Pounded by waves, we rowed into the teeth of the wind. Hours passed. It seemed we hardly moved. We were about three and a half miles from land half-way across the diameter of the lake. With dawn only a few hours away, we were exhausted. Backs and arms ached and headway continued to be almost impossible.

Judas Iscariot was the first to notice. Eyes wide with fear, he lifted his arm and pointed with his finger. “Look!” he gasped. The boat tossed. Rowing stopped. The wind turned the boat broadside and swept it away into the waves. We all looked, and what we saw sent tremors of terror through each exhausted brain.

Jesus came to us, incredibly, walking on the surface of the water.

And while the waves tossed and sloshed, every place he put his foot was straight, firm and level. It was as if there were an unseen road in the water, unaffected by the waves.

Someone cried, “It's a spirit!” Fear of the spirit-world gripped most of us, who took spiritual things sometimes too seriously. We did not understand what or who they were. We were frightened because spirit activity was a relatively new thing. A few years ago, few people spoke of spirits. But in these last months, there seemed to be so much spirit activity. Evil spirits. They could do terrible things. And just as we were about to throw ourselves into the water and swim for it (although we likely would have drowned instead), the spirit spoke to us . . .

“Calm down, boys! It’s me! Don’t be afraid.” It was Jesus. He spoke in such a way that told us it could only be him. Our hearts lifted instantly in relief.

Peter, excited, shouted back, “Lord, if it is you, allow me to come to you on the water.” And thus I learned why Peter became our leader. He had courage none of us had. In his mind, there were no precautionary steps. He took risks. He took no careful consideration of possible consequences; all he needed was assurance from his Lord. All he needed was faith, and he had it – at least for a moment – none of us had any at all. Sometimes this is just the precise requirement of leadership.

“Then come,” Jesus responded. We were astounded. None of us moved. None of us, of course, except Peter. We envied his bravado. I guess we had forgotten that we had seen Jesus feed thousands of people from a boy’s small lunch. Had we thought about it, had we realized its significance, we all would have joined Peter. We could have frolicked among the waves never fearing their peril.

Of course, we would not have dared venture out into the waves expecting them to harden beneath our feet, but Peter jumped out of the boat and amazingly the water was as firm as the earth. Peter stood upright and walked on the water toward Jesus. At first he was exhilarated, but the water, however capable of supporting his weight, was still wet and slippery. Waves heaving, a gust of wind almost knocked him down, and he became frightened. He began to sink. “Lord, help!” he cried.

Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him and said to him, “Ha!” Jesus actually laughed at him, teasing him good naturedly. “Peter the Rock! Will you now sink like one? The only one in the boat with courage enough to come to me upon the water? How is it then that you are afraid to get wet? How could one such as you have doubted?”

Jesus put his arm around Peter’s shoulders as they came alongside the boat, and as they did so, the wind abruptly died. We were so excited to welcome them that we didn’t even notice the wonder of the thing. We were confused and so filled with agitation that we could only say to him, “Truly Lord, you are the Son of God!”