Well, here we are, back in Ordinary Time, living day in and day out, trying to put into practice what we have learned from the readings during the more particular times in the church's liturgical cycle. Psalm 107 says : "They cried out to the Lord in their distress." How many of us can identify with that? It sure does sound like ordinary time to me.

Both our first reading and the Gospel are about serious troubles, how folks cry to the Lord when they encounter them, and the Lord's response. No one in all of the history of the world has had more serious troubles at one time than Job. Sometimes, people, me included, think that they are coming awfully close. Like in Job's time, those around offer reasons and even suggestions. True friends just stand with you, somehow helping to bear the burden, even though they are unable to lift it. By their presence, friends remind us that the Lord is faithful and so we try to be, too. Still, we cry out to the Lord.

As in the case of the disciples, sometimes we can become rather terrified and impatient, even when we know the Lord is with us. That is a strange thing about humanity, isn't it ? Even when the Lord is with us, our bodies initially remind us that "big trouble" means big trouble. It becomes hard to remember, especially in times such as those "big trouble" kind, that the Lord does not operate on our time... just His.

I'm kinda "in the boat" right now, not so much terrified as having that sinking feeling inside, maybe from the knots in my stomach. Maybe I feel more like Job than the disciples or maybe just a combination. I am waiting for no less than six concurrent emergencies to be resolved. One a day would be great, Lord. You could even rest on the seventh day !! In the meantime, the knots in my stomach are there. So are a few true friends, mostly far away but still there by phone. So are many prayers. So is the Lord, working all these things out in His time.

Where am I? I'm trying to listen to God 's advice to Job. My own "proud waves" of impatience, worry, feeling so disheartened, even rocking the boat so the Lord will DO something, hmm, they all quiet. Then I remember that those biblical days of created good are not to be taken literally. I listen to Jesus ask, "Do you not yet have faith?" and I truly wonder. Certainly not enough, but like the wind and the sea, all will obey Him, even me. I am stilled as I remember "Be still and know that I am God."

(Comments to Lanie at lanieleblanc@mindspring.com.)