Find You A Boat

Mark 3:9 - He told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, so that they would not crush him.

Life can be stressful and it feels like the world is closing in you. Sometimes life seems to crush the very life out of you. The demands of work, family, clients, patients, and members can get you to a place where you feel tapped out. It is good to get away with Jesus so you can hear Him above the roar and the press of the crowd.

In Mark Chapters 3-4, Jesus gets in a boat at least 3 times to get away from the crowd. As much as he loved to minister, preach, teach, and heal the crowd, he also had to get away from the crowd. You are not going to be any good for the people unless you get away from people periodically and find you a boat to get away with Jesus.

Your boat can be a retreat to a spiritual retreat center. Your boat can be a literal fishing boat. Your boat can be your car to drive you down to a park and sit by the water. Your boat can be an airplane that takes you to a deserving vacation. Your boat can be you walking into your office, closing the door and spending time with God, but you have to find you a boat.

Jesus got in the boat 3 times:

1. He got in the boat after criticism of healing a man on the Sabbath. Mark 3: 9 - whenever you are unorthodox or out of the box people who are stuck in tradition are going to have a problem with how you help people. Even though Jesus handled criticism well, he still had to pull away from the crowd to clear his head and get some rest. When you are criticized be sure to respond with emotional intelligence and spiritual resiliency but make sure you get away afterwards to recharge.

2. He got in the boat to give some distance from the crowd. He taught from a distance. You don’t always have to be in the mix to help people out. Sometimes you need to teach from the boat. Instead of getting involved with the crowd teach people from your boat. Talk to them from the boat phone. Send them a boat email. Inbox them on Faceboat. LOL. Where you are right now it would not be good to try to teach with the crowd pressing in on you. Give yourself some distance.

3. He got into the boat after he finished teaching his disciples. Mark 4:35. Whenever you pour yourself out to the people you care the most about you need to take yourself to the other side for some rest. Don’t be surprised though when a storm arises while you are in the boat. This is just a test to see if you are going to trust Jesus while he’s in the boat with you. When you do, he will give you PEACE in your boat.

Dear God, please get in the boat with me and give me rest, teach me what it means to be a disciple, and get me ready to face whatever is on the other side when you and I get out of the boat.

In Jesus Name,

Amen