He was about to pass by them, but when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They cried out, because they all saw him and were terrified. Immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” Mark 6:48-50

If you’ve grown up in the church, you’ve heard the account of Jesus walking on the water in a hundred different ways. You always thought it would be cool to walk on the water or to see Jesus walk on the water. You probably wish you were Peter when Jesus asked him to come to Him (slightly different account of the story).

The overall lesson to be learned with this story is the most obvious one: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

How would it change our actions if we were to learn and practice those few words? Would we worry about tests or job pressures or kid pressures or money pressures? Would we concern ourselves with what others think about us when we share our faith?

The question that still bothers me, though, is “When the God of the entire Universe is telling me not to worry, why do I still do it?”