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Jesus has just fed about 5,000 men, not including women and children with five loaves and two fish, with twelve baskets of fragments left. He then went up to a mountain to pray by Himself, while his disciples crossed the sea in a boat. The Bible says, “But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary,” (Matthew 14:24). 

In the middle of the night as they sailed on that contrary sea, Jesus came toward them, walking on water. They were quite obviously frightened by what was going on. Jesus calls out, “Be of good cheer! It is I, do not be afraid,” (Matthew 14:27). Impetuous Peter replied, “Lord if it is You, command me to come to You on the water,” (Matthew 14:28. Jesus called him, and he actually became only the second person to ever walk on water, but not for long.

Peter saw the boisterous wind, and realized how the waves were rolling, and maybe just thought, “I can’t walk on water.” He began to sink, and called on Jesus to save him, which He did. Peter’s walk of faith became a sinking of doubt.

We won’t ever miraculously walk on water, but we can still make the same mistake Peter made. In the storms of life, Jesus is there. We can call out like Peter, who basically asked Jesus to let him walk on water. If we have our eyes on Jesus, we can make it through the storms of life that will sometimes overwhelm us.

However, if we take our eyes off Jesus, we will sink into the depths of the despair that those storms bring. Like Peter, if that happens, we need to turn our eyes back to Jesus.

We can “walk on water” in our lives, with our eyes on Him, beginning by meeting Him at His cross, and holding on tight in our faith.

Dean Kelly is minister at Highland Home Church of Christ.