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Each week Pastor Sarah blogs on the Scripture for Sunday's upcoming sermon. Use this entry as a way to prepare your heart and mind for worship. See you Sunday!
Sunday's Scripture ~ Matthew 14:22-33.
Several years ago Andrew and I vacationed in Key West. I had never been and Andrew insisted that story change. Each day of our trip one of us selected an excursion for the day. The day before our departure Andrew’s excursion was snorkeling.
It did not go well.
For me.
It did not go well for me.
I learned three important facts during my snorkeling mis-adventure:
That the waters around Key West contain some of the highest salt content as that area is a geographic point of convergence for three bodies of salt water: the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea.
My skin absorbs the salt in the water at an alarming rate.
I may have some trust concerns...okay - not ‘may’ - I have some trust concerns, especially when it comes to trusting a plastic snorkel with the responsibility of my breath!I remember bobbing in the water feeling seasick, but I had no symptoms while on deck. I asked the First Mate if it was possible. She said it happens all the time. I tried to stick with it - I did not want to rain on Andrew’s snorkeling parade - but the seasickness from my skin absorbing the salt became too much.
I was so grateful to take the hand of the First Mate to get out of the water. I was safe. I would no longer feel seasick. I could - and did! - return my assigned snorkeling equipment!
I wonder what Peter felt when he took Jesus’ hand to get out of the water. I wonder what Peter experienced in being saved... Yes, Jesus secured his physical safety - Peter was back on board. I wonder what impact Peter’s saving had on the rest of his person - his emotional well-being, his social well-being, his psychological well-being, and definitely his spiritual well-being.
When I returned to the boat, I remember feeling relieved. I remember the nausea immediately evaporating. I remember contentment breaking over me as the waves break on the shore. While others were busy discovering what swam beneath, I breathed in the horizon. I watched as light danced atop the water. I gazed at the clouds remembering the shapes and animals my mother and I would see in them when I was younger. On the boat was where I was meant to be that day. And I made the most of it.
‘On the boat’ may not always be the place for me as I continue my faith journey with Christ. In the moments I am in the water, I hope it is because Christ called me there...and not because I am in over my head - the consequence of being too big for my water britches. But even if that is the case, I trust Jesus will answer when I call, and save. I trust that Jesus will teach and bestow wisdom upon me me through power of the Holy Spirit so I do not make that same or similar misstep again. I trust that Jesus will and is leading me where I am meant to be, and how I am to be while I am there.
I trust that Jesus wants and is drawing me towards God’s preferred future for me.
I trust that Jesus is working all this together for your good, as well.
Prayer: "When darkness appears and the nights draws near, and the day is past and gone, at the river I stand, guide my feet, hold my hand: Take my hand, precious Lord, lead me home."* Amen.
*"Precious Lord, Take My Hand," The United Methodist Hymnal 474.