The Gospels of Matthew and Luke describe Jesus calming a raging storm with His disciples, as does our passage from Mark’s Gospel today. This story exemplifies how Jesus’ disciples were just like you and me. They saw Jesus perform countless miracles and walked with Him day to day, but they still found it hard to believe that Christ would not let them drown. When Jesus rebuked their lack of faith, by extension, He also rebuked our lack of faith. We face many storms in our daily lives, yet we often fail to acknowledge that the Lord can calm us during these storms. He is with us and is happy to bring us peace and comfort. Do you know the de profundis prayer from Psalm 130? “Out of the depths, I have cried to you, O Lord. O Lord, be attentive to the voice of my pleading.” It is the prayer we should offer at the darkest times of life, when we find ourselves lost and in the shadow of death, when, in our desperation, we feel utterly incapable of helping ourselves. What calms the storm in life is not that all of our problems suddenly disappear but that, within them, we realize that because God is still in charge, all will be well: illness, financial loss, painful relationships, lost jobs, loneliness, and the shadow of death itself notwithstanding. All will be well because, even asleep with his head on a cushion, God is still Lord.