Walking On Water

One of the most difficult times in a person’s life, is when all he can see around him is a storm. The signs of hope are completely missing, and as that sinking feeling grows, we tend to throw our lives away to anything that will give us the first sign of hope. And through the ages men have trusted, God-men, mystical powers, even elected governments, with the hope that someday things might turn around. But as time goes by, we all come to realize putting our trust on men is one of the most futile things anyone can do.

Politicians, god men, all of them come with empty promises. Come to think of it, how can any of them fulfill anything after all, their life is as futile as ours, as short-spanned as ours, their vision as blurred as ours, their selfishness, as defined as ours. Humans, are programmed to think of themselves first and then about the others. The few humans who don’t follow this principle are termed saints in todays’ generation. Also surprisingly we have come to question these saints too!

In a world of such uncertainty, how does a man find hope? In a world of such depravity, how does a man find assurance that he will be fed? In a world of so much pain, how does a man guarantee peace for his family and himself?

The story is told of a man, who was on a boat caught in the middle of a storm. He was with his friends, many of them were professional fisher men who had seen many storms together. But somehow this storm was different, it was more violent, it was set to kill them, and somehow they all had that sinking feeling. They were scared senseless, they did everything they could to keep the boat afloat, but the winds kept getting wilder, the waves kept rising, their hope kept dipping.

Just then they saw a light moving on the water, thinking it was another boat, they waved their hands screaming out as they sought for help, as the light came closer, they realized it wasn't a boat. It looked human. Suddenly the fear of the storm disappeared, as the fear of this human form being a ghost began to grip them.

Could it be their fear of the storm, had driven them so senseless that they were now having hallucinations? Suddenly our man, thinks he recognizes the human form, “Could it be? Could it be really him?” He wondered and just to clear his doubts, he raised his voice over the raging storm and screamed “JESUS! Is that really you?” At first he doesn’t hear a reply, so he screams again “JESUS! Is that really you?” and then he hears him, “Yes, Peter, it’s me”. 

The thoughts racing in his mind, remind him that, if this is actually Jesus, then that would mean, Jesus is walking water. As the realization hits him, he decides to check for himself and screams “Lord if this is really you, let me come to you, walking on water just like you?” Hearing this Jesus stretches out his hand.

Peter looks at his friends, each of their eyes filled with shocked at what they are seeing, that they are really not grasping what they hearing yet. They are staring blankly at Jesus, as He continues to walk to them. Peter too was lost, he couldn’t believe what he had just said, and more than that, he could not believe that Jesus was letting him do it.

As his mind kept racing, he decided it was now or never. He stepped of the boat, he noticed a few jaws drop, heard few gasps, but he went on.

He turned his eyes to Christ, and as he gazed into the eyes of his Lord, he felt a sense of peace, he started walking towards Jesus, as if he was walking on solid ground. Suddenly as his mind reminded him he was a walking on water, for just one moment his eyes turned to the storm around and he began to sink. As Jesus, saw this, he reached out to him, and prevented him from drowning. The story goes on, Jesus calms the storm.

But that’s not the part I want to tell you all about. At that moment when Peter was walking on water, did you notice, the water around him was still. The storm around him died down. 

That’s our God, that’s how He keeps his promises, you might walk right on the storm, but he will make sure even when you do, He will make sure He leads you “Beside the still waters”. His promises are ever true, it all depends on what we do when we see the storm around us. Do we reach out to our Father, and seek His help. Because if we do that we don’t need to give up, but we can give it to Him, and be rest assured, that we will not only walk on water, but also walk on still water, as the storm rages around us.