Have you ever been afraid? So afraid that you were almost paralyzed? So afraid, that words stuck in your throat and you wanted to scream, but you could not.

Pastor John Ortberg wrote a book sometime back titled, If You Want to Walk on Water, You’ve Got to Get Out of The Boat. In it he tells a wonderful story about a ride he and his wife once took in a hot-air balloon. The balloon party consisted of the Ortbergs, the pilot and another couple.

Ortberg had always assumed that the baskets hanging below hot-air balloons were about chest high. No sweat. However, the basket on this particular balloon came up only to their knees. Some of you are starting to get the idea. One good lurch would be enough to throw someone over the side. So John Ortberg says he held on with grim determination and whi…