Kids, what a cool story huh? Can any of you kids walk on water? Now I don’t know how to walk on water… every time I try, I sink. I wish I could though! But Jesus can because he’s Jesus, right? I love that story because it is not just about walking on water, it tells us so much about how much Jesus wants to help us. Let’s take a look at this together.

In this story, the disciples of Jesus, you know, Peter, James, John, Matthew and the others, are in a boat going across a big lake. Jesus is not with them. Well, when they are halfway across the lake, a big storm comes up and the disciples are scared because the winds are really strong, there are big waves and the boat might tip over. That would be bad right? Well, just when the disciples think they are doomed, they look up and what do they see? They see Jesus walking on the water to them. Wow, that would have been awesome to see right!

So, Jesus didn’t want anything bad to happen to the disciples, so he is walking out to help them. He tells them, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.” Peter jumps out of the boat and begins to walk on the water toward Jesus. But then he starts to sink, and Peter cries out, “Lord, save me!” Jesus grabs Peter by the hand and pulls him to safety like this. They get in the boat and immediately the winds die down, the waves get smaller, the storm goes away, and they are safe. 

Peter was scared and he cried out to Jesus. All the disciples were scared, and they called out to Jesus and he saved them. And that, kids, is all we have to do when we are scared, when we don’t know what to do, when we need his help, we need to call out to him and say, “Lord, save me! I need your help!” And Jesus will walk on water to save us, he will always answer. And you don’t even have to be on a boat! Reach out to him, he will grab your hand and pull you to safety too. He is always ready to help you, even right now! So, remember that kids, you can call out to Jesus for help, he will grasp your hand and he will help you! All you have to do is ask!

And parents, this applies to all of us too. We are in that boat called life. We are sailing through storms with devastating winds, huge waves, and are drenched with water. Life throws that at us all the time. Challenges at work, challenges at home… and we too may be scared. We too need to cry out, “Lord, save me!” And he will say, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.”

Pray for his help and intervention. The storms of life can be difficult and even overwhelming… and when we cry out to him, he will walk on water to us too. All we have to do is call out and grasp his hand. You’ve done it in past challenges, and he responded, and he will do it again.

Maybe we cry out to him in silent prayer. Maybe we come to daily Mass to call to him. Maybe we do the Surrender Prayer. Maybe we just sit with him in silence at adoration and let his love wash over us and then we aren’t so scared, we know what we need to do. 

Whatever way we reach out to him, we need to actually take that step. He never tires of our ask, and he nevertires of grasping our hands and drawing us to him, pulling us to safety. That’s what he wants us to do and that is what he wants to do for us. That is reassuring as we travel in this boat… called life.

“Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.”