Chapel Protestant Community

Enduring the Storm
And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But Jesus was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they awoke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”
Mark 4:37-38

Our relationship with Jesus Christ does not promise us an exemption from trouble. While there are many in the Christian family who believe that giving our lives to Christ will make us eternally free from trouble and secure from every storm, both our own life experiences and the sacred narratives of Jesus’ disciples and apostles indicate to us that carrying our own cross as we follow Jesus is likely to lead us directly into many storms.

Journeying with Jesus on the sea, his disciples suddenly encountered a storm. Though they faced dangerous gales and treacherous waves they were never knocked off course or in real danger of failing to reach their destination. They may not have enjoyed the journey, nor fully understood the potential calamities they faced, but with Jesus in their midst, not even the untamed, unruly, and ungovernable chaos of the seas could deter them from accomplishing God’s will for their lives.

No matter what storms we face in life, we need not lose hope because our Lord and Savior, who has the power and authority over all things in earth and in heaven, journeys with us. He never sleeps; he never slumbers; he loves us, and has chosen to reside with us forever. Jesus Christ dwells with us; let us never be afraid.


Chaplain Ryan Whitfield

Teach Us to Pray - God meets our Needs
“Give us this day our daily bread…” - Matthew 6:11 (NRSV)


Here is an essential secret to prayer: God knows what you need, even before you ask, but desires for a relationship, similar to a good parent and their child, to occur; this, in turn, requires us to have conversations with God or prayer.

When the disciples asked Jesus how to pray, he taught them to seek God for their daily bread. Bread sustains us, which is what God provided the Israelites with in the desert. God daily provided them manna or bread from heaven to meet their physical needs. God was teaching them and us an important lesson–God is our sustainer. Jesus similarly validated this point over and over in the Gospels, from the feeding of the 5,000 (John 6:1-14) to the woman at the well (John 4.5-30), and the disciples (John 6.35) and even as he resisted temptation (Luke 4.4). Scripture reminds us that God in and through the Holy Spirit knows what we need, even the deep needs we cannot articulate (Romans 8.26-27).

The late 19th-century pastor and prayer warrior E. M. Bounds said it this way"

"When we pray, "Give us this day our daily bread," we are, in a measure, shutting tomorrow out of our prayer. We do not live in tomorrow but in today. We do not seek tomorrow's grace or tomorrow's bread. They thrive best, and get most out of life, who live in the living present. They pray best who pray for today's needs, not for tomorrow's, which may render our prayers unnecessary and redundant by not existing at all!"

The point is God desires for us daily to seek our deep physical, emotional, mental, or spiritual needs from God through the power of the Holy Spirit and the work accomplished by Jesus on our behalf.

Now to the so what of this devotional: Church, yesterday, and tomorrow are important. We spend lots of energy on what we used to have or need and what we need in the future, but we only have to focus on today. God wants us to ask for the bread that we need daily–this is more than full bellies–this is asking God to meet our deepest human needs every morning or whenever we pray. When you pray, ask God for what you need to sustain you for the day. God will provide.

Keep up the Good Fight,

Chaplain Weatherwax

"The Season You're In"

"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the sun.”
- Eccesiates 3:1


Every new year brings many to create new years resolutions. Some are renewed goals from years past and others are brand new aspirations. Many are desperate for a new season to begin, discontent with the current season or circumstance.

The writer of Ecclesiastes proposes an unusual approach to learning the meaning of life. 3:1-13 establishes that there is a time, a season, for everything. It’s not just the seasons related to the weather patterns and times of the calendar year. There are seasons for every circumstance we encounter. Times for birth and death, mourning and dancing, building and tearing down, etc. Most seasons and circumstances happen outside of our control and some we choose to initiate. In all of them we have an obligation to participate in one way or another. It often requires effort and work, or as Ecclesiastes calls it, toil. We work to put together holiday meals. We work to start new businesses. We work to write new policy to better the Fleet. We work through grief. And we work to bring joy to loved ones during the Christmas season. But what is the point of it all?

In the book of Revelation, John sees a new heaven and new earth where God himself dwells with his people. There is no more death, no more mourning, no crying, and no pain. A season is coming when he will make all things new in the final and everlasting season. For now, we work and toil in one of the seasons set forth in Ecclesiastes. And as we continue to wait for the Son of Man to return and for all things to be made new, we can live in each season as Christ lived, with the confidence that God makes everything beautiful in its time. (Ecc. 3:11)

May God bless you with satisfaction in all you do, whatever season you’re in.

Chaplain Vanessa Platek