Satan had won. But God used Satan’s own schemes against him. And by Easter Sunday, he had turned apparent defeat into the greatest victory of all time!

God has a plan and a purpose for our lives. Sometimes what he asks us to do doesn’t make sense to our natural, rational minds. Like Peter, we want to say, “We already tried that, and it didn’t work.” We would rather stay safely in port. But Peter went on to say, “Nevertheless, at your word—” and he piloted his ship out into the deeps.

Jesus soon invited him into even deeper waters, far from any sea, to seek an even greater catch. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” (Matthew 4:19) Peter could have stayed safely in Galilee, living a comfortable life, running a successful fishing business. Who would have blamed him? What Jesus asked was unreasonable. But at God’s call, he answered, “Nevertheless, at your word—” and left safe harbor forever behind.

The storms at sea are fierce and daunting, but in the deeps God’s harvest waits, and there, the workers are few.

A ship in port is safe, but that’s not what ships are built for.
—Admiral Grace M. Hopper

• Haman & Satan Destroyed
• Sanctum To-Go
• Only Amid the Storms
• More Messy Meditation
• The Lord is My Cellmate

God told Abram: “Leave your country, your family, and your father’s home for a land that I will show you.”
—Gen 12:1

I know it sounds crazy, but I’m convinced it was the voice of God. It’s the only time I’ve heard God speak in an audible voice.

For many months I had been praying for some clear direction, and God’s silence was getting on my nerves. I had gotten quite adamant one morning and insisted on an answer. “Tell me what you want me to do with my life!” I demanded. “Please.” The response, as ever, was silence.

Days later, while I was working, a voice behind me spoke. “It’s not your life,” it said. “You will know what to do.” There was no one else in the building, and it so clearly responded to my prayer. It made no sense to interpret it as anything but the voice of God. I had absolutely no idea what it meant, but at least it was an answer.

I know God has plans for me, but no matter how much I argue with him, he refuses to let me in on the details. Sometimes he lights the path ahead one step at a time. Other times, he simply opens a door and shoves me through, and I can only keep moving forward until he opens another door, or I reach the wall and have to wait. Often it feels like God has left me to wander in the dark. But in truth, even his silences are purposeful. He uses them to develop our trust and obedience. When I simply trust him and remain obedient, even though the path ahead is dark, I always find that he has invisibly guided me to a destination far better than I expected. Sometimes it has felt like Dorothy awakening in Oz.

By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.
—Heb 11:8

God did not give Abraham a road map or an itinerary. He simply told him to go, and promised to tell him when to stop. I think this is how God’s call always works. He gives us no more than we need to know and says, “Go.” In the words of the song, what he asks of us is that we simply “trust and obey.”

Many more months have passed since God spoke to me, and I don’t pretend to know much more about what his words meant. But I have seen enough to know that the journey is worth the effort, that each stop along the way surpasses expectations, and that at our journey’s end, we will gasp in awe at where he has led us. For as Paul put it,

No eye has seen,
no ear has heard,
no mind has conceived
what God has prepared for those who love him.
—1 Corinthians 2:9

• Only Amid the Storms
• The Arms of God
• America Ceases to be Good
• Theme of the Year
• God’s Law Written in our Hearts — Scientists Say

Let every detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way.

—Colossians 3:17

The air surrounds us all the time; we couldn’t live without it. But we don’t ordinarily notice its presence. Only when a fresh breeze caresses our skin or a hurricane uproots a mighty oak do we become aware of it.

So it is with God. As Paul told the Athenians, “In him we live and move and have our being.” (Acts 17:28) He makes his presence known to us at various times, but that doesn’t mean we notice him all the time.

Awareness of God’s presence is a skill that requires practice to develop. The first step, according to Brother Lawrence is not so much a change in what we do, but in our attitude about what we do. We do not need to be in church to worship him, he said. We can make our heart a chapel by carrying out our ordinary activities as acts of devotion and love for God. Paul said, “Do it all for the glory of God.” (1 Cor 10:31) If there are activities in our lives that we cannot do for the glory of God, we need to cease doing them. Brother Lawrence described this as eliminating “whatever does not lead to God.”

