August 11, 2002
Twelfth Sunday After Pentecost
"Step On Out"
(Matthew 14:22-33)
Rev. Billy D. Strayhorn
[22] Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds.
[23] And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone,
[24] but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land, for the wind was against them.
[25] And early in the morning he came walking toward them on the sea.
[26] But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, "It is a ghost!" And they cried out in fear.
[27] But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, "Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid."
[28] Peter answered him, "Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water."
[29] He said, "Come." So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus.
[30] But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, "Lord, save me!"
[31] Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, "You of little faith, why did you doubt?"
[32] When they got into the boat, the wind ceased.
[33] And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God."
[NRSV]
LET US PRAY:
Most of you know that I served in the US Coast Guard. What you may not know is that I spent a year guarding our coast while stationed on a Long Range Aids To Navigation Station (or LORAN Station for short) in Japan. Our base was located on the Southern coast of the Northern Island of Hokkaido. LORAN was the precursor to the Global Positioning Satellite system, so it was an important job.
Our base, like all Coast Guard bases was tiny compared to any of the other branches of the service. There were only 31 men assigned to the base. Our commanding officer was a Lieutenant JG. Our Executive office was a Chief Warrant Officer, Electronics Technician. The deck crew was headed by a Chief boson's mate and the engineering crew was headed by a Chief Engineman. There were three divisions of men. The deck crew, the engineering crew and the electronics technicians.
The deck crew kept the base operational. The ETs kept the signal and electronics working so ships and planes could find out where they were. And the Engineering Crew (the part I was in) was charged with keeping anything and everything mechanical running, the most important of which were the generators. You see, the Japanese electrical system is different than ours. As a consequence, we couldn't use their electricity, we had to generate our own. Continuous power was critical to the success of our mission.
So you'll understand the events of a particular night, let me give you a picture of the base as well,. The base was built on a long low sloping hill. If you looked at a cross section, it would look like a set of steps. At the very top was the helicopter pad. The second level was the living quarters. This level was connected to the next level, which housed the Galley, Mess Deck, the Rec Room, Quack Shack, offices and Officers Country, by a long hallway.
As you walked out the main doors, there was a circle drive leading away from the gravel parking lot and a side walk leading through a beautiful park type setting. This park type setting had trees, picnic tables, a big BBQ pit, and an all purpose outdoor sports court. You could play basketball, volleyball or tennis on this court.
As you walked down the sidewalk you gradually descended to the sport court and the level of the work areas. If you stood facing the building on the left was the ET shop and on the right was the Engineering shop where the generators were housed. From the shops, about a quarter of a mile away, up a gentle sloping hill was the 650 foot signal tower. OK? Have you got the layout of the base pictured in your mind?
Like all military installations, someone from all three sections was on watch 24 hours a day, checking to make sure everything was running correctly and we weren't being over run by the enemy. Our enemy was boredom. We stood watch in what they called Port and Starboard Cinderella Liberty fashion. Which meant you had duty every other night and every other weekend. And when you didn't have duty, you had to be back to the base by midnight.
On the night in question, I was on liberty. Two of the guys and I from engineering were in the galley (or kitchen for you landlubbers) fixing a snack. Some of the guys were watching TV, there was a poker game going on in the rec room. Some of the guys were shooting pool. Some of the guys had already gone to bed. It was about 10:15 at night. One of the enginemen,
Bones, a long tall skinny drink of water, our newest Engineman was in the shower. Phil was in the ET shop and Frenchy was on watch in the engine room.
Phil was about 20 but was one of those Casper Milquetoast, Don Knotts, Nervous Nellie kind of characters. He couldn't take much pressure and always looked like if you said, "Boo!" he would jump ten feet straight up and then fall to pieces. Frenchy was born and grew up in French Guyana and had enlisted in the Coast Guard to get gain citizenship. Frenchy spoke very fluent English but his native language was French. And one of the things were learned quickly about Frenchy is that when he got nervous or excited, the English went out the window and the only thing that came out of his mouth was French.
It had been raining but the gentle rain of the afternoon had turned into a major storm. The rain was pouring down. The wind was blowing. There was massive thunder and lightning. And in the middle of this storm, there was the tower. 650 feet of metal just screaming loud and clear to the storm, "Hit me! I dare you! Hit me!"
Well the storm heard the challenge and it did. Lightening struck the tower. And mass pandemonium broke out. You see, we were all trained. It was almost beaten into our brains, that if the power went out, we dropped everything else and ran to the Engine Room and the ET shack to get everything back on line as soon as possible. People's lives depended on it.
I remember, all the engineers slept with a night light, including me. Not because we were afraid of the dark but because we trained ourselves so that if that light went out we woke up and headed to the generators. That happened one night to me. I was half way down to the Engine Room pulling on clothes and shoes while running before I noticed that the lights were all on and the only thing that had happened was my light burned out.
So you see the mind set. Remember Bones was in the shower. He grabbed a towel and took off running toward the engine room, trying to dry off as he ran. The first thing that happened was his wet flip flops hit the steps and he came sliding down the steps. In the mean time, everyone else who was behind him, hit the wet spots and starts to slide. There was a major pile up in the passageway.
