Walk on Water

    When we were camping a few years ago my younger children had the opportunity to walk on water.  It really hasn’t gotten any easier since Peter tried it two thousand years ago.  At the camp store there was a poster advertising water walkers.  The  poster showed a girl in a huge bubble running on top of the water.  Of course, our kids had to try it.  

     Water Walkers are giant vinyl beach balls that are inflated with an airpump.  When they are just about full, the passenger is hastily inserted and zipped in, an extra whoosh of air and the bubble and child are pushed away from shore.  The balls are tethered so that a bubble child doesn’t end up blowing across the lake.

     Patty, Anthony, and Connor were zipped into separate bubble beach balls and the mayhem ensued. 
     Once in the bubble their job was to stand up and start running, rather like a hamster in a wheel.  It sounds a lot easier then it was.  The combination of balloon and water made for a very unstable surface on which to attempt to stand.  Each of the kids was able to get up, but everyone spent more time falling then actually standing or running.  It was great fun to watch but exhausting for the kid in the ball.  You’ll notice that Pat and I did not try this.

     Are you ready for my point?  In our Christian walk, we go through different seasons.  There are times when we are up and running.  Blessings come one after another,  We sing songs of joy.  And then there are times when the bottom shifts beneath our feet and we fall down.  I am glad to know that when I fall, God is right there besides me reaching for my hand.

      Jesus said, ‘Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
  Have you ever noticed how relaxed and calm Jesus kept from day to day. You never once see Jesus in a hurry.  He walked from miracle to miracle.  He took time to sit quietly with His Father.

     In Psalms it says ‘Be still and know that I am God’. The meaning behind the Hebrew words that we translate as ‘Be Still’ literally mean ‘shut up’. It means coming before God, away from the noise, away from the commotion, away from the busyness. Not with a shopping list, not with a list of demands, but actually with no words at all – just with a heart that is open to listen.
And in the quietness, in the stillness, in the tranquillity – the voice of God whispers and we become refreshed. ‘Be still and know that I am God’.  Our hearts are restless until they rest in Jesus.  

   

  
       The LORD is the everlasting God, 
 the Creator of the ends of the earth.  He gives strength to the weary  and increases the power of the weak.  Even youths grow tired and weary, 
 and young men stumble and fall;  but those who hope in the LORD 
will renew their strength. 
 They will soar on wings like eagles; 
    

     Underneath the wind, the waves, and even the bubble are the everlasting arms of God.