Properties
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- 1130
- extracted_at
- 2026-01-26T19:09:28.400Z
- extracted_by
- structure-extraction-lambda
- start_line
- 1092
- text
- 763 Peter Walking on the Water
764
765 By
766 James M.
767 V
768 San Jose
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770 # PETER WALKING ON THE WATER
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774 ONCE spent a day in an open boat on the Sea of Galilee. For a while the water lay as smooth and as blue as if it had been a patch of the sky that had fallen. The high hills stretched themselves along the shore like sleeping giants guarding some sacred fountain. But suddenly the wind rose; perhaps I should say that it fell, for it seemed to tumble over the tops of the hills, and roll down the slopes, and dig the water into gullies, and pound it into spray, so that we were glad to get into a little cove and land.
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776 Our boatmen shrugged their shoulders and said that this was only “a little breeze.” As we watched the water, ravelled into shreds, I thought what a turmoil there must have been here when old fishermen like Peter called it, as the
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779 Bible says, “boisterous” and “contrary,” because of a “great wind that blew.”
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781 The scene in the picture occurred at night. Did you ever watch a night storm at sea? No matter how dark it is the spray seems white, and hisses along the waves as superstitious people fancy ghosts glide about in their shrouds. But the disciples in the boat, as they peered through the gloom and tried to keep the bow “head on” to the waves, saw something which they knew was not a mere spray sprite, for it kept its shape, and came steadily towards them. They were afraid, and cried out, “It is a spirit!”
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783 Then another wonder occurred. They say that a sweet musical note can be heard above a noise that is a great deal louder. The sound of the fife penetrates the roar of the guns and the shouts of the soldiers in the battle.
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785 So the disciples heard a sweet voice that floated along the waves and above all the roar of the storm. It said: “It is I. Be not afraid!” They knew that it
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788 was the voice of their friend Jesus, and they knew, too, that Jesus was God, for their Bible taught them that God “alone spreadeth out the heavens and treadeth upon the waves of the sea.”
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790 No doubt they all felt like not speaking a word, for the Bible also says, “Be still, and know that I am God.” All must have been overcome by their awe of so great a miracle; all but one. He was Peter, who intruded upon the silence with the cry, “If it be Thou, bid me come to Thee on the water.”
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792 This makes us think of two things we know about Peter. He was a very *impulsive man*. That is, he often acted without thinking much. Once he was fishing in his boat, and saw Jesus walking on the shore. He could not be patient and let the boat come to shore, but jumped into the sea and embraced the Master with his dripping garment. On another occasion he drew his sword and cut off the ear of a servant of the High Priest, without stopping to think that the
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