Two questions. Asked in the wrong order. That’s what the pastor said the story was about.
It’s near dusk on the lake shore. A calm setting of the sun with gentle breezes. The group of twelve apprentices hear their leader say, “Let’s go over to the other side of the lake.” Sure thing. They have access to a boat and experienced boat captains among them.
As they sail, the sun settles below the horizon and the stars begin to twinkle. Until they don’t. The sky gets very black, the winds get very strong, and the waves get very tall. Tall enough that even these weathered men of the water believe that drowning is fast becoming a very real possibility.
Their leader, on the other hand, isn’t bailing water alongside them. He isn’t even wringing his hands or crying out to God. No, he’s asleep. And that’s when they raise their first question. Awaking him up they ask, “Don’t you care?”
Jesus wipes the lake water from His face, gets up, and answers their question by speaking not to them but to the waves and wind directly. Like a mother might speak to a fussy toddler, He says “Quiet! Hush now and be still!”
I wonder… did He follow on with a little lecture to the elements, something like:
“Look here, the Father said ‘Go to the other side’ and I do only what
I see the Father doing. If He says ‘Go’ then that’s exactly what we’re going to do. So don’t be throwing a fit about it. It’s already been decided by your Creator. Settle down and be calm.”
And so it was. Really, really calm. All across the lake.
But not so much in the souls of the apprentices. All was not well. They are awestruck and terrified. Holy fear overwhelmed them and they ask the second question of Jesus, “Who are you?”
This question, however, receives no response.
No rebuke.
No declaration from the prophet Isaiah.
No recitation from King David about quiet water and the shadow of death.
In all three accounts of this story, the sentence that immediately follows the question is “When they arrived at the other side…” We, like the disciples, are left in the boat to ponder these two questions.
Do you care?
Who are you?
What if, the pastor asks, they had asked the second question first?
That question sits in my head for days: what if the order of the questions was reversed?
Start with, who are you?
It’s a big question.
A whole lot to ponder there.
I decide to narrow the scope. After all, it’s dawn midweek as I write this. I’ve been awake only 15 minutes and my pajamas still wrap around me.
Who are You so far this morning?
You are…
The One who awakes the sun, “Come, I call you forth for another day. Rise and give light to my creation.”
The Painter who delights in creating each sunrise unique and splendid, then dissolving it all to blue, only to paint something equally unique and beautiful twelve hours later on the opposite horizon.
The Giver of Gifts, like it’s Christmas every day: warm house, warm socks, warm water splashed on my face.
The Lover of My Love’s soul who rose before me, clicked on the kettle and the coffee pot, and has settled in to ponder You for himself.
The Designer of maple trees with sweet, sticky sap that can be carefully collected, dried out, and incorporated into the Canadian Maple Syrup tea that is my first hot beverage of this morning.
The Bright Morning Star who is waiting for all the ones I love 30 miles, 817 miles, 1281 miles away to awake so that He can welcome them and whisper, “Beloved, good morning. How beautiful you are with bed head. Want to go through your day together?”
The Omnipresent One who is meeting personally, intimately with each man, woman, and child offering morning prayers, apologizes, and sacrifices of thanksgiving.
The One on the Mercy Seat pouring fresh compassion every dawn despite that yesterday, like every day, I screwed up by what I said or didn’t say, what I did or didn’t do.
The Light who drives out the darkness in the sky, in my soul, in my everyday. The Poet of the Psalms, the Fulfillment of the Prophets, the Good News of the Gospel, the Visionary of the Revelation, and the Hero of all 66 books laid before me.
The All Knowing One who sees me, hears me, recognizes my faults and my few victories, knows what I’ll get right today and who I’ll injure, and still loves me, still pursues me with goodness and mercy, still calls me Daughter of the King.
Who is this One to whom even the winds and waves yield?
He is the Shepherd of Good Intent every morning.
The King of This World and the next.
The Royal One of Peace in all circumstances.
The Whisperer of Wisdom for each decision.
The Orchestrator of All Things in my day.
The One who was, and is, and is to come.
He is the great I AM.
What, there was a second question? Hmmm, I cannot remember it.
In my quieted soul, all is well.
Lord, Come Quickly 
This was so dang good. Thank you❣️
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