Max Lucado discusses the fear of overwhelming challenges in Chapter 6 of Fearless, specifically in the context of Matthew’s account of Jesus walking on water (Matthew 14: 24-35). Max notes that the disciples were so terrified they thought Jesus was a ghost. They weren’t expecting Jesus to come to them that way.
We, too, have our preconceived notions of how Jesus will come to us, often not realizing that Jesus does His best work in overwhelming times of adversity:
“We expect him to come in the form of peaceful hymns or Easter Sundays or quiet retreats. We expect to find Jesus in morning devotionals, church suppers, and meditation. We never expect to see him in a bear market, pink slip, lawsuit, foreclosure, or war. We never expect to see him in a storm. But it is in storms that he does his finest work, for it is in storms that he has our keenest attention.”
Max Lucado posits that had the Sea of Galilee been calm, Peter would not have made his water-walking request to Jesus. In contrast, Max states that “storms prompt us to take unprecedented journeys.”
Revisioned ministry is one of those journeys.
