(If they decide to walk on water they've got their life jackets) Today's Gospel presents one of my favorite pictures: Peter getting out of the boat and walking toward Jesus on the water.
Wow. Amazing. This shouldn't be possible. But he's doing it. And then just as suddenly he looks around notices the waves and the wind and realizes that he shouldn't be doing it.
And then... he's not. He's sinking.
And he reaches out to Jesus and asks for help.
And Jesus provides it.
So the lesson, short and sweet is trust in the Lord in all things - and don't be afraid to ask for help.
On a side note I remember when we were kids playing in our backyard pool and we would try to walk on water. It was from the Bugs Bunny school of walking in air. We would get a running start and run right over the edge of the pool to see how long we could keep "running" before we landed in the water. Maybe a step - if our legs were really fast - maybe two.
We never successfully walked on water. We didn't really expect to.
And maybe that's the difference. Trusting in the Lord means expecting things to happen. When Peter stopped expecting to be able to walk on the water - he stopped being able to walk on the water. And when he called out for help - Jesus didn't make him able to walk on water again. Jesus pulled him out of the water and helped him to the boat.
And as one final thought there is the book title I love (haven't read the book - but think it's a great title) "If You Want to Walk on Water, You've Got to Get out of the Boat"*
We'll call this one "If you want to take a boat ride you need to get into the water"
译文:
水上行走
(如果他们要在水上行走就必须穿上救生衣)
今天的福音书上展示了一张我最喜欢的照片:比特离开船体在水上向耶稣走去.
哇.真是令人惊讶.这应该不可能的啊.但他却正在这么做.而这时他突然环顾四周注意到了风浪,意识到他不应该继续下去了.
然后... 他停下来了.他在下沉.
接着他向耶稣伸出手求救.
然后耶稣帮了他一把.
所以这个教训是,最短最甜的是上帝对所有事物的信任--而且不要害怕求救.
我想起另一件事,当我们还是孩子时在后院游泳池玩耍也试图在水上行走.这是来自Bugs Bunny学校中的空中行走.我们会在开始时起跑,然后沿着游泳池的边缘来看看我们能在落入水中前在上面"跑"多久.可能一步--如果我们的双腿足够快--那就有可能是两步.
我们从来没有在水上行走成功过.我们也没有真正的想这么做.
但这次可能不一样.相信上帝就意味期待任何事情发生.当比特不再期望能够在水上行走时,他就确实不能做到了.而当他大声求救时,耶稣也没有让他做到在水上行走.耶稣将他拉出水中并帮他上了船.
而作为最后一个想法就是我喜欢的书名(虽然还没有读过,但我想这是很棒的书名)"如果你想要行走于水上,你必须离开船"
(我们将这样称呼这一幅照片"如果你想要划船,你需要将船放入到水中")
John Ostberg著
图片来自去年在安迪伯父小屋的冒险