Lisa Backman, Group Services Coordinator

The Storm

Page Photo At the beginning of our summer we found out that one of our Washington staff, Mikey was diagnosed with lung cancer. He has been a summer staff with us for two summers and him and his new wife, Bonnie were now interns. Instead of serving another summer with us they had to move back with their family and begin treatment. They left with us a picture in our minds that impacted me deeply: the story in Mark 4 of the great squall and the disciples out in the boat with Jesus. The disciples were fishermen and used to storms but this one caused even them to run to Jesus and cry out, "Teacher, don't you care if we drown?" Mikey's challenge to us was that we have a choice how we will react in the storm: we can be fearful or we can climb the mask of the ship and ride out the storm trusting the Lord.

This summer while I was on a backpacking trip I experienced my own epic storm. We were camped at a lake under our student-built tarp, trying to endure the 30 mph winds and rain in every direction. I ran out to fix our tarp and was soaked to the bone. My sleeping bag only had two square feet in the middle that was not completely soaked. We had to put a girl in another girl's sleeping bag to keep her warm. At three am we decided as soon as it was light we were hiking out.

All night I pleaded like the disciples, Lord, make the storm stop. It wasn't until we were hiking out that it suddenly hit me that even though the Lord didn't stop the storm, he did keep us safe and made it clear we needed to hike out. It also became clear what Mikey was talking about that we have a choice in how we will react in the storm.

This year has been hard for my family and our ministry and I call this the "year of the storm." I realized at that moment that the storms of life may not stop but that I can choose to ride the mask of the ship and trust that the Lord is using this storm to change me.