Recently, I was reading the famous story of Jesus walking on the water to my four year old son Thomas.  After I was finished, I closed up the Picture Bible and asked him if he would actually like to walk on water someday. I even told him that in heaven that is one of my dreams, to actually take a walk with Jesus on the waves.  He seemed pretty excited about doing that as well but he then quickly warned me about the possibility of sharks. I laughed and told him that yes in heaven there will probably be sharks but they won’t eat us. They’ll probably come swim alongside us and maybe even talk to us for a while. Who knows, but later as I was processing what he said earlier about the sharks, it struck me how his response from a four year old brain, is not all that different from a grown up brain like yours or mine. In fact, there have been moments when I have been faced with a challenge or a difficult situation, and instead of trusting in Jesus like I should, I would make all the excuses in the book and tell God all the reasons why I couldn’t go out and join Him for an evening stroll on the ocean tide. “But God, how about a long walk on the beach? We can collect sea shells and feel the sand amongst our toes? Haven’t you ever seen Jaws?” Of course, He’d smile and reassure me with His loving promises “Fear not my son, for Jaws was a mechanical shark.”  Okay, okay God did not say that and we did not have that conversation together. Just to clarify but maybe you can relate with me? That despite His many promises not to fear, we allow ourselves to become afraid anyway.  We tend to want to keep to the shoreline and play it safe and in doing so, instead of walking on the waves, we end up missing out on the miracle God wants to do in and through us. The disciple, Peter had the privilege to jump out of the boat and for a while, he was actually walking on the water but when he saw the wind, that’s when he sank. The rest of the disciples just stayed in the boat. That’s typical of us isn’t it? We either stay in our comfort zones or we start off trusting in Jesus but then when things get tough, we often immediately take our eyes off Christ and instead of living by faith, we drown in our fears.  What we need to do is learn how to handle these difficult situations by learning from Christ Himself. For starters, before He walked on water, He actually spent time with His Father alone in prayer. Matthew 14:23 says,  “And after he had dismissed the crowds, ^(C)he went up on the mountain by himself to pray.” How many of us before we set out to embark on our dreams, or  face a challenging situation, or make an important decision, do we actually spend our time waiting on God? Jesus often did that many times so why not us? We too should cultivate a spiritual habit to develop a prayer life so that when the waves of life seem overwhelming we can overcome because we are in His presence and this will help us to remember God is in control.  Not only should we learn to wait on God but also we can learn from Jesus to not wait for the perfect circumstances. “Whenever my business cards come in then I’ll start making phone calls” or perhaps you have heard this one?  “When I retire then I’ll go on that mission trip for God”.  Well, tomorrow is never promised and Jesus didn’t continue to wait on the shoreline just praying, and waiting for the perfect situation to develop. In fact, scripture says, in Matthew 14:24, “the boat by this time was a long way from the land, beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them.”   Notice it says “the boat was a long way from the land” and notice the word “waves” is used and notice it says that “the wind was against them.” I don’t know about you but that doesn’t sound like those circumstances are favorable. No, these waters weren’t calm and peaceful; it was probably more like some kind of a storm. He didn’t wait for the wind and waves to die down though, instead He ventured out into the stormy seas. Now that is faith and that is the life God calls us to live as well. Let’s not fall into the trap of waiting for the right timing or perfect circumstances because that day may never come and before you know it, you’re living alone on an island of excuses stranded on the shoreline saying to yourself, “I wish I could’ve or I should’ve.”  When God calls us to come follow Him out onto the water, it’s not going to be easy but if it was, then why would we need Jesus? How could Jesus challenge or grow our faith?  Besides, would you rather play it safe and cross the sea in a boat or would you rather experience an adventure with God by faith? Wherever you find yourself in life and no matter what you’re up against, I dare you. I dare you to trust in how much He loves you. Yes, there are sharks in the water and there will be wind and waves but remember you’re not alone, you’re in His presence and He will never let you drown.

Matthew 14:22-33