Walking on your water

Personal Photo: My mom took this photo of me in 2016 on Rice Lake, Ontario in Canada. We have been going to this lake for a fishing trip every year for my entire life. It has watched me grow up. When we have turbulent waters, we can focus on Jesus, hold onto the faith that we have through Him, and trust that He will never let us sink. We are invincible when we are doing the Lord's will.

Think about a body of water. Consider maybe the ocean, or a lake, or a stream. When you picture it in your mind, what emotions come about? What are the colors of the water, what is it doing? More times than not, when we think about water, we think of the calm. We imagine the hues of a sunset over the lulling sound of the ocean waves lapping against the sand. We see the reflection of the clear blue sky in the glass-like surface of a lake, with birds flying along the tree line, and a bobber floating among the blue. We can almost hear the rushing melody of water running over the rocks in a stream, with the fireflies dancing in the sky as the sunshine wanes. Did you imagine the calm?

I ask you this because I think we do the same thing when we think about anything in life. When we look to the future, we almost always see the calm, the peace, the serene. Let's poke around some examples. When we think about college, we often think of parties, friends, and independence. When we consider getting married, we imagine the photographs, the happy tears, the dancing at the wedding. When we look at having a child, we think about the small clothes, the giggles, and the milestones. When we think about starting a job, we think about learning, opportunity, and growth. I love that we, as humans, almost inherently do this. We think about the positives, the things that will bring us joy, the highs of the things we anticipate or foresee.

My focus today is on when those calm waters are not calm anymore; when the waters get turbulent, when there is a storm, when we struggle. Please don't misunderstand; I think looking at the bright side, focusing on the positives to come, and giving energy and time to be joyful and excited about the future and present are all wonderful and admirable things that we tend to do. And we should not stop doing it. However, at the same time, we know that the water is not always calm. We tend to dismiss those moments when they are not here yet, and we really seem to just cross that bridge when we get there. The question we often find ourselves asking is how do we handle it? What do we do when the calm escapes us, how do we regain that calm, and why did we lose it in the first place? Often, we can find ourselves disappointed in the ways our brain aestheticized the way our future would look, because it does not always match. Therefore, I want to equip us all with how we approach the rough waters. When that picture perfect sunset on the lake doesn't look the same anymore, we need to know where to go, what to do, where to find the peace we all need.

I started this week out on a great note; I had made it through last week and this week was going to be a breeze in comparison. I had a positive attitude, goals I wanted to meet, and memories I was going to make. By the time Wednesday came around, that positive attitude was gone, my frustration was through the roof, and I was failing to maintain any kind of motivation, consistency, or excitement. On Thursday morning, I attended an event and to be honest with you, the event really was not what I thought it was going to be. In short, most of what was discussed involved change and it caused me to be a little sad. I was struggling and I was only halfway through the event. All of a sudden, when I looked out the window, there was a beautiful black squirrel climbing a tree. Against the white of the snow, the squirrel looked so magnificent, flicking his bushy tail as he wound around the tree. I was mesmerized. I watched him climb completely around the tree, gripping the bark, standing out in a lovely way. No one else even noticed the little guy. I tell you this because I want to point out how something as small as a squirrel calmed the water for me. My water was churning, I was upset, and the captivation by that little blessing shifted my entire perspective and brought me some peace.

When I was telling my brother, Jason, about this story, he mentioned to me how much it relates to Jesus walking on the water and Peter stepping out of the boat and walking to Him. I loved it; I knew then that it was going to be what I shared with you all. I am sure that many of you know about Jesus and Peter walking on the water, but I want to dive into the story here, so here it is, Matthew 14:25-31:

"Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw Him walking on the lake, they were terrified. 'It's a ghost,' they said, and cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them: 'Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid.' 'Lord, if it's you,' Peter replied, 'tell me to come to you on the water.' 'Come,' He said. Then Peter got out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink, cried out, 'Lord, save me!' Immediately Jesus reached out His hand and caught him. 'You of little faith,' He said, 'why did you doubt?'"

This is an amazing story from the Bible. Everything about this story is relatable. We might not be physically walking on the surface of the water, but the meaning behind it is something we can all take to heart. Peter did not see the rough waters at first, he only noticed Jesus, He paid attention only to the light, to the joy, to his goal. Just like us, we often start out with pure intentions. We can look towards something and see only the positives, the potential, the excitement. We run into a problem when we notice the rough waters. When Peter looked at the rough waters, when he focused on the chaos, he began to sink. He took his eyes off of the Lord. We do the same thing. Just like how my positive attitude was lost amidst the busyness of this week, the chaos of expectations, the disappointment of not meeting my goals, we often find ourselves sinking. The chaos overwhelms us and our peace is gone. Peter's next step in the Bible was, in my opinion, the most important one. Peter called to Jesus for help and immediately Jesus helped him. This is the key to it all. How do we walk on our waters? How do we handle the turbulence when our calm is gone? How do we refocus on the positives amidst the chaos, instead of expecting the chaos to go away? We have to call for help. We have actual evidence from the Bible here that there is no hesitation from Jesus to help us. No, He wastes no time in catching us before we sink, before we drown, before we lose sight of Him altogether.

As I mentioned above, we know that life is not easy, we know there are storms, highs and lows, and challenges that come with doing the Lord's work in a world that tries to shut Him out of it and put Him in a box. Therefore, when we find ourselves focusing on the wind, focusing on the storm, where do we go? We have to look back at Jesus, we have to focus on Him, we have to ask Him for help. He will waste no time in coming to us and saving us.

Truly, to get out of the boat in the first place is courageous. Peter had faith. To be excited, to walk towards the Lord, to make a leap of faith in life to follow Him, takes a great amount of courage. We are told in Joshua 1:9 to "Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go." This verse was my confirmation verse; I love it. When we look at this verse next to the story about Peter, we can really see how courage and peace go hand in hand. When we have the courage to get out of the boat in a storm, to live life enough to even have a storm, we have the chance to focus on Jesus, to let Him calm our waters, to have the faith to do amazing, miraculous things for God. When we abandon the fear that we so easily hide behind, we have the ability to overcome things we never thought possible. My dad told me a quote recently from David Jeremiah. The quote goes like this: "A man of God doing the will of God is invincible until his work is done." Peter never should have been able to walk on water; he was only a man. However, he was able to do so because he was a man of God, doing the will of God. We have no need to fear the unknown, fear the what-ifs, fear the storms we know we will encounter. Not when we are doing the will of the Lord, when we are focusing on Him, when we are giving glory to His name in everything we do.

Peter was not alone when he walked towards Jesus. No, all of the disciples were watching. It is the same for us; when we do Godly things in life, when we demonstrate our faith, when we have moments of growth in our walk with Christ, we often have a silent audience. We often help others with their faith. As mentioned in a previous article, my parents used to tell me and my brothers that we might be the only Bible someone ever reads. We represent God in everything we do. And because we have the faith that God is not only with us, but that He will catch us if we begin to sink and call for help, we can have the courage to walk on our waters.

Our Lord and Savior calms the waters for us. You will find Him in not only the positives, the highlights, the joyful moments, but in every storm, He will be standing on the water waiting for us to come to Him, ready to catch us if we lose focus, and helping us walk towards Him. This can encourage us to look forward to the moments when we have a chance to get out of the boat, to trust in the fact that Jesus will waste no time in coming to help us, and that He is with us through every patch of rough waters. We are invincible with the Lord, and He will help us walk on our waters, every single time.