A Morning Cup of Tea : Losing Sight of Jesus.

Have you ever begun to do something, then let something distract you to the point you couldn't do what you had planned in the first place? Say you wanted to go to college, and you found the right classes to go to, you looked into financial aid, the whole bit. But then the baby gets sick, the car won't start, and hubby decides he doesn't like your turkey lasagna and hey, could you iron my uniform for me?
  Okay, so that's an extreme example. But in today's  reading, Matthew 14 : 24 -36, Peter lost sight of his goal. I'll be paraphrasing the story a bit, but please take the time to read it.
  Jesus had already sent out the multitudes, and the disciples were on a boat, so that Jesus could go up on a mountain to be alone and pray. Sometime during the night, the wind picked up and sea started tossing the boat a little. About the fourth watch of the night (somewhere between 3 and 6 am) Jesus walked on water to meet the boat. The boat at this time is nowhere near the shore. His disciples see someone coming toward them, walking on water and their first reaction is fear. It's a spirit! But Jesus calls out to them. It's okay, he says. It's me, Jesus.
  Peter says Lord, if it's you, call me to come to you. Jesus says come. Peter steps out of the boat and begins to walk on water. As long as he keeps his goal in mind --reaching Jesus, he does fine. But then he starts noticing the wind blowing real hard, and the waves crashing, and he lets fear creep in. Peter began to sink. Lord save me! he cried. Jesus stretched out his hand and caught him.
   O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? (verse 31b) Jesus said to him. Jesus and Peter got into the boat and immediately the wind and the waves calmed down. If the disciples had doubted before, they understood now that Jesus was the Son of God. (v33)
  In our day to day lives things will always be there to distract us. Those things usually work themselves out with prayer and patience. In our spiritual lives, we do well when we keep our eyes on Jesus. We sometimes have to get out of the boat for things to happen, but if we trust, its going to be okay. If, however, we get distracted and worried like Peter, we're going to sink. But as with Peter, Jesus is there to pull us out of the water. When we commit our lives to serving Him, we learn daily to trust Him. 
  Now the boat has taken them to Geneseret. Like other places, once they knew Jesus could help, they brought to him all who needed healing.Some had such faith that all they had to do was touch his garment and be healed. And all that did were made perfectly whole. Do we have faith that Jesus can take care of us? 

Have you ever begun to do something, then let something distract you to the point you couldn't do what you had planned in the first place? Say you wanted to go to college, and you found the right classes to go to, you looked into financial aid, the whole bit. But then the baby gets sick, the car won't start, and hubby decides he doesn't like your turkey lasagna and hey, could you iron my uniform for me?
  Okay, so that's an extreme example. But in today's  reading, Matthew 14 : 24 -36, Peter lost sight of his goal. I'll be paraphrasing the story a bit, but please take the time to read it.
  Jesus had already sent out the multitudes, and the disciples were on a boat, so that Jesus could go up on a mountain to be alone and pray. Sometime during the night, the wind picked up and sea started tossing the boat a little. About the fourth watch of the night (somewhere between 3 and 6 am) Jesus walked on water to meet the boat. The boat at this time is nowhere near the shore. His disciples see someone coming toward them, walking on water and their first reaction is fear. It's a spirit! But Jesus calls out to them. It's okay, he says. It's me, Jesus.
  Peter says Lord, if it's you, call me to come to you. Jesus says come. Peter steps out of the boat and begins to walk on water. As long as he keeps his goal in mind --reaching Jesus, he does fine. But then he starts noticing the wind blowing real hard, and the waves crashing, and he lets fear creep in. Peter began to sink. Lord save me! he cried. Jesus stretched out his hand and caught him.
   O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? (verse 31b) Jesus said to him. Jesus and Peter got into the boat and immediately the wind and the waves calmed down. If the disciples had doubted before, they understood now that Jesus was the Son of God. (v33)
  In our day to day lives things will always be there to distract us. Those things usually work themselves out with prayer and patience. In our spiritual lives, we do well when we keep our eyes on Jesus. We sometimes have to get out of the boat for things to happen, but if we trust, its going to be okay. If, however, we get distracted and worried like Peter, we're going to sink. But as with Peter, Jesus is there to pull us out of the water. When we commit our lives to serving Him, we learn daily to trust Him. 
  Now the boat has taken them to Geneseret. Like other places, once they knew Jesus could help, they brought to him all who needed healing.Some had such faith that all they had to do was touch his garment and be healed. And all that did were made perfectly whole. Do we have faith that Jesus can take care of us?