When I was a boy, my father took me on a boat ride in the Pacific Ocean. The fog was so thick that I couldn't see the end of the boat. Foghorns were sounding all around us as we drove slowly through the water.

This was before technology like Global Positioning Systems and radar were common on recreational boats. Our only assistance in identifying nearby hazards --- the rocky shoreline or other boats, was our ears. I was terrified. My father was not, and in fact he seemed amused by my fear. He drove the boat confidently, based on his knowledge of the seas, the region and proper boating procedures that protected us from harm.

In today's Gospel reading, Jesus invites his followers to depart from the crowds via boat, and to retreat to a quieter place. On their way, a storm erupts and the disciples are terrified.

Jesus, meanwhile, has fallen asleep in the back of the boat. When they wake him and ask "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?" Jesus seems almost annoyed that they woke him:

"He woke up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, 'Quiet! Be still!' The wind ceased and there was great calm. Then he asked them, 'Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?'"

I find myself asking the same question that the disciples asked Jesus, especially in times of hardship: Do you not care that I am perishing? It is often when we are surrounded by storms in our lives that it appears that Jesus is asleep and has abandoned us to the circumstances we find ourselves in.

Jesus seems to think that the disciples should not have been afraid of the storm that raged around them. This passage challenges me to think differently about how I face difficulty in my own life. Why is it, as soon as waves start crashing into my plans, that I assume that God is not at work? Probably because I have determined in my mind that storms have no part in my life, and any tempest cannot therefore be part of God's plan.

Why shouldn't the disciples be confident in the midst of the storm? Is their faith in the wind and the wave to destroy them greater than their faith in Jesus to protect them? Jesus is with them, and he is very much in control --- then and now.

This is a great message for us in our current atmosphere of crisis. Economies are shaky, jobs are hard to find, and many of us are facing hardships that were unimaginable a few months ago. Is Jesus asleep while we struggle? Does God not care that we are perishing?

Today's Gospel reading reminds us that God is more powerful than all that threatens us and, more importantly, that if God is with us we really do not need to be afraid.

Bill Peatman writes from Napa. He may be reached at bptidings@yahoo.com.