"Jesus calls us o'er the tumult of our life's wild, restless sea, in our joys and in our sorrows, 'Christian come and follow me.'" Isn't that how another old gospel hymn puts it?

But in today's Gospel, Jesus doesn't simply call us over the tumult. Jesus doesn't call us out of the tumult. No, in today's Gospel, Jesus calls Peter into the tumult. Jesus calls Peter out of the boat and on to the waves. And Peter, on the basis of all his past experience with Jesus, calls out, "Lord, if it is you, command me to walk on the waves."

I know a woman who runs a home for young expectant mothers who have nowhere to go to have their children and take care of their children. They have no husbands and no family to step up and help them. The hours she works are long; the work is hard. There's never enough money. That woman's father is one of the most successful (and by successful, I mean rich) men in our state. He left her comfortably fixed in life. Now why would she, at middle age, get mixed up in a ministry like this home for unwed mothers? Who would have commanded her to do such a thing?

I think you know.