“Pray without ceasing,” Paul said. (1 Thes 5:17) This is the next step. Brother Lawrence recommended offering brief prayers often during the day, instead of wordy prayers that “encourage wandering thoughts.” I know that in a short time my ADHD brain starts replaying conversations from last week or itemizing to-do’s for next week. It’s heartening to know Brother Lawrence and his readers struggled with the same problem over 300 years ago. Rick Warren suggests short breath prayers—brief phrases or sentences that we can say throughout the day, no matter what we’re doing. Some of my favorites are, “Thy will, not mine, be done,” “I am yours,” or “It’s all about you.” This does not substitute for regular times of prayer, study, and worship. But we should not think of these times as being different from any other. Instead, we should try to draw near to God in our daily activities, just as in our quiet time. This is a way to “take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering.” (Romans 12:1)

Third, we are not chasing a feeling or experience of God’s presence. Sometimes his presence is palpable; sometimes not. God sometimes presents us with vivid demonstrations of his presence. Sometimes we are caught up in ecstasy, consumed in worship, or steeped in an exquisite infusion of profound peace. Other times we don’t have any sense of his presence. This is natural—chasing after sensational experiences is not what awareness of God’s presence is about. C. S. Lewis calls these experiences signposts. They are not the goal; they simply point the way to it. They are more significant early in our relationship with God. As Lewis described it, if we are lost in a wilderness and come upon a signpost after long wandering, it is much different than if we are traveling the King’s highway and have been passing signposts at regular intervals. We should be grateful for them, but should not stop to admire them, but rather “press on toward the goal.” (Phil 3:14) Awareness of God’s presence is not a sensation, but a way of living in relationship with him.

A great and strong wind tore into the mountains, . . . but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.

—1 Kings 19:11-12

Only when he heard the still, small voice did Elijah step forth to speak with God.

We do not have to stand outside during a hurricane to be aware of the air. All we need do is breathe. And so with God. He is with us in good times and bad, in triumphs and in trials, in mourning and in dancing. When we go out weeping, and when we return in joy, he is with us. Through the high points, the low points, and all those ordinary, everyday points in between, he is there.

In fact, Jesus was called Emmanuel—”God with us.” (Matt 1:23) He is always present; whether we are aware of him depends on us.

And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

—Matt 28:20

• November 20, 2005
• If You Can’t Worship While You’re Doing It . . .
• November 14, 2005
• Holy Ground
• My Soul Waits for the Lord

Here’s a report on some scientific research into the benefits of gratitude:

Gratitude Theory: Researchers find the virtues of gratitude include good health.

And a blog that references the article:

more on gratitude ~ “Gratitude Theory”

Here’s another article on the psychological benefits of practicing gratitude:

Cultivating Gratitude: An Interview with Robert Emmons, Ph.D.

In 2005, about a month after the hurricane, I did some exercises from ReflectiveHappiness.com, which focused on recording and describing a list of blessings experienced each day. I can verify that doing this on a daily basis for several weeks brought me quickly back from a very dark depression. The immediate aftermath of the storm had been a period of intense activity, excitement, and camaraderie with fellow early-responders. But after a month, the glamor wore off and the sense of adventure paled. Driving around this devastated community, I was pummeled by an awareness that things would never be back to the way they were, and the life I knew would never be the same. I grieved intensely for what was already lost, and for what in my prescience I could foretell would soon be gone. There had been much to lose, after all. Little of it was material—not the important parts, anyway. I saw it slipping away.

Anyway, it was a very depressing time for me. Developing the practice of “counting my blessings” every day quickly alleviated the dark mood and enabled me to carry on with renewed strength. i have continued the practice off and on since then. And in October, 2006, I started keeping a book to record miracles and special blessings whenever they occur.

Gratitude works!

John Henry Jowett, the English pastor who served for many years at Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, said, “Gratitude is a vaccine, an antitoxin, and an antiseptic.” Researchers are now beginning to discover scientifically a truth that religious leaders have taught for millennia.

And gratitude is the beginning of discipleship. In Romans 12:1, Paul says, “And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.” Gratitude is the end of religion and empty ritual, and the start of a genuine relationship with God. In gratitude for all that God has done for us, to give ourselves wholly and without reservation to him, is true worship. Only then we can begin to experience the benefits of the indwelling Spirit of God:

But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

—Galatians 5:22-23

Gratitude is the key that unbars the gates to God’s favor, and releases the flood of blessings that God has in store for those who love him. Gratitude births joy and wholehearted love for God, the qualities that made David a man after God’s own heart. Gratitude enables us to live the kind of life God blesses.

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

—Colossians 3:12-17

Henri Nouen (whose birthday is today) said: “God is always active in our lives. God always calls, always asks us to take up our crosses and follow. But do we see, feel, and recognize that call or do we keep waiting for that illusory moment when it will really happen?”

What are you waiting for?

• God’s Word and God’s Works
• Satan’s Garage Sale
• Trust and Obey
• Ask, Knock
• What Ships are Built For