Keith, Richie and I immediately turned and started running. But remember we were in the kitchen. It was dark and we started running into stoves and counters etc. Richie even stuck his hand in the deep fat fryer trying to get out. It was off by the way. And when he hit the stainless steel serving counter with that greased down arm, he went sliding. We heard him land on one of the tables.
Keith and I made it into the Mess Deck (where all the tables were) without getting hurt but then we had to navigate around the tables and chairs. By that time, the guys playing poker and pool were up and headed toward the door when they heard the commotion in the passageway. All that screaming and hollering and cussing was enough to wake the dead.
The only one who wasn't excited was the first class electrician. He was in his usual state of inebriation on his night off. He was walking around with a beer in his hand saying, "Hey, the lights went off. Anybody know why the blankety-blank lights went off. Turn the lights on, I can't see what I'm drinking." And stuff like that. And mainly he just got in the way.
The door to the main building was a double door. The left hand side was locked. Nobody knows why it was locked. Those doors were never locked. Now remember there were two guys on watch, that left 29 of us up in the main building. Through a strange confluence of timing, we all converged on that double door at the same time. No one knew the door was locked. By the time the guys up front figured out the door was locked, it was too late. The crowd had already hit. The locked door didn't stay locked very long. It literally burst off its hinges.
We all stumbled outside at full speed. And that's when we hit the wet grass and ran into the wall of darkness. By the time we picked ourselves up from the burst door, we didn't hardly know which way to run. We were slipping and sliding on the wet grass and we can't even see where we're going.
Lightening struck. We saw the shops and off we went. Do you remember how dark it gets after a lightening flash. That moment is darker than dark.
There we were, 29 guys in various stages of dress and sobriety all running or sliding or slipping at full speed across a park like area filled with trees, picnic tables, BBQ pits, poles, ditches, horseshoe pits, you name it. While we saw the direction the building was in, we couldn't see 6 inches in front of our faces because of the rain and the darkness.
I still remember running and having a lightening flash save my life. In that brief bit of light I saw the tree I was headed straight for. Some others weren't quite so lucky, though no one was seriously injured, there were screams and shouts and lots of loud cursing.
When we all finally made it into our various locations, we found Phil standing in front of Frenchy asking over and over again like a broken record: "What did you do that for? What did you do that for? What did you do that for?"
And Frenchy was jabbering away ninety to nothing in French trying to explain to everybody what happened. When we got it all squared away, the generator back on line, and both Phil and Frenchy calmed down, we found out what happened. Lightening struck the tower. The first order of procedure was to take the tower off line. That was done with one switch.
Phil had a runaway when the tower got hit. He came unwound and went running into Frenchy yelling "Shut it off! Shut it off!" Frenchy didn't know what Phil was talking about and did what he thought Phil wanted. Frenchy reached over and hit the big red emergency shut off switch that shut down everything.
And that's what started it all. We got everything back online and we were only down about ten minutes. But it took us two days to clean up from the confusion of that particular storm.
Storms happen. Today we see the disciples caught in a sudden storm. Sudden storms happen all the time on the Sea of Galilee. I saw it first hand on one of my trips to Israel. We were crossing the lake and had stopped in the middle for worship. It was slick calm when we stopped. But the clouds started rolling in down through the Valley of the Doves just over by Magdala.
By the time we finished our worship time. We already had one foot swells. They fired up the engines and fifteen minutes later we unloading onshore and the swells had risen to at least three feet if not four feet. The sky had turned ugly. The wind was blowing about 35 or 40 miles and hour. And the rain was coming down by the barrel full.
That's what happened to the disciples. A sudden storm blew in. They weren't in a boat that would hold 200 comfortably with a diesel engine. They were in a small wooden fishing vessel with oars and sails. They were scared. And they were in trouble.
That's what happens when the storms of life rear their ugly heads. And they do, don't they? We never know when the storms are going to hit. When never know how horrendous they can get. Sometimes they start off like a gentle rain and the next thing you know you're in the middle of a typhoon and lightening is striking all around you.
What do we do in that situation? How do we handle the storms of life and faith. This passage gives us good tools and insight into how to handle the storms.
The very first thing we learn from this passage is that we need to: GO TO THE OTHER SIDE.
What do I mean by that? One of the things that is noticeable about this passage is that Jesus wasn't with the disciples when they faced this storm. Why? Because just prior to this, Jesus had preached and healed and fed the five thousand. He was worn out. He was physically and spiritually drained. So, he went into the hills alone, to pray.
He went TO THE OTHER SIDE. He stepped out of the world and stepped into God's presence in prayer and worship. Why? So He could be refreshed and renewed.
I want you to write down two passages of Scripture. I'll read them both in a second but I want you to write them down so you can look them up later and claim them for you own. Exodus 23:12 and Mark 6:31. Both of these are from the NRSV
Exodus 23:12 "Six days you shall do your work, but on the seventh day you shall rest, so that your ox and your donkey may have relief, and your homeborn slave and the resident alien may be refreshed."
Mark 6:31 Jesus said to [the disciples], "Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while."
