NEARLY three decades ago, I fell sick with a near fatal illness. Terrified, one night I called a doctor friend, and told him, how serious I was and also read my levels out to him. I will never forget what he told me, “Bob,” he said, “They are only numbers. Don’t look at them, just keep your faith!”
And yes, they were only numbers, because the specialist at the hospital, renowned throughout the city, looked at my levels the next day and said, “For these readings you should be in a coma!”
Many years before I fell sick, two thousand years before, to be exact, a man in a fishing boat, looked across the sea and saw someone walking on the waves. He thought it was a ghost, till the figure shouted out, “Don’t be scared, it is I” and he knew it was Jesus his master. Peter, the fisherman, suddenly got a huge bolt of confidence and asked if he could also walk on the water, and the Lord said yes. Peter jumped out of the boat, into the water, and was walking on the waves, when suddenly he took his eyes away from his Lord, and felt the ferocity of the wind, and am sure looked down at the treacherous waves under him.
His courage failed him, and he started to drown. ‘Master!” he cried out, “Save me!” Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt!” I thought of this same incident from the Bible, when the doctor had told me, “They are only numbers!”
Today, every newspaper, TV station and WhatsApp message is raining numbers at us: How many afflicted with Covid-19, how many dying, and what place our country now ranks, in the virus affected world!
Numbers, numbers and horrifying numbers are being rammed at us. It’s like being caught in a storm, in a fragile boat called life, that is going to capsize any moment. The waves high, the wind loud, and fear palpable. But suddenly in the midst of such a tumult, a figure of peace walks on the same chaotic rough waves.
D’you hear Him shouting out to you, “Want to walk with me?” You hear His voice, your belief strengthens, your confidence grows, and with a laugh and a chuckle, like a gurgle from a baby who’s found its mother, you jump into the waters and walk on very waves that once made you afraid.
And as you walk, do not see the numbers, nor hear the wind or feel the waves below! Just keep your eyes steady, fixed on Him who walks with you. D’ you hear a voice calling, “Want to walk with me on the waves?” Jump in and walk..!
