Jesus walks on water
(From the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 14, verses 22-33)
One evening Jesus and his friends fed 5000 men and their families with just a five loaves of bread and two fish. After the meal was over, he sent all the people home. Then he told his friends to get into the boat he had borrowed. He told them to sail back across the Sea of Galilee.
"Aren't you coming with us?" they asked.
"I'll come along later," he told them. "I want to spend some time by myself. I have things I need to talk with God about."
As the twilight of evening turned into the darkness of night, a storm began. The wind blew. The rain poured. Out on the water, the waves were enormous. Jesus' friends had to work very hard not to capsize their boat. Hour after hour they fought the wind and waves as they pushed against the boat.
As morning began to dawn, one of the men said, "We're never going to get to shore. This storm just won't let up!"
Just as he said that, some one else shouted, "Look! Someone is walking on the water. And he's coming this way!"
"No one can walk on water. It must be a ghost!" one of the men said. His words terrified them all. They didn't want anything to do with a ghost! They all started to scream and wail.
But the man they thought was a ghost was really Jesus. "Don't worry," he called to them. "It's just me! Don't be afraid."
Peter shouted back to Jesus, "Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water."
Jesus said, "Come."
So Peter got out of the boat and started walking on the water. He came toward Jesus. But the wind was strong and he got scared and began to sink. "Lord, save me!" he cried out.
Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught Peter. "Oh, you of little faith, why did you doubt?"
When they were both in the boat, the wind stopped blowing and the water became calm.
Everyone in the boat got down on their knees and worshiped Jesus. "Truly you are the Son of God," they all confessed.