God has created and ordained the Sabbath as a time of rest and refreshment for the Spirit. Rest and refreshment for ourselves, our coworkers and even those folks who don't believe like we do. It's a time to recuperate and reconnect.
Because Jesus had spent that time in prayer, He was ready to tackle that storm. Jesus practiced Sabbath time. And He calls and challenges us to do the same thing so that we will be rested and refreshed when the storms of life hit.
Jesus went TO THE OTHER SIDE. And we're challenged to GO TO THE OTHER SIDE, too.
By GOING TO THE OTHER SIDE, Jesus was PREPARED FOR THE STORM. You and I need to PREPARE FOR THE STORMS as well. And believe me, the storms are coming, they always do.
If you stop and think about it, there is a storm on the horizon. We know it's coming. And unless we prepare, it could be horrendous. And that storm will come in the form of our dream becoming a reality.
When we move into our new Worship Center things will suddenly be different. We'll interact differently, we'll do Church and Sunday School differently. Now I don't mean we're going to totally turn over the apple cart. But simply because we are on two campuses will change us, Being in a new building alone will do that.
And that uneasiness, that differentness, those changes can cause discord and distress. It could become disruptive and destructive. Or it could be gentle, cleansing and refreshing. It all depends on how we prepare to face this storm.
One of the first things we need to do to prepare is GO TO THE OTHER SIDE in prayer. We need to pray ourselves up for the change and for the reality of our dreams coming true.
But we also need to PREPARE FOR THE STORM by practicing Christ like love.
Write this passage down so you can look it up and read it in context. You'll probably recognize it. I use it all the time in Weddings. But it was written and it grew out of conflict.
1 Corinthians 13. I'm going to read verses 4-8 and verse 13
"Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. . . And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love." [NRSV]
The best way to PREPARE FOR THE STORM is to live a life of Christ like love and let love, Christ's love, be the guiding force in all we say and do.
We need to GO TO THE OTHER SIDE in prayer. We need to PREPARE FOR THE STORM. But we also need to KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE CAPTAIN.
I don't know who the acting Captain of that fishing boat was that night. It could have been anyone of a number of them. Many of the disciples were experienced fishermen. But they all knew one thing. There was only one true Captain of that vessel and that was Jesus.
Peter knew that. In the midst of the storm when they were all scared to death and ready to give up, Jesus came strolling out on the water. They were so afraid that they didn't know it was Him at first. He had to tell them He wasn't a ghost.
Peter believed and was so impressed that he blurted out what he was thinking. He opened his mouth before engaging his brain and shouted: "If it really is you, then make me walk on the water with you."
And Jesus said, "Come on."
In a giant leap of faith, Peter stepped out of the boat and began walking on the water. But then Scripture says Peter lost his focus. He looked away from the Captain. And when he did that, he noticed the storm and immediately began to sink.
That can happen to us in everyday life. The storms can distract us and pretty soon we find ourselves sinking deeper and deeper. That's when we need to KEEP OUR EYE ON THE CAPTAIN. He's the one with the power to calm the storm. He's the one with the loving arms who will lift us up. KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE CAPTAIN.
Here's another passage to write down. It's an audacious claim by Paul in the midst of struggle and tribulation, the storms that surrounded him. It's a promise we can claim and live every day from 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 "We do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure, because we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen; for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal." [NRSV]
And we can make that claim our own because Jesus said: "In the world you face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world!" John 16:33 [NRSV] Write that down too. John 16:33. Read it in context and you'll find that Jesus basically says that when we step out on faith, he won't let us sink.
Jesus knew we need to GO TO THE OTHER SIDE in prayer. We need to PREPARE FOR THE STORM. But we also need to KEEP OUR EYES ON THE CAPTAIN.
And finally Jesus, Himself, tells us, "DO NOT BE AFRAID."
You know, from inside the boat and from the middle of the storm that sounds kind of ridiculous. But that's what Jesus said. Why? Because He's in charge. Not us. That's what causes us to be afraid, the fact that things are out of OUR control. We're no longer in charge. WE can't do anything to make a difference.
What we need to remember is that God is in control! NOT US! Jesus is in control. NOT US!
When storms come swooping in and we feel like we're going to sink, we may not be able to stop the fear. But you know what, with the Holy Spirit and the presence of the Risen Christ in our lives, we don't have to let the fear stop us.
That's what happened to Peter, fear paralyzed him and when it did he began to sink. Yet he knew that Jesus would save him. He knew it before Jesus even opened his arms to lift him up.
You heard this passage earlier, but write it down and look it up again later and read it in context. And then make it your own. Romans 5:13 "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved."
That's what it takes to Step On Out in the midst of the storms of life. Life gets tough sometimes. And when life gets tough we can't just hit the big red emergency button and shut everything down.
We need to GO TO THE OTHER SIDE in prayer. We need to PREPARE FOR THE STORM. We need to KEEP OUR EYES ON THE CAPTAIN. And we need to follow the command of the one who is in control; the one who gave His life for us on the Cross of Calvary. We need to Step On Out and trust Jesus who said, "DO NOT BE AFRAID."
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