Seasick

When I was a kid, my dad would hook up the boat and off to the lake we would go. We would have so much fun swimming, fishing, and cooking out. When it was time to go for a boat ride, I was the first one in. I loved traveling the lake looking at all the scenery. Sometimes I would even catch a glimpse of a fish jumping up out of the water.

Unfortunately, there was a downside. I would get sea-sick, that feeling of nausea you get when things are moving too fast around you. But the more boat rides I took, the more I learned how to handle the seasickness. I learned to look ahead and focus on one spot instead of trying to take everything in at one time. This helped tremendously. I could enjoy the ride instead of fighting the nausea.

Sometimes, life can make you sea-sick, too. Lots of stuff is coming at you at one time. Maybe your job is getting more and more complicated and you don’t know if you can handle the extra weight. Maybe you have been diagnosed with an illness that will be with you for the rest of your life, and you don’t know if you can hold on. Maybe it’s your spouse or child who is having a hard time with something and you don’t know how to help them. You are a believer in JESUS, and you don’t want to doubt, but all this motion is making you sea-sick and you don’t know what to do.

Peter felt the same way. (Mat 14:25-33). He and the other disciples were in a boat and a storm came up. JESUS came to them walking on the water. They thought it was a ghost and were afraid. JESUS yelled out that it was HIM. Peter yelled back, “If it is you, let me come to you on the water.” JESUS told him to come on. So, Peter jumped out of the boat and started walking on the water toward JESUS. But because there was so much motion in the ocean due to the storm, Peter took his eyes off his fixed point, JESUS, and started sinking.

Peter’s faith wavered, like mine has when I have faced hard stuff, life-changing stuff. But because of what little faith I did have, I called out to JESUS like Peter did, and HE pulled me out of the nausea-causing waves and gave me a point to focus on. So just like Peter, JESUS became my focus point.

James says, “But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose he will receive anything from the LORD; he is a double-minded man unstable in all his ways.” This person seems to be concentrating on the waves and not his focus point, JESUS.

We need to keep a fixed point so that you don’t get overwhelmed by the “motion of the ocean” that life sends our way. There will be waves and times when nausea or panic might hit but use what faith you have to call on JESUS, and HE will be that point of focus to help you overcome the seasickness of life.