Tip of My Iceberg

She looked a little less brave in the middle of a big hospital bed, her dad holding tightly to her hand. The soft cast the doctor fit on her left arm reflected the break to both the ulna and radius.

But getting there was fearlessness.

Sloane loves to move, whether it’s singing, dancing, playing, or participating in sports. On this day, she occupied herself with a friend while her brother was at soccer practice. Both were swinging as high as they could, laughing and challenging each other to go higher.

When Sloane hit the apex of her forward motion, she jumped from the swing. This was something she’d done countless times before, typically landing on her feet.

Not this time.

She might have swung higher than usual. She definitely jumped further than she often did. But instead of her feet, she landed on the palm of her hand, fracturing the two bones of her lower arm.

There were no tears. Her arm hurt, but she was more curious than in pain. She showed her dad who took a picture and sent it to a good friend who is an orthopedic surgeon. He advised that she be taken to the ER–the dip in her arm indicated it was broken.

The tears didn’t come till they squeezed the bones back in place, with her arm elbow-down so the doctor could align the bones. Her dad was with her, though, giving her the courage to not fear.

Pain is part of life. We hurt in some ways each day, possibly not with considerable agony, but some level of discomfort typically finds us when we least expect it. It can be as minor as a paper cut or as challenging as finding out you have cancer. It can be the pain of failure or abandonment. Fear increases as pain escalates.

Jesus and His men had been ministering to crowds of people in Galilee. Jesus had miraculously multiplied the meager lunch of a young boy–five small loaves of bread and two small fish–and fed over five thousand people with this fare, enough where everyone had their fill. After the disciples collected the leftovers, Jesus encouraged them to get in a boat and go to the other side of the lake. He’d meet them there.

He needed spend time alone in prayer.

The disciples did as He asked and found themselves in a storm. As waves buffeted their boat, they saw Jesus walking to them on the water, and everyone feared He was a ghost.

“Immediately Jesus spoke to the. ‘Have courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” Matthew 14:27

Peter, being rather brave and brash himself, said that if it was really Jesus, He should command Peter to come to Him, walking on the water. Jesus agreeably told him to come. He got out of the boat and began walking on waves.

“But when he saw the strength of the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, ‘Lord, save me!’ Immediately Jesus reached out His hand, caught hold of him, and said to him, ‘You of little faith, why did you doubt?’” Matthew 14:30-31

As long as Peter kept his eyes on Jesus, he was safe. When he let his circumstances overwhelm him, he began to sink. Fear of what might happen made him lose confidence in the One who called him.

Much as Sloane held onto her dad as the doctor put on her cast, trusting he wouldn’t let anything bad happen to her, we need to hold onto Jesus. He alone is worthy of our trust. People will, without fail, let us down.

Jesus won’t because He loves us that much.

Our bravery doesn’t have to be in what we can fearlessly accomplish. That will ebb and flow with our circumstances.

Jesus never changes. He’s worth trusting.

He’s the ultimate bold, brave, and brash.