1. Quick Introduction

2. Light the Christ Candle

3. (teach response: This is the word of God for the people of God, Thanks be to God.
Reading of Scripture: Mark 4:35-41 (The Message)
The Wind Ran Out of Breath

 35-38Late that day he said to them, "Let's go across to the other side." They took him in the boat as he was. Other boats came along. A huge storm came up. Waves poured into the boat, threatening to sink it. And Jesus was in the stern, head on a pillow, sleeping! They roused him, saying, "Teacher, is it nothing to you that we're going down?"

 39-40Awake now, he told the wind to pipe down and said to the sea, "Quiet! Settle down!" The wind ran out of breath; the sea became smooth as glass. Jesus reprimanded the disciples: "Why are you such cowards? Don't you have any faith at all?"

 41They were in absolute awe, staggered. "Who is this, anyway?" they asked. "Wind and sea at his beck and call!"

MESSAGE

There was once a giant who had a giant house with a giant garage, a giant car, a giant dog who lived in a giant dog house.  But the giant's prized possession was not his giant house, nor was it his giant garage or car.  It wasn't even his giant dog or giant doghouse.  No, this giant's favorite thing in all the world was his giant garden.  This garden had beautiful giant trees, and flowers and even a giant fountain in the middle.

One day the giant received a phone call on his giant cell phone and he immediately left his giant house driving away in his giant car.  And no one in the neighborhood was at all sure why.  Day after day peopled walked up and down their regular sized streets and looked out of their regular sized windows to see if the giant had returned.  And everyday it was the same- he was still gone. 

Several years went by and the giant did not return.  But his house and garden looked the exact same as when he had left.  And one day children began playing in the garden.  It was a great place to play all kinds of games.  Soon this become the place where all the kids in the neighborhood came to play.  They'd come before school and get a few minutes in, they'd come after school until they had to go in for dinner and then sometimes they came out after dinner until they had to go in for bed.

Year in and year out the giant's garden was the place to be for kids to hang out.  Until one day the giant finally returned home.  He got out of his giant car and saw all the kids playing in his garden and he yelled at them- IF YOU DON'T GET OUT OF MY GARDEN AND MY YARD- I'M GOING TO EAT YOU!!!  All the kids, who by now had only heard horror stories about this giant turned pale  and ran out of the giant's yard as fast as they could.  Immediately the giant built a fence around his yard and put a sign up that said, "KEEP OUT!! ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK".

Well of course none of the kids came back to the garden and the giant was happy.  Well the seasons changed, summer turned to fall and soon fall turned to winter.  And as fall was finally turning to spring the giant noticed that although all across the neighborhood the sun was beginning to shine and get warmer, with flowers blooming- his yard was still in the middle of a horrible winter.  The trees were still covered in a sheet of ice, the ground was white with snow and the wind was howling with snow thrashing in all directions.

Well, summer came everywhere except the giant's house and then fall and again winter.  The next year as spring began to roll into town the giant began to be very upset and angry.  He couldn't understand why his house and garden remained in a state of winter.  Well one morning the giant woke up and he didn't hear the usual sound of wind thrashing about on his roof, instead he heard the most curious and nice sound- the sound of singing and laughter.  He peeked out his window and he saw to his surprise that the kids from the neighborhood had climbled over the giant fence and were playing in the garden.  But they weren't throwing snowballs at one another or playing in the snow- instead there was sunlight and warmth and the trees were green and full and flowers were full and colorful.  It was the most wonderful thing he had ever seen.  But then he noticed that in the corner of the garden there was one spot that was still winter.  In that spot was a small boy who was trying to climb up into one of the trees but could not reach the first branch.  All around him the winter storm raged.  The giant ran outside to the child and picked him up and raised him into the tree.  The boy was so excited that he reached out and hugged the giant and continued to play.

All the kids were ready to run away once they saw the giant in the yard but most were so scared they coudn't move.  "Please", said the giant, "you have to stay and play in the garden as much as you want.  I was wrong to make you leave.  I now see that you are a part of this place and a part of me.  You are always welcome." 

After that day the kids from the neighborhood came everyday once again to play in the giant's garden.  And after that day- all the seasons returned to normal in the giants house and yard.  But everyday the giant looked for the small boy who he had helped into the tree but he never returned.  No one knew who that strange little boy was.

Many years later the giant was very old.  He now sat in his rocking chair day after day watching the children come and play in his garden and sometimes when his bones weren't aching so badly he'd get up and play with them.  This morning he was feeling especially achey.  No one was in the garden with him.  He looked up and saw the little boy that he had encountered so many years ago.  He appeared to be wounded, blood dripping from his hands and his feet.  The giant said, "I've been waiting to see you again for a long time.  You are hurt, let me take care of you." 

