Walking on the Waves

It was the middle of the night, and the little boat was far, far from shore.

The wind had turned mean. The waves climbed up tall and slapped the sides, and the friends of Jesus pulled and pulled at the oars and got nowhere. They were tired. They were cold. And Jesus was not with them. He had gone up the mountain by himself to pray, the way he loved to do, just to be close to his Father.

But even in the dark, even from far away, he could see them out there. He had not forgotten a single one of them.

So Jesus came walking. Not in a boat. On the water. Right over the tops of the waves that frightened everyone else, as if the wild, roaring sea were only a path leading home to his friends. Long before, on this same sea, his friends had watched him tell a storm to be still, and it had obeyed him. Now the water held him up like solid ground.

They saw a shape moving toward them in the night, and they cried out. A ghost! they thought. And they were so afraid.

But the voice that came back was the kindest voice they knew.

"It's me," he said. "Don't be afraid."

And Peter, dear brave Peter, called out, "Lord, if it's really you, tell me to come to you on the water."

"Come," said Jesus.

So Peter climbed over the side. And his foot touched the water. And it held him. He was walking. Walking on the waves, with his eyes on Jesus, doing the impossible thing.

Then Peter felt the wind. He heard it howl, and he looked down at the waves heaving up around his knees, and he stopped looking at Jesus. And the moment he stopped looking, he began to sink. The cold water climbed up around him, and fear filled him all the way to the top, and Peter knew he could not save himself.

So he cried out. Just three little words.

"Lord, save me!"

Right away, that very instant, Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. He did not stand there first and ask why Peter had stopped trusting him. He caught him, and he lifted him up out of the deep.

That is what God's hand is like. The very second you call, it is already reaching.

Then Jesus said something gentle, almost like a question between friends. "Why did you doubt? I was right here."

He helped Peter back into the boat. And the wind lay down. And the soaking, astonished friends bowed before him, saying, "Truly, you are the Son of God."

There will be days when you take your eyes off help, when the waves come up and you feel yourself going down, sure that you cannot hold on.

But you do not have to hold on. You only have to call.

And there is a hand that walks across every dark and stormy thing to get to you. It catches you the very instant you cry out. And it will never, ever let you go.