When Jesus told those early disciples to fear not he was not telling them to seek safety and security. Rather he was telling them to move forward, but to always trust him.

Years ago there was a little comic strip that spoke to this quite beautifully. The comic strip "B.C.," set in cavemen days, had its hero, B.C., sitting in his fur loincloth, opening a box. A letter in the box says, "Congratulations! You have just purchased the world's finest fire-starting kit!" The next picture shows him reading on, "The flint is of the finest stone imported from the Orient. Your striker has been handcrafted by Old World craftsmen. The kindling has been carefully selected by screened lumberjacks. Your kit was packaged and inspected by little old grannies working in a dust-free environment, and your fire kit dealer has sworn an oath of devotion to customers."

The next picture shows B.C. rubbing two sticks together in time-honored fashion, trying to start a fire. One of the cave women comes by and says, "What's with the sticks? Where is your new fire starting kit?" B.C. looks up, smiles and says, "I built a shrine around it."

The temptation is great to say, "Oh, yes, I trust Christ," and then sit passively in our little comfort zone, with a shrine surrounding our faith experience. It is another thing to step out of the boat, to attempt to walk on the water, to attempt the thing we have never attempted before in Christ's name.