The Jeep Life. We decided to embrace that life over a year ago now. And let me just say… It’s been a blast. We’ve had some great times in the Jeep. Jami and I have loved it. The kids have loved it. Lola, well, she’s really loved it too. All winter long we look forward to the day when we can finally take the doors and top off and ride around town for our mini adventures. It really does make the everyday, ordinary drives fun… And at times hilariously funny.

Like in the spring of 2020. It was actually a nice, warmer day for May around here. We decided to take the doors off, put the top down, and take a drive to get lunch in Elkhart, ice cream in Goshen, then run to Menards on the way back home.

As we were driving to Menards, we noticed that a few clouds had rolled in. And once we pulled into the parking lot at Menards, it became clear that it had just poured… Like pouuurrrrred. So we quickly ran in to grab what we needed, and we quickly ran back out.

Now, once back in our Jeep, Jami checked the radar one last time as we began to head for home. What did we see? Oh, we saw a line of heavy rain heading our way. So we decided to try our luck and run for home. 10 miles. 18 minutes. That’s all the distance we were from home. With just seven minutes to go and three miles left, the sky opened up on us. Rain like we had never seen before started to pour down on us. It was raining so hard that I couldn’t see through the windshield. The only way I could see to drive was to hang my head out of the side of the Jeep where the doors would have normally been.

The windshield wipers were wiping back and forth. But they weren’t clearing the water. I thought it was just because it was pouring rain so hard. And that was sort of true. Once we got home and pulled into the garage, I noticed that the wipers were still going… But they weren’t wiping any of the water off the windshield. I literally sat there for close to 30 seconds wondering why the wipers weren’t working. For a moment, I thought that maybe they weren’t touching the windshield. So, I put my hand on the glass. And guess what!? There wasn’t any water on the outside of the windshield. All, and I mean, all of the water was on the inside. It was pouring down so hard that the rain was literally wrapping around the inside of the Jeep and hitting the inside of the windshield. Of course the wipers weren’t helping! They weren’t working because the rain was on the inside of the windshield, it wasn’t on the surface of the windshield.

And as I was thinking back and reminiscing on this story, I began to wonder. How many of us are living our lives this way. We know we have problems or issues going on in our lives. Problems at school. Issues and fights with parents. Problems in our marriages. Problems at work. Problems in our personal life. Problems in our relationships. We know. We know that, right now, it’s pouring rain in different areas of our life. We are cruising down the road just trying to see just enough to not crash our lives.

And we’re trying everything we can just to make it to the next day. A relationship doesn’t work out, so let’s try a different guy or a different girl. This job isn’t working out either. So let’s try a different job. Surely this will be the right one. This marriage doesn’t seem to be working. So we try another marriage. The problems in our personal life seem to be too much to handle, so maybe we turn to alcohol or drugs to solve them. Or maybe we just want to sleep, so we can forget everything… Every problem. Every issue. Every day.

And we try to solve the issues and problems we face by what we currently know how to do. But everything we’ve tried just isn’t working. It’s not solving the issues. It’s not solving any of our problems. It’s not solving the hurt and pain and holes we feel. Everything we try just isn’t working. And our life feels like one giant storm.

I’ve been there. And a few other people have been there too. Check this out:

As evening came, Jesus said to his disciples, “Let’s cross to the other side of the lake.” So they took Jesus in the boat and started out, leaving the crowds behind (although other boats followed). But soon a fierce storm came up. High waves were breaking into the boat, and it began to fill with water.

Jesus was sleeping at the back of the boat with his head on a cushion. The disciples woke him up, shouting, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to drown?”

When Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Silence! Be still!” Suddenly the wind stopped, and there was a great calm. Then he asked them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

The disciples were absolutely terrified. “Who is this man?” they asked each other. “Even the wind and waves obey him!” – Mark 4:35-41

The disciples face a storm themselves. Well, they would face many storms, but this storm was out on the Sea of Galilee. The boat began to fill with water and they began to freak out. I wonder how many of them tried to bale the water out with their hands. The Bible doesn’t tell us. But it does tell us that they woke Him up in a frantic shout. They didn’t wake Him up trusting that He could help them. They woke Him up and basically accused Him of not caring about them and their problem. But Jesus, being who He is, calmed the storm. There was nothing they could do to stop the boat from sinking. Everything they had tried or could try just would not work. Only Jesus could calm their storm.

And the same is true for each one of us. You see, everything we try to solve our problems… Everything we try to stop our life’s storm… To heal our pain… To heal our hurt… To fill the hole in our hearts… It’s all just wiping the issues away on the surface. The true pain and problems and hurt and holes are under the surface where the solutions we come up with just won’t work. Just like the wipers not working on our Jeep because the rain was on the inside of our windshield, what truly needs to be wiped away in our lives is on the inside of our hearts and our souls. And the only thing… The only person that can heal our hurt and pain… The only person that can solve our problems and calm our storms… The only person that can fill the hole in our hearts is Jesus Himself.

I’ll leave you with this, Ephesians chapter 2, verses 1-10 says this:

Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else.

But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus. So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus.

God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. – Ephesians 2:1-10

It’s Jesus. The person who can make you whole, calm your storms and heal your heart. It’s only Jesus. And it always will be Jesus.