No Shortcuts With God

That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, "Let us go over to the other side." Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, "Teacher, don't you care if we drown?" He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet! Be still!" Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?" They were terrified and asked each other, "Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!"   Mark 4:35-41

I’ve been faithfully riding my mountain bike around “the Fullerton Loop” 2-to-3 times each week, and this discipline has become a key part of my physical, emotional, and spiritual health. And on a recent ride, I experienced the reality of this Bible story in an unusual…incredible…way.

On this particular morning, the weather was cool and cloudy, but no rain was forecast until evening. Just as I reached the half-way point of my ride, it started to lightly sprinkle. I did not want to get wet, but neither did I want to cut my ride short. So I was faced with a decision: continue the ride…or head home?

And – interestingly – the half-way point was the one place where I easily could have left the trail, made a beeline for home, and minimized my exposure to the coming rain. In other words, I could have taken a shortcut. It would have been easy to do so. It was tempting to do so.

But the Bible story above kept running through my mind, and I found myself wrestling with the idea of pressing on through the rain toward my goal. At the same time, I wondered about “rebuking the storm”. So I started to pray (out loud, since no one else was on the trail) and I said something like this: “Father, I will not take a shortcut today. I will ride the longer way, the normal way, believing that this is in my best interests. I will do this whether or not I get wet. But I also prefer to stay dry, and I choose to believe that You do not want me to get wet today. So in the name of Jesus I rebuke the rain. I ask You – the Creator of the rain – to hold it back so that I may finish the ride.” I prayed this way continually for the next several minutes as the light sprinkles continued…and then, all of a sudden, they stopped. About 15 minutes later, it started to sprinkle again…I prayed some more…and the sprinkling stopped. Again.

This was absolutely wild and weird and wonderful. Because I pressed on (regardless of the consequences), God chose to calm the “storm” of the rain in response to my prayer. If I had taken the shortcut home, I would have shortcut God’s opportunity to bless me with His miraculous power.

At the same time, God was using this very real experience as a metaphor, to make an important point about my ongoing spiritual journey. He clearly was reminding me that usually there are no shortcuts with Him. The way of faith often is “the long way around” because that is the route that requires trust. I’m in the midst of such an experience right now as my search for a new ministry unfolds slowly…very slowly…much more slowly than I would prefer. I keep wishing that God would provide a short-cut; that a great ministry opportunity would show up now.

But the Father is telling me that He will keep me dry and safe…He will bring me through to the other side…He will protect me from the storm…but I must learn to trust Him for as long as the journey takes. Because there are no shortcuts in the life of faith.  

- Bruce