Cruising through the inside passage in Alaska felt safer than crossing the Atlantic Ocean on a ship. The passage curls between islands and mountain cliffs, narrow enough that land is never out of sight. That comforted me, seeing the shore slip past, trees dark against dawn, rocks jutting like safety handles should I fall in or the ship sink. Seriously, if the ship were to go down, part of me was thinking I could just swim to shore. The land would rescue me before the water could swallow me.
Hypothermia might prove me wrong long before my arms give out, but fear isn’t ruled by reality. It thrives on illusions.
Flying is the same thing. I tend to think I need the window seat. Looking down at the ground thousands of feet below makes my body believe I’m somehow helping keep the plane in the sky. If I can see the ground, other aircraft, or mountains coming at us, I feel safer. As if my gaze alone will keep us aloft.
Safety feels more real when my eyes can see a way out.
Peter stepped out of the boat when Jesus called him, his eyes fixed on his Lord. And for a moment, water held him up like solid ground. But then his gaze shifted. He saw the wind whipping the waves into chaos. Fear rushed in. His mind told him the water couldn’t hold him, that the storm was stronger than the command.
The moment he believed in what he saw over Who he saw, he started to sink.
His safety wasn’t in assessing the danger or seeing the storm clearly. It was in keeping his eyes on Jesus, no matter how impossible the sea looked beneath his feet. “Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. ‘You of little faith,’ he said, ‘why did you doubt?’” (Matthew 14:31)
Land isn’t safer than sea. A window seat isn’t safer than an aisle. Safety isn’t about views or proximity or the illusion of control. Safety is belonging to the God who made the land and sea, who commands winds and waves with a word, and who reaches out His hand to catch you the moment fear pulls you under.
“Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed.” (Psalm 107:28-29)
Fear will always demand a visible shore. Faith looks out at open water and knows God’s hand is there, invisible but unbreakable. Today, whether He sends you to fly, to sail, or to stay put, the safest place will never be a place at all. It will always be His will.
The moment Peter believed in what he saw over Who he saw, he started to sink. What a quotable line, Haley!