Bout time ago, a little class in a Sunday school, having finished their lesson, were Looking earnestly at a print they had just received. It was that touching scene representing the disciples with Christ on the Sea of Tiberias. The wind had risen since they left the shore and was swaying the sail almost into the water. A very high wave was dashing against the prow of the frail boat, and threatening the next moment to sweep over all. One of the boys said earnestly, “What a dreadful storm! You can almost hear the thunder. How glad I am that I was not there.”
Little Ally looked up from the paper and said, “I should like to have been in that boat.”
“You would like to have been in such an awful tempest?” asked the first speaker in surprise. “Why?”
Ally replied simply. “Because Jesus was there.”
It was a sweet reply. I have never forgotten it. I hope you will never forget it. To love to be near the Saviour even in a storm. To be near Him because His presence can make us forget the tempest, and trust in Him that when He thinks best, He will hush the angry winds and waves. One of our hymns says:
“With Christ in the vessel
I’ll smile at the storm.”
Those who love the company of Christ He will take sooner or later to be with Him forever. Ally did not have to wait long. A few days of violent suffering from fever, and then he went to be with Christ. That the Saviour was with him in the heaviest storm that ever broke over this dear boy, we may learn from his dying words, “I love Jesus.” John 8:4242Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. (John 8:42).