Leaving the Boat

Today’s Gospel is one of my favorites.  It is one of the passages I vividly remember hearing years ago at Fun n’ Faith Vacation Bible School.  As a little kid, what stood out to me was how cool it was that Jesus could walk on water!  Reading it now, something that stands out to me is the lack of trust Peter had in Jesus.  This leads me to reflect on my own trust in Jesus.  It is so easy for me to say, “Jesus, I trust in you” as a nice little phrase or in moments of prayer.  But do I really?  When it comes down to it, do I take everything in my life and hand it over to him, trusting that He is in control?

​We all experience so many opportunities in our lives to deepen our trust in Christ.  For me, one of those times came after college.  I was thinking I would get a full-time job somewhat easily, maybe after a month or two.  Little did I know that I’d spend almost a whole year applying to countless jobs, only to be rejected by all 40+ of them.  I would check my email only to find that I was turned down due to my lack of experience and qualifications.  My motto kind of became “another week, another rejection.”  It was a few months after graduating and in the midst of my job search that things changed.  I went to Eucharistic Adoration at my parish one early morning, after having not gone since being on campus.  There was a peace that washed over me and I was reminded to trust.  Jesus was calling me to get out of the boat and have faith in him.  He was telling me to stop doubting and just trust that he had a plan that was better than my own, even if I didn’t understand.  I needed to be reminded that everything would happen in his timing and that He would not abandon me.  It was all for good.  He was using that particular season to help me grow in my trust.

Trusting Jesus is not one of those one time experiences you have and then it’s done.  It is a lifelong process.  We can always grow more and trust more deeply.  Each day, in whatever situations we find ourselves, we have the opportunity to decide to trust Jesus.  When the world around us seems to be crashing, we can take our struggles, worries, and fears to Jesus and trust that he will catch us.

The world seems pretty crazy right now.  There is a lot of wind and we probably feel like we are being tossed about by the waves.  It is easy to feel like we are drowning and lost at sea.  In all of the waves of life, Jesus is ready for us to walk to him, in complete trust.  I pray that we can all get out of the boat, leave our struggles behind, and trust that he will be there to save us every time.

Jesus, I trust in You.