But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”    Matthew 14:30 ESV

I never thought there was much connection between turtles and storms until the day I met a snapping turtle in the middle of the dirt road near the farm pond. He (or she) was plodding slowly across and being curious I went to get a closer look. At first the turtle stopped and pulled into his shell and closed his eyes. I’m not sure if he thought I might miss him sitting there in the middle of the road but as I came closer he changed tactics. He stretched out his neck stood up on his feet and opened his powerful beak ready to bite. Though I meant him no harm I’m sure that from his turtle’s eye view I looked like a giant intent on making him into turtle soup!

Photo by daniyal ghanavati on Pexels.com

All of us are afraid sometimes. Like the turtle on the road or Peter trying to walk on water; we are afraid of what might happen next.  That defensiveness even creeps into our relationship with God. Rather than trusting that His control over life’s the circumstances we view them as a threat and try to hide in our own shell. At other times when we even snap at God or the people around us who are just trying to help.

The good news is that when we are afraid and cry for help Jesus reaches down and catches us just as He did for Peter. God hears our cries and comes to our rescue. He has no plans to make us into soup; instead He pulls us up to walk on water with him all the way back to the boat!