Immediately
By Melodious Monk
Every time I hear Matthew’s account of Jesus walking on water I think of John Ortberg’s book, “If you want to walk on water, you’ve got to get out of the boat.” It was some time in the late spring about 12 years ago– I had gotten sick with a seasonal flu, and I stayed home for a day. I had just finished my first year of college and was living at the Community for the summer. I was in a lot of turmoil inside, trying to figure out what to do with life. A friend had recently been reading this rather short blue-covered book and sent it over to me.
It was the perfect book for me at the time, and a huge comfort. I was quite anxious of the decisions about college and life, and how these decisions would affect the rest of my life!
I was thinking back on this transition time as the Gospel was read this past Sunday. At the end of the familiar gospel passage, I realized I’ve forgotten a very important part of the story. Yes, action is needed. We must take a step, must “get out of the boat” which undoubtedly can present challenges interiorly and exteriorly, physically and emotionally. What I tend to forget each day is what happens after we step toward Jesus. Matthew recounts that Jesus immediately catches Peter (and you and me) when we start to sink. Immediately. How much time does that leave for danger to occur?
When we are willing to step out toward God’s calling, every day we can choose to walk into any storm, whether big or small, dangerous or joyful, with the assured faith that if we start to sink, “immediately” we will be rescued.