I had this idea that faith was living in the unknown. Don’t know what direction to take or how you are going to navigate a difficult season? Well, walk out into the unknown and believe God will show up and do something miraculous – that’s faith right? Living in the unknown? That is what I believed faith to be but at the time of this writing, we – meaning the world, are under quarantine. We are practicing social distancing in an effort to slow the spread of Covd-19 caused by the Coronavirus.

When news of the virus and the seriousness of the situation became known, the company I work for began to release people to work from home in phases. Each week a new phase, a new list of people and each week I prayed that I would find my name on the list. Every morning before going to work I would pray, muster up all the courage and “faith” I could because I was about to walk into the unknown.

I did not know if someone at my work was infected and just not showing symptoms yet or worse yet, were they asymptomatic! Were they touching everything I touched, working in the same area as me, using the same restroom and failing to wash their hands for as long as they should? Was I brining it home to my kids? So many unknowns.

In Matthew 14 we read the famous story of the disciple Peter walking on the water. I really like this story, this and David facing down Goliath are my favorites. I think it’s the courage that each story speaks of that draws me to them. I want to be courageous – not foolish, but the God-kind of courageous. Ask me Lord, anything at all, and I will do it without hesitation – that kind of courageous.

Why would Peter even ask to step out of the boat to begin with – in the middle of a storm nonetheless! Nothing in the story indicates to me that Jesus was looking for volunteers and yet Peter said, “Lord, if it’s you, tell me to come to you on the water”. Peter wanted to do what Jesus was doing. At this point I don’t think it had crossed any of the disciple’s minds that they could do what Jesus did. So, by faith, Peter stepped out of the boat – knowing how to walk on water, and began to make his way to Jesus – WRONG.

Peter did not know how to walk on water, but what he did know was if Jesus bid him to come, he could walk on the water. He knew, with Jesus there, Jesus would make walking on the water possible. Peter’s faith was not based on what he didn’t know, but on what he did know.

Can’t shake off fear and anxiety? Maybe you are not living by faith, maybe you are living in the unknown, it is in the unknown that fear and anxiety reside. Rather than living in the unknow, let us live in what we do know. We know His word is true, we know He is all together good, we know He loves beyond measure, and that He can be trusted.

What I know, is enough for me to walk through any storm to the one who takes my hand and keeps me from sinking.