GREAT THINGS ENTERPRISE
CLAUDE BLACK
Mark 6:47
A Lonely Job
While in high school, I worked five hours every evening for Reeves Concrete Products. Another employee and I had a variety of responsibilities. The main duty was to ensure that every truck was fueled and ready for the next day. Occasionally, a driver would bring in a load of cement, usually two hundred bags weighing ninety-four pounds each. If there were two of us, I was the low man on the totem pole, so I got the job of unloading the bags of cement into the storage room—all two hundred of them—bag by bag by bag. It was a lonely job.
After teaching, ministering, and feeding a large crowd, Jesus sent his disciples in a boat to the other side of the lake while he spent the evening on a mountain in prayer. “And when evening had come, the boat was in the middle of the sea, and he was alone on the land.” (Mark 6:47) It’s easy to sympathize with the disciples, alone in the middle of the sea. I’ve never sailed a boat, so I wouldn’t know the first thing about the task, but I’ve watched others sail, and it sure looked like hard work. The disciples were alone in the early hours of the morning, sailing toward the western shore—it was a lonely job.
A neighboring pastor came for a visit. He needed comfort and encouragement. He described some of the hardships he faced in his ministry—hardships with which I could identify. As I listened to him talk, I thought he had a lonely job, somewhat like the disciples, doing what they were commanded, alone in the middle of the lake.
Yes, it was a lonely job, but that is not the end of the story.
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