The Woods and the Waves
All my life I have been known as a scaredy-cat. I am the type of person that cuts off the lights and full out sprints down a dark hallway, so nothing gets me. Do not even get me started about going outside after dark…
One memory I always recall when I think about my fear of the dark is the time I almost left my mom in the woods because I had certifiably terrified myself. At about 15 years old, I had just begun hunting by myself. I was already notorious for slipping out of the woods before it got dark and finishing my hunt from the confines of a locked truck. However, on this particular December evening, I had killed a doe with a muzzleloader (my first deer killed by myself) and I was feeling rather brave. I did not have a cell phone and my walkie-talkie had died, so no one even knew I had shot a deer. I decided I would get down, find my deer, and maybe even load it up before dark and surprise everyone. Problem was that fifteen-year-old Sadie failed to notice the sun going down rather quickly and I was still naïve to the fact that it is always darker in the woods than it is in the open food plot. I walked around looking for my deer for awhile trying to follow a blood trail until it became impossible for me to see without a light, which I of course did not have with me. As things normally go, I began to hear all sorts of noises and the woods came to life, and I was petrified!
I have never run so fast, with so many clothes on, as I did that night in the hills of Missouri. Once I reached our hunting truck, I locked the doors… for safety of course… and hightailed it out of there. I went to pick my mom up and she was not where we were supposed to meet. This scared me even more; because I was certain whatever was in those woods had gotten her! Terrified, I drove as fast as that old truck could go and, as I topped a hill, something human like stepped into the road. I slammed on my brakes as my mom ran over to the truck. I remember exclaiming, “Mama, I am for real so freaked out right now!” And then came her reply… “It’s okay. I’m here.” With those words, my fear subsided, and I was able to tell her all about my deer and what I was convinced was a near-death experience!
This story seems a little anti-climactic and over dramatic, but I have been this way my entire life when it comes to the dark or anything I am unsure of. Recently the verse John 6:20 has been on my mind. It reads, “But he said to them, ‘It is I; do not be afraid.’” Wow! It seems almost too easy that those short words can bring peace where peace was previously absent. However, hearing that utterance from Jesus himself makes my heart beat a bit steadier.
In the larger context of this verse, we see that it comes from John’s account of Jesus walking on water. The disciples were terrified by their circumstances. The winds were picking up and they were a few miles out in open sea. Then… THERE WAS JESUS. The next verse goes on to say, “Then they were glad to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.” When the disciples found Jesus in the midst of their confusion, they were at peace and glad to take him in. That is the point I want to make.
Fear is an emotion that clouds the mind of rational thinking, and that is what makes it so dangerous. So many people live their lives in a constant state of fear and worry, but God did not design us to live this way. We are to live in the peace that God offers. To do this, we must find Jesus in the waves and the woods. Once we find him, it is not enough to merely acknowledge him… we must also invite him in. God has a plan for each of us if we allow Him to work in us and through us. In our fear and uncertainty, we must turn it over to Him and invite Him into the boat of our lives. When this transaction takes place, it can be for us as it was for the disciples on the stormy sea… they arrived where they were headed almost immediately! This can be our reality when we listen to the Lord and allow Him to be our comforter. He brings us to the other side!
Oh by the way, I ended up finding my deer the next morning. And now every time I visit that hunting spot I am reminded of – not the fear – but the comfort I found in finding my mom and hearing her say those precious words, “It’s okay. I’m here.” Kind of like Jesus whispering to those disciples, “It is I; do not be afraid.”
