Who is the captain of your heart? You may wonder why I am asking such a question but it is very important in a Christian's life, and even those who have not yet believed in Christ Jesus as their Savior and Lord. The disciples were in the boat with Jesus Christ. They were in the midst of the sea, when the waves and tides arose. Water started getting into the boat. This was dangerous and thus endangered their lives. They immediately started saving themselves.

​The Bible says, "A great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?"

Sometimes when things are hard, when a problem arises, when one of us dies we grieve and mourn over the person. Sometimes we don't call upon the captain of our hearts Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. But if we call upon Him when we are in agony and pain, when it seems that the direction is lost, then He will surely answer. When the waves of this world beat against us we are most certain that the Lord is the Captain and is in control.

Even if the boat of our hearts is already filled with water, troubles (and most of them painful) there is only one source of peace, our Lord Jesus Christ! The Bible says that while the tides and waves were beating against the boat where Jesus was resting (sleeping) and water filling the boat and other boats that were with Him according to Mark, the disciples called upon the Lord and the Lord awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, "Peace! Be still!" And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, "Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?" In this case we see Christ had His faith in the Father. All His hope was in the Father. He had no hope in Himself that is why He was not troubled with the tide and waves and water filling the boat! He knew that the Father was in control all things, in heaven and earth. That is why He slept like a baby! He had full confidence in the Father. The next thing is that, the Lord arose and rebuked the waves and there was peace and the sea was still. This means that when storms arise in our hearts, when we call upon the Captain of our hearts, He speaks PEACE! And everything becomes still! FAITH IN THE LORD IS ALL THAT THE STORMS THAT FILL OUR HEARTS NEED! Faith that He is fully in CONTROL! Without Faith there would be no hope, hope without Faith is groundless! Here is what my family and I went through when we lost Grandpa:

On 17th August 2018,I was revising for my exams in my house ,when I received a text from my Dad that Grandpa was no more and that he had gone to be with the Lord. Dad again told me that Grandpa, though a Bishop in one of the Churches in Africa (Legio Maria of East Africa) had not received Christ as his Lord and Savior. So, Dad led Grandpa to receive Jesus as his personal Savior and Lord! Here is what Dad said, "Father you have been preaching for a long time now. You have been working for God. You surely don't have to miss heaven." Then Grandpa nodded his head in agreement.

Then Dad asked Grandpa to pray to the Lord alone for salvation. Grandpa could not speak because of the stroke, but he actually was praying in his heart. Then Dad prayed over him. One day passed and then Grandpa passed away. When I received the news from Dad, I was shocked and could not believe. I immediately started mourning over Grandpa's death. I lost track of my studies and started my journey to Grandpa's home.

In Grandpa's home I saw what I can never forget! My aunt received me and hugged me and told me that Grandpa is gone and that we could not see him no more. So, I uncontrollably started weeping, I went straight to Grandma, and hugged her. She was quiet. Peaceful. She did not weep. I was astounded. She said, "Weep my child. He cannot come back to life again but we are the ones who will go to where he is. There is nothing we can do.." The one who needed to be comforted turned out to be the comforter.

Then a question arose in my heart: What gave Grandma such strength? The Holy Spirit let me know that it was the eternal hope of eternal life. She knew that heaven is our home and that we are just passersby here in this world. The Bible says: "Weep with those who weep" You see the Bible does not deny us the right to weep over our loved ones. We have to weep and comfort them. To feel what they feel. To see what they see. Empathy as the word goes. This is the comfort that human beings can be able to give as far as we are concerned. But the greatest comfort comes from Him who is LORD! But the Bible does not allow one thing, thus the Word says:(1 Thess 4:13_14),But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep.

What Paul means above is that we should grieve, yes, but not like those people who don't have hope. We have hope of resurrection! Even as Jesus rose from the death, we will rise again!

This is the true hope we have in Christ Jesus and is based on love. We have faith in Him not because we will go to heaven. No! Our hope is not based on because we want the resurrection. No! But because He first loved and sent His as an atoning sacrifice for our sins! We love because He first love us. We do all of this by the motivation of His love. We put our faith and hope in Him because of His unconditional love for us. I have come to realize that this true hope is what is in the hearts of true believers.

That is why we grieve but not like those who have no hope. This hope won’t put us to shame. This is true hope! This is what has kept us going on as a family over the loss of Grandpa. Our faith and hope in the Lord is our anchor. This is what kept Grandma relaxed and confident. It is a lesson that the Lord has taught me and I hope through this testimony will teach you too. John said that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son-Jesus Christ.in Christ is true hope!

In conclusion, we are His children and but what we will be has not yet been made known. But, we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. Anyone who has this hope purifies himself even as He is pure. Do you want to have the true Faith and Hope? Only have faith in Christ Jesus. Believe all that He did for you! Call upon His name and you will be saved once and for all! Amen and Amen!