God Crossings Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid. Even true believers can be scared out of their wits by current events. We all have toleration thresholds where doubt creeps in. For some, it is illness. For others, it could be financial shotrfall or personal betrayal, or Church scandal. For the fishermen in our Gospel today, it’s a night on the water when they lose control of a situation they should have had well in hand. They know this sea, this boat. This is their business! Yet the disciples are so spooked by a storm that even when help arrives in the person of Jesus, they are spooked by him, too. In the midst of our darkest hour of fear, Jesus invites us to faith. Just when we are shuddering and our teeth are chattering with terror, Jesus asks us to get out of the boat. This isn’t really about faith, but about the strength of our relationship with him. If we walk toward Jesus in the worst of times, do we trust he’ll reach out his hand?