Flashback Friday Post: Keep Your Eyes on Me

Originally posted October 15, 2011 as "Walk on the Water"

The air was very crisp. The breeze coming off of the lake was cool, just a hint of the temperature of the water. The waves were softly crashing against the boat I found myself in. The boat was gently rocking, as if it was rocking itself to sleep.

 One look up at the sky and I knew what to expect in the near future. Dark clouds were forming in the lowest places of heaven. The crackling of thunder haunted the other side of the lake, my destination. Suddenly, a streak of lightning shot through the pitch black canopy above my head.

  I needed to get to safety. I looked ahead; the storm threatened what lay in my future. I looked behind; the storm taunted what I put in the past. There was no way out of this storm.

The waves turned from softly crashing to violently galloping at the sides of my boat. The crisp air turned into a musky fog. The breeze turned into a full-force wind that had the temperature of death in it. It was freezing.

I saw a figure walking towards me, within the storm. At first I thought I was going crazy, that it was only a figment of my imagination. The storm was making me think things that I shouldn't. The storm was giving me one more reason to fear.

But this was real.

“Come out onto the water.” He said to me. “Come out onto the crashing waves.”

I was frightened. “Are you insane? I can’t leave this boat. I’ll drown!”

That’s when I saw him fully. He was walking on the water. “Come out into your storm. Just keep your eyes on me and I’ll keep you safe.”

I stepped out onto the rolling waves. To my surprise, I didn't sink. I kept my eyes on him.

I began to look down at my feet. Surely enough, I was walking on the water towards this man that I never knew. Or maybe I did know him. But as soon as I focused my attention on my walking, my feet began to be immersed in the salty water below.

I focused my attention back onto this man, just enough so that I’d get back on my feet again, so that I could continue walking on the water. I didn't need his help. I could do this on my own.

Eyes on my own feet, I paced faster. Only the faster I walked, the faster my feet sunk into the water. It was beyond frustrating!

“Why aren't you listening to me?” The man said. “Keep your eyes on me and I’ll keep you safe.”

Once again, I focused my attention on his face. My feet stopped slipping and I regained my balance. This time I kept my eyes on him for a little bit longer so that I could completely get back on my own feet. I left his eye contact.

My feet began to slip faster than they were before. I can do this on my own! I can do this on my own! I only need to think hard enough about it.

Suddenly, my waist was submerged in the water, too far for me to pull myself up. I needed help now. I called to him. “Please, save me. I’m going to drown! I shouldn't have tried to do this by myself. I should have listened to you! Please, I don’t want to die! I’m drowning!”

Immediately, a dry hand grabbed mine. He pulled me up, and then pulled me close to his chest. He leaned in to whisper something in my ear. “Why did you doubt, you of little faith?”

I started to sob. “I thought I could do it on my own, but now I realize that I can’t.”

“Don’t cry, dear one. I've got you now.” He said softly, wiping the tears from my eyes. “Now, let’s try this again. This time… keep your eyes on me.” 

God: The Maker of Beautiful Things

'cause I am a sinner

if it's not one thing, it's another 

caught up in words, tangled in lies

but You are a Savior

and You take brokenness aside

and make it beautiful, beautiful

(Brokenness Aside, All Sons and Daughters)

This has been a trait of God that I have admired for a long time, and it seems to have been following me around ever since I started seeking out characteristics of God. 

The most obvious place to view this characteristic of God is just simply walking outside your house. Now, I live in Winnipeg and it's currently winter and it's been a bit of a mild winter so there's dirty snow everywhere. Finding beauty in the middle of a mild, dirty winter in Winnipeg is a little difficult. But one morning, I woke up, got dressed, and walked to the bus stop just down the street from me, and I noticed that there was hoarfrost on the trees.

I realize that the above picture doesn't really do it justice (probably because it was taken with my old, dingy iPhone), but it captured the contrasted beauty nonetheless. There was such a beautiful tree beside what seemed like a very dirty, un-beautiful mess of a street. 

The second most obvious place to find a depiction of God's beautiful handiwork is on the very first book, very first chapter of the Bible. This is a story I have blogged about before and a story that has probably been preached on/talked about many, many, many times. I'm not going to write about how God created everything and it was good because everyone knows those obvious truths already. I just want to point out how the universe looked before God created a bunch of beautiful stuff. The universe was described as being "formless", "void", "dark", and "deep" (1:2). Those aren't exactly nice-sounding words. God took that formless, void, dark, and deep place and made it into something beautiful. 

I didn't realize until this past month that another place to find this characteristic of God is in history. God has been making beautiful things from crappy situations for as long as crappy situations have existed. A particular example of this would have to be the Holocaust. This was one of the worst tragedies of human history, and yet, there was still beauty hidden within the darkest of times. Such heartbreakingly beautiful stories of heroism and devotion to God came out of such a mess. Not to mention, the ending of the Holocaust resulted in the re-establishment of the nation of Israel, which the Jewish people hadn't seen for a very, very long time. 

Lastly, I believe the most important place you can see this characteristic of God is within the own workings of your life. Everyone sees the brokenness of life in different ways and in different places. There are broken hearts, broken people, broken relationships, broken families, broken nations, broken governments, and broken minds. But, fear not, God can make those things beautiful too. Tucked away in the book that proclaims that everything under the sun is meaningless, there is a verse that says, "He [God] has made everything beautiful in its time" (Eccl. 3:11). 

Our God has a knack for mending broken hearts. I, personally, have seen broken people be put back together by God's amazing grace. Broken relationships and broken families have been reconciled. Broken nations have proclaimed victory over their adversaries. Broken governments have been overthrown. Broken minds have been glued back together. 

So God is the maker of beautiful things. A simpler way to express this would've been to use the term "creator", but I didn't want to, because God is so much more than just a creator. Any old person can create things; I even create things. Believe me, if you ask any writer, painter, architect, chemist, engineer, activist, etc., they will tell you: not everything they create is beautiful. (Trust me, you wouldn't want to read some of the things I write.) 

So, not only does God create beautiful things, but He can orchestrate an ugly mess to look ravishing.