The Perfect Faith
Yesterday was the first day in over a week that it didn't rain. In fact, it was, what I call a Top-10 day—perfect in every way. But here in the Northeast, everyone knows that regardless of how beautiful it is at the moment, there's always "a chance of T-storms," in the forecast, particularly following a glorious day.
Sure enough, around 3:30 this morning, the rumbles started as streaks of lightning lit the sky. Some people can sleep right through a thunderstorm, but not me. I find them quite fascinating (except on those few occasions when lightning hits a little to close and sets a tree across the driveway or turns the toaster to toast).
The one last night was mild, but it did wake me and set my mind along an appropriate course of thought. First, I was thinking about the movie, The Perfect Storm, which we had watched a few nights ago. I’m not into reviewing movies, but now that I’ve brought it up, I feel compelled to say, that overall, it was worth watching—once. If you are terrified of drowning, and enjoy being terrified, than you should really like it. Many of the special effects were excellent, others looked a bit like they were shot in a bathtub. Other than that, it just made me hungry for some Mrs. Paul's fish sticks, and I can’t find a coupon.
From there, my freeform stream of thought progressed to a Bible story. The one were Jesus walks on the water. It’s written in three places, Matthew 14:22-27, Mark 6:45-52, John 6:15-21. In a nutshell, Jesus had told his disciples to take the boat and head over to the other side of the sea. This was not long after Jesus had learned of the death of John The Baptist, and was really in need of an opportunity to just get away from it all for some time of thought and prayer. He had tried a little earlier, but word got out that he was in the area. When he saw the great crowd that had come for healing, (estimated at 5,000) he had compassion and even saw to it that had received a good meal (Matthew 14:17-21).
After everyone had departed, he sent his disciples on ahead so he could have that much needed quiet time. Unfortunately, for the disciples, it was not a great night to be out on the waters. Progress was very slow as they rowed against the wind. So slow, in fact, that Jesus was easily able to catch them on foot. As he neared the boat, and the disciples could make out the figure of a man approaching on the water, they freaked. But Jesus said, “Take heart, it is I, have no fear.”
At this point, Peter is thinking how cool it would be to walk on the water too, so he calls to Jesus “Lord, if it is you, bid me come to you on the water.” Jesus does so and Peter takes a huge step of faith, going right of the boat and walking on the water. However, Peter, being human, soon looks at the reality of what he’s gotten himself into. It’s not nearly as cool as he had expected. He’s away from the boat, it’s real windy and he can hardly stand up. His faith begins to fail, and he starts to sink into the sea. Jesus reaches down and saves him, they get back in the boat and all is again calm.
While few of us will ever experience what it’s like to be out on the open waters during a horrendous storm, the personal and spiritual storms we go through in life can be just as frightening. Too often, we begin a new project with a huge step of faith, only to find ourselves sinking in discouragement and despair when things don’t go as planned. If there’s anything we can learn from this story, it’s that when you take a step of faith, know that there is no going back. You can’t get out of the boat and start walking toward jesus unless you are prepared to go all the way. On the other hand, because our Lord wants us to walk in faith, and knows that there’ll be times when it’s more than we can handle, he will be there to get us back to safety.
Too often, we pray for a better boat, when we really need to be praying for more Jesus in our lives and for the kind of faith that will bring us into a closer relationship with him. He’ll provide a boat, and if we invite him to join us, he’ll even sail through life with us, if we just have faith and believe. And, just like Peter, your faith will be tested. There’ll be times when the boat will rock and creek and take on water, There’ll even be times when, no matter how hard you row, it will seem like you’re making no progress at all. There are even those times when Jesus asks us to leave the boat behind, get out and walk with him on the water. Those are the really tough times. It can be pretty terrifying and it takes a lot of faith—but if you stay on the shore, you go nowhere and experience nothing. The stronger your faith is, the more it will be tested, and the stronger it will become.
Heading out on to calm waters in a sturdy craft doesn’t take nearly as much faith as it does to head out where the big storms are. Life on the open seas can be pretty rough at times, it is, after all, the perfecting storm—but as long as Jesus is onboard, you know that, one way or another, you’ll make it to the other side—you’ll accomplish much and, oh, the wonderful stories you’ll have to share.
