When I was 15 years old my grandmother bought a plane ticket for my cousin and I from Texas to Fairbanks, Alaska. It was a dream trip for a 9th grade kid, and it was my first ever commercial airplane ride. I have an uncle who lived there then and still lives there today. To top all this off, he was at that time a bush pilot taking frequent flights all over central and north slope Alaska. Unbelievably fun flying around in a small plane watching Moose, Caribou and Grizzly bear! Recently I had a chance to visit him and I asked him if he in all his flying years in a Piper Cub around the vast wilderness of Alaska had ever had an accident or a close call. In his calm way he first said… “no, not really.” (Very unlike me he is a man of few words). Then he sat back and he said… “Well, there was that one time…” Of course I had to ask him how you might overlook an airplane crash as ‘no big deal.’ But he then went on to tell me about a flight in that bush plane where he was crossing over some mountains and a downdraft pushed his plane out of control and he plowed into the side of a mountain. Not just any old mountainside, as it was in the middle of nowhere. With a blooded-up head and face, he said he and the other guy with him had to hike three days back to the bush camp to finally get help. I don’t know about you, but I couldn’t believe that his first answer to the question about any close call incident with his plane was, “no I don’t think I ever have had an accident.” If it were me in that situation, that story would be the cover title of book. I would likely have panicked, out of my mind, and desperate. And the three days walk out across the tundra of the great north with lots of Grizzly that would have enjoyed having me for lunch… It would be classified as a desperate and dire situation, and it certainly would have justified my panicked state.
This coming Sunday morning I am teaching another of the ‘Jesus’ healing’ stories out of the book of Mark. Specifically I want you to read and contemplate ahead Mark 5:21-43. It’s actually two healing stories sandwiched together. Two different people back to back reaching out for Jesus to bring healing. They are from totally different backgrounds and have their own unique story. The one major common denominator in their stories is that were both desperate and even panicked to receive help from Jesus. And Jesus did indeed bring His healing power to both of them. It is a grand story that is also found in Matthew 9:18-26 and Luke 8:40-56 as well as here in Mark 5. It is amazing what we learn from these two healing stories and how they had come to just not just in panic, but fright, fear, dread, and even horror. And yet in the end Jesus turned their desperation into a powerful path to being a follower of the Savior. They always say that we should never make serious decisions while in desperation. That all sounds so logical UNTIL we find ourselves in a situation that overwhelms us much like these two stories we will study. Learning who this Jesus really is – is how God transforms our panic to life of calm stability and the path to being a solidly planted disciple for Him.
This is our story for Sunday. Come ready to open God’s Word together.
