Keep Your Eyes On Him...

During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake.

When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It's a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid.”

“Lord, if it's you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”

“Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”

Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?” And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down.

(Matthew 14:25-32, NIV)

I made some new friends yesterday.

After our small group finished our lesson, I went over and introduced myself to a new couple that came to our class. I quickly learned that this family had recently lost their 3 year old daughter tragically just a couple of weeks ago. I told them that I had been praying for them and I asked how they were doing....and I was blown away by their response.

I know they miss their little girl terribly, and I'm sure there are times when the grief is still fresh and heavy on their hearts, but the perspective they had on it was amazing. They were assured that she is in heaven and having a great time. They know God has a purpose in all of this, even if it's hard to see right now. They asked for an invitation to be given at her funeral, and a number of people accepted Christ, including one of his daughters. This turn of events hasn't broken them...in fact, it's set them on fire to share God's love, acceptance, and forgiveness with everyone they know, because they know all too well that today could be the last chance they have to share it.

As our conversation ended, God was working on me a little bit. I've been getting all kinds of praise for how I'm handling my health situation. I don't quite understand it, but I still appreciate hearing it, and it's easy to be prideful about it...but listening to my new friend speak, I realized that my faith is so small compared to his. I can't imagine losing one of my children and not being furious with God for quite a while. Just like Peter in the passage above, I just felt like God was saying "You of little faith...you think you've got it all, but you're not even close, my friend...if you really, truly had faith, there's nothing we could do."

God put this couple in our class yesterday for a reason...to show me a little perspective on my current situation, and to remind me that no matter where I'm at in my walk with Him, I've still got a long way to go. I'm thankful they were willing to follow His lead to share such a personal story of grief with someone they just met.

Here's hoping when the storms of life are raging, I can keep my eyes on Him.