Trust

And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, 'It is a ghost!'  And they cried out in fear.  But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, "Be of good cheer!  It is I; do not be afraid."  And Peter answered him and said, "Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water."  So he said, "come."  And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus.  But when he saw that the wind was boiserous, he was afraid; and begining to sink he cried out, saying, "Lord, save me!"  And immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and caught him, and said to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?"

It must have quite a sight for these disciples of the Lord Jesus, adrift on the open sea in the midst of a storm.  Anyone who's ever been on the open water in violent weather can attest to the fact that they've feared for their very safety.  I can relate, I get the same feeling on ANY airplane!  No matter how safe that bird is, to me it's a rickety deathtrap prone to nose dive at any instant.  So, I guess that I can relate to the fears the disciples were having that night as they tossed on the Sea of Galilee.  Not only that, now they were confronted by the vision of their teacher, the Lord Jesus walking across the stormy waters.  Of course, their first reaction was that this was somehow the ghost of their friend.  After all, no man could walk on water, could he?  Despite having been in the company of Jesus for some time, those violent waves must have washed away their memories of the works he had already done in their presence.  Fear has a way of distracting us from reality.  Fortunately for these disciples, this "ghost" was, in reality, their friend.
Where is it that we place our trust?  Do we only trust in what we see in front of our eyes?  If so, like the disciples on that night, we may miss what Jesus is showing us.  One question I asked myself when I first became a follower of Christ was,  how can I trust in something I can't see?  Yes,  I had Gods word and the knowledge that God had saved me, but all it took was another storm to come along before I once again lost focus.  In reality, if we've believed in him, our Lord Jesus is always within us as we walk through life.  We're not trusting in a vision, but in our risen Lord.  "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?"

~Scott~