"No", the boy said, "It's I that will take care of you.  It is time for you to sleep and then awake in paradise.  These wounds are wounds of love that I have for you and for everyone.  Now, sleep for a while and when you wake up you'll see me again."  The giant fell into a deep sleep and the boy took his spirit away.  Later that day when the kids came to play the giant was not there, but there was a small new tree where he had fallen asleep.  And every day the kids came to play at the giant's garden and every once in a while they would tell stories about that wonderful giant who had loved them so much.
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When I got to college my freshman year, I had no idea what I wanted to do when I grew up.  I was pretty sure that I'd like to be a writer so I enrolled in a journalism class.  I thought adverstising might be a cool field for someone who enjoyed being creative and writing so I took introduction to advertising and I took a world religions class.  After my first semester came to and end- I was pretty sure that I did not want to be in the advertising business, and I wasn't sure that I believed in God any more.  Winter had set in and it didn't seem like spring was in sight.

For the better part of my sophomore year I focused on music business, philosophy classes and reading as much as I could from as many different religions as I could.  And honestly, that winter season that had kicked in during my freshman year had not left.  I felt empty inside, confused about who I was, what I believed about life and I everything that I had held close to my heart before college- my faith, my love for Christ had gone by the wayside.  I didn't even know how to begin to get passed where I was.

One night I woke up in my dorm room and like the giant who woke up knowing that something was different- I had this overwhelming feeling that life was different- that the God who I had encountered for the first time when I was in high school broke through my winter and said, "Jonathon- everything is ok.  I'm here and you are loved."  Now I didn't actually hear a voice say that, it was more like a feeling deep down in my gut, and it felt good.  It was like God was saying, winter is over, and spring is breaking through.

After that experience I felt a call to youth ministry.  So most of the classes that I took and the direction of my life began to change so I could follow God down this new path.  One of the things that I have learned since I started following Christ is that when we hit winter seasons in our lives, God never leaves us there.  I wish I could tell you that once you follow Christ that winter never comes back and it's always summer vacation and spring break, and you're on the beach with mtv following you around, but like the story of the giant said- once the kids returned- the seasons also returned. 

As a youth pastor my greatest joy is in the relationships and friendships that I make with the students in my youth group.  It's kind of what I live for.  Just a couple of years ago one of my former students who I was extremely close to, was now an adult in his mid twenties.  His name was Carl.  And one summer several years ago, Carl did some horrible things; absolutely horrible.  He ended up in jail and word had come down that he would more than likely spend the rest of his life in jail.  He had entered a winter season and he could not see the seasons changing ever.  He wrote me over and over to please come and visit, and I did.  But I was so angry with him that I didn't have any words to say to him.  I was pretty scared about what I might say if I actually opened my mouth too much. 

Well, early one morning a friend of mine who also knew Carl pretty well called and said, "hey did you hear what happened?"  She actually didn't have to tell me.  Somehow I just knew before she told me, that Carl had taken his own life in jail.  I loved Carl.  Carl had spent most of his life living in a winter season.  After that experience winter began to set in for a long rest in my life too.  Again I began to question my faith, question my call by God, and wonder what in the world was going on.

In the scripture reading, it's not winter that has set in but a storm.  The disciples, the closest friends of Jesus, are scared out of their minds.  They are absolutely sure that this is it- they are dead.  It must have been a horrible storm- these were afterall fishermen by trade, used to storms and being on the water.   Now while the disciples are freaking out in the boat- Jesus is snoozing.  This is that good kind of sleep- like you get when you fall asleep in the middle of a study hall and you've got the thick drool line from your mouth to the desk. 

So the disciples come to Jesus and are pretty sure they aren't going to make it out of this storm and basically say, "so I guess you may as well sleep since we're all going to die."  I can only imagine that Jesus who has had a tough and exhausting day is a little annoyed with the disciples but he gets up, goes outside the boat and basically speaks to the storm, "SHHHHHHHHHH.... PEACE..... BE STILL."  And that's it.  The storm subsides.  And the disciples are amazed....

Friends, aren't we all in that same boat at different times in our lives.  Whether it feels like a storm that is all around us and our lives are sinking down, or we are in the middle of a winter season and spring isn't coming, God promises us that the storm will let up and spring will come.

I mainly do what I do as a youth pastor because I have known what it's like to go through those storms and winter seasons and to feel like Jesus is asleep in the boat.  I would never want someone else to go through that and feel like they were alone on the boat and by themselves.  It wasn't until the giant realized that he needed the kids in his garden that his winter ended. 

All around us in this world there are people living in storms and winter seasons.  People are dying to violent storms in Darfur.  All over Africa there is a winter season due to aids and hiv, in Iraq our soldiers and Iraqi people are facing storms every day, and even at DCA and in my neighborhood we struggle to know if God is there, if God can hear us, if anyone cares.  Friends, God wants each one of us to step up and step out from inside the boat we on and to see those around us who might be hurting and to say, "quiet yourself, settle down your soul, cause I'm listening."

When we all stop and listen and reach out to one another in the love of Christ- winter has no more power and the storms fizzle out.  My hope for you as students is that you will find the winter seasons in each others' lives and the lives of others in this world and let them know that spring is coming.  Amen.