Arms Wide Open

Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. ³⁰But when he SAW THE WIND, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”

³¹Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”

The movie “Pretty Woman” opens with a guy walking around the streets yelling “Welcome to Hollywood! What’s your dream?”. We all have dreams and visions of what we will be “when we grow up”. For some there is a calling on our life that is crystal clear as well. We know from an early age that we were created for (insert your gift here). But somewhere along the way, we got distracted. On Sunday morning. we looked at Acts 6:1-7 where an attempt was made to distract the Apostles. Last night at small group, we took a different approach by looking at Matthew 14:30.

Here we find Peter walking on water. In verse 30 we find those three words that are so odd, but telling of our story too. He “Saw The Wind”. Somewhere along the way to our goals, plans, dreams and visions, many of us “saw the wind” too. We got distracted and “life happened”. As I prepared the lesson I wondered what wind I have seen in my life. When are those moments when something took my eye off of my dreams and caused me to sink.

The good news is that we’re not left alone in those times. When life happens and we become distracted we see and hear what Peter heard. “IMMEDIATELY Jesus reached out his hand”. When those roads turn in a direction we never thought they would, Jesus is there to reach out his hand. When we see the wind and our plans and dreams change course, Jesus is there to reach out his hand. Our challenge is to not become distracted, but to keep our eyes on Jesus. Keep the faith and don’t “see the wind”.

In the movie “Mr. Holland’s Opus”, Richard Dreyfuss sets out to compose a symphony. Yet along the way, he “saw the wind” and got distracted. What started out as a way to earn some money became a career spent teaching children music in the local school district. The symphony sat on his piano and never gets finished. On his final day of school, he is surprised to find an entire auditorium filled with the lives and students he has impacted over the years. They are his “symphony”. They became the “music of his life”. He got distracted from his dream, but along the way he influenced lives and others dreams.

How about you? Was there a time when you “saw the wind”? Have you allowed distractions to get in the way? Have those distractions become Gods way of using your life to influence others and build their dreams? Maybe you’re writing your symphony and you don’t even know it.

Today I sat with a friend.

Today I was blessed to have an opportunity to love on a friend that means much to me.

Today God gave me a few hours to know what Casting Crowns meant when they said to “Love him like Jesus”.

Many that read this blog have been given this same opportunity. While we “don’t have the answers to all of lifes questions”, there is something so beautiful in the time with our dear friend.

Today is teaching us something.

Today I know his deepest desire in his journey is to bring God glory.

Today I can be just one of the many to testify that he has.

Today was an honor and a privilege.

Today I sat with a friend.

Today I prayed over my friend as he slept.

Today was not the first time and it won’t be the last.

Today I witnessed the heart of Jesus and the will of a warrior.

Today I was blessed, as so many others have been, to share a few steps in a journey.

Today I have again been changed.

Today I sat with a friend.

Today I was blessed to have an opportunity to love on one that means much to me.

Today God gave me a few hours to “Love him like Jesus”.

Today….I sat with a friend.

I sit here this evening with no words. All day I have pondered, prayed and tried to wrap my finite mind around the ways and wonders of an infinite God. My friends, I don’t have the words. I wish I could be a source of encouragement to you today, particularly those of us that are working through the emotions, thoughts and feelings for our dear friend and his family. What I have come to is this…God is still on his throne.

One of my favorite moments of the day and this life is when my children climb up in my lap. To rest my chin upon the top of their head and just feel them near is to know peace. In those moments of silence, the last thing we need are words. The closeness of the moment covers them all. Our Heavenly Father longs for these moments too. He longs to have us climb up in his lap and seek his grace, his wisdom, his peace and his strength. A time where we can be still. Even when there are no words…

“Be Still” by Story Side B

[audio http://leftfield8.com/audio/ssbbe.mp3]

There was one other quote that I had to commit to memory from the book “The Difference A Father Makes” by Ed Tandy McGlasson. When I read it, it practically jumped out off of the page and tapped me one the shoulder. I think it hit a fear that many of us have as parents. As my son has gotten older and we can communicate further why we do things like discipline, I have taken a new approach. I have recently let him on to the secret that “this is my first time at this too” and “I’ve never been a Dad before”. I hope one day he will appreciate the honesty that I’m learning as we go too.

Yet the fear that each one of us carries is that we will somehow get this wrong. That we will work so hard providing the right teaching, that we will miss something and they will go off course. I found a peace in the quote below because it gave me some courage. It gave me the confidence to know that I can rest in the fact that we are doing what we can to provide a foundation. I pray Gods grace over that foundation and that it will be strong, sturdy and worth building on.

Our job is to build the foundation; theirs is to build the house.

-Ed Tandy McGlasson