If you like Bible stories you probably will come across a couple of happenings in a boat. I am particularly interested in stories happened in boats. First and foremost, I fish. Boat trips are familiar to me. We were caught in thunderstorms a few times and those times can be intimidating. A boat in a stormy sea can make you feel the loss of control and it wasn't the best feeling for any boaters.

There was once a prophet by the name of Jonah. Jonah was running from God and he boarded a boat. After which there rose a storm. This was no ordinary storm. The people in the boat thought they were going to perish. So they prayed to their gods. Jonah was asleep while the people panicked. Jonah knew he was the cause of the storm because he was running away from his mission to preach in Nineveh. He had no interest to preach there. The people in Nineveh were enemies who gave his people hell. He wanted no pity or mercy for them. God had other plans.

There was yet another person. His name is Jesus. This prophet was completely different from Jonah. He was fully submissive to the will of God. In fact, he was willing to give up his life fulfilling the plan God has for saving the world. The world was hostile to God. But Jesus would do everything within his power to save them. After teaching a long sermon, he wanted also to preach on the other side of the lake. Back then, the boat was a common transport to get across the lake. So Jesus went on a boat. And then a storm arises. This was no ordinary storm. The people in the boat thought they were going to perish. Jesus was asleep while the people panicked. How interesting the two stories coincide.

Back to Jonah. He knew he had trouble with God and that caused the storm. He knew that if he dies the storm would cease. So he suggested that the people throw him overboard. They did and the storm ceased. Jonah, however, ended up in a big fish's belly. He ended up on land after three days of torture and the fish spat him out. He did the will of God after that. He preached to Nineveh with just eight words. "Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown."

Back to Jesus. He did nothing to deserve a storm. A storm came anyway. Instead of death to calm the storm, he commanded the storm to be calmed. And it did. The people were astonished. What kind of man can command nature? They were in awe. Yet sometime later, this same Jesus was crucified on the cross and left in the tomb for three days. The world was a worse place than the stormy sea. But the tomb could not hold him and Jesus resurrected after three days.

Nineveh repented before God because of Jonah's message. Today, many did not repent before God after hearing Jesus' message. Another storm will come. Will we be like Jonah running away from God and exchange our life to try to calm it? Or will we be like Jesus abiding in God so that even in death, even the grave cannot hold us?

Jesus, like Jonas, has the mission to save. Matthew 12:40.

May we learn to submit to the will of God. For we know that storm might kill us but death will never hold us if we are in Christ Jesus our Lord. He had the track record of victory over death. Hallelujah!