“Take courage! It is I.” Matthew 14:27 (TNIV)
As we face the end of the year, it becomes increasingly easy to be like the disciples in this passage and focus on the storms around us. We battle the academic, athletic, or monetary storms that challenge us every day. However, it is important that we take courage and truly realize that we have been called to this juncture in life and that while the studying may be grueling, the competition stiff, and the job search dejecting, Christ is producing the ultimate achievement in us, character.
The storm itself should not warrant our attention nor should it stop us from seeing our goal: the face of Christ. Oswald Chambers says that God’s desire is for us to “see Him walking across the sea with no shore, no success, no goal in sight, but simply having the absolute certainty that everything is alright because [we] see Him walking across the sea.” Florence Chadwick, a famous swimmer of the 1950’s, stopped only one mile short in her attempt to cross a 26-mile stretch from Catalina Island to the shore of California because the fog was so thick that she could not see her goal. It took waiting two months, a clearer sky, and a second attempt to accomplish her goal.
Christ doesn’t promise clear skies, but what he does say is that He will strengthen us in the midst of storms.
