Depicted throughout Paris is the city’s motto, “Fluctuat nec mergitur” (“She is tossed by the waves but does not sink”). This motto appears all over Paris and has provided hope and strength during times of conflict and difficulty in the city’s history. Though shaken in a time of storm, the motto declares that Paris will never sink beneath the waves of misfortune.
Right now, we may find ourselves shaken and in turbulent waters. Our weathercasters watch as hurricanes line up and swirl about in the Atlantic Ocean. Some of our friends in Florida, South Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas are dealing with storms and flooding. Hurricane Sally caused trees to fall all over in Atlanta and creeks to rise as she blew through. (I’m sorry to say that one of the storms to follow Sally is named “Vicky!”)
We are coping with not just weather-related storms in our world. We are living with the storm and upheaval of the pandemic that has affected all of us in every aspect of life. We may be coping with personal storms of employment or finances. We may feel that the storm of this year has violently separated us from family members, friends, and colleagues. We may be living with the storm that is illness in someone we love. We may be dreading the coming of Election Day with the kind of fear we attach to an approaching tornado. It’s too much, Lord, we might pray. I am afraid.
In our Scripture, Jesus coped with a storm that overwhelmed his friends. While they were panicking, Jesus was asleep in their boat. They woke him and basically said, “We are in big trouble, and you are sleeping? Don’t you care we are about to die in this storm?” He stood up and asked them, “Why are you afraid? Where is your faith?” Then he rebuked the storm, and the sea became like glass.
Jesus is in our boat still. He may not be visible to the longing eye, but He is with us. He is unpanicked and in control of our world and life itself. He cares about our storms, but He is not at their mercy. And He gives us strength and hope that there will be an end to the storms that toss us to and fro. There will come a time when there is complete peace. We are not at the mercy of the storms because He is in the boat of our lives. We will not be lost or beyond His help and His love. We may be “tossed by the waves, but we will never sink.”