One On One: 100 Days With Jesus--Ministry YearsSample

Fear: The One who calls you out of the boat

Yes, it’s irrational but that doesn’t make it less frightening. 

Once I was a fisherman who was scared of the water; there, I said it. I lived my whole life around water and still it hid a mystery that left me in a cold sweat when I was out working on it late at night. 

Andrew and I grew up with our dad’s stories of the deep. “Be careful when the water is calm, Peter, because that’s when you are passing over the abyss.” Another night he would say, “Be careful when waves are high, Andrew; it’s a sign that in the deep, Baal is battling the gods.” When storms dropped over the mountain at a moment’s notice, you could easily be caught in the depths with who knows what happening beneath you. 

Like on that night. It was after the crowds gathered at Bethsaida and Rabbi fed them all with a boy’s lunch. When the sun was setting, Jesus sent us ahead to Gennesaret. He wanted to pray, He said. It should have taken us less than an hour to sail across the north end of the lake. 

But with the darkness came a storm that drove us to the depths. Each swell took us closer, we thought, to Baal’s battle below. Then Andrew and the others screamed, “Look . . . a ghost!” 

And there He was. Not a ghost, but our Rabbi, walking on the water like He was taking a Sabbath stroll. “Courage, my boys! It’s Me. Don’t be afraid.”

In that moment, I listened to Him rather than my fear. I said, If it’s You, then let me come to you. And He said, C’mon. So, I got out of the boat and stood on a wave. Only when I looked down did I sink. Lord, save me! And He did. With laughing eyes, He said, “I have you . . . why do you doubt?” 

That night, He put my fears of the deep to rest. He convinced me His power was greater than any evil. Now when I’m on the water at night, I remember Him strolling by. When fear grips me I remember, “I have you . . . why do you doubt?” 

Sometimes God uses the deep to teach us something deep. 

Fear reminds us of our human-ness, of how much we need God. How do you reach out to Him when you’re afraid? 

“You humble yourself in God’s hand,” a more seasoned Peter wrote years later. “Entrust yourself and your fears to Him.” Always the fisherman, Peter said it like this, “Cast your anxieties on Him (cast--like throwing a net).” Because He loves you. Because He’s got the power to save you from sinking. Because He’s got you. 

Tomorrow: One on one with Jesus and a desperate dad