FIGHTING THE WIND

5/365

Mark 6:48a And he saw that they were making headway painfully, for the wind was against them.

My normal cycle journey is about eight minutes to the train station, but in the presence of a strong head wind, the journey time almost doubles over the same distance.

All the versions of today’s scripture employ the use of heavy duty descriptives to present the situation the disciples faced to us. Words used to describe the challenges their rowing posed included ‘straining, struggling hard, distressed, and even harrassed’. However, the one rendition that caught my attention was ‘they were making headway painfully’.

Therefore, even though they were moving forward alright, it came at a steep cost and the reason was because the wind was against their boat at the time. That meant advancing at a cost that was too excessive. Beloved, it is clear that we all have places to get to and destinations to arrive at, but don’t just set sail on your own without God when the wind is against you. You may end up expending more energy than the actual journey requires.

#sly