I Was Walking The Plank
by
Dr. Gale A. Ragan-Reid
“And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away.And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apa to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone.But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves: for the wind was contrary.
And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear. But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid. And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.
But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?” (Matthew 14:22-31 King James Version [KJV])
Greetings In The Holy Name Of Jesus (Yahshuah),
My brothers and sisters, I was walking the plank —- it seemed in my own light of day. Sometimes when you are at the helm, whether starboard or port, you appear to be walking the plank. Your appearance makes folks see you as walking the plank. This is what happened to Peter when he acted like he was already the Head when he was standing out on the water with the actual Head, the Godman, Jesus Yahshuah.
How are you the head when you are in the presence of the power of God? Obviously, Peter’s light dimmed when he lost connection with Christ Jesus Yahshuah and he began to sink, only to have to cry out, Lord, save me. Lord, have mercy! At least, in your weakness, to thine own self be true, for the God you serve, who loves you, hears you and sees you, in both your heart and your mind.
Most importantly, Peter, in leadership, in a most precarious yet powerfully admirable position, walking on water, lost connection to his source of light—-power and began to sink, in the darkness of the waters, at night. Peter appeared to be walking the plank, even though he was out walking on water facing Jesus, he took his eyes off Jesus feeling rather lofty in his self because he was walking on water, so much so that he felt like he was doing this miraculous feat all by himself—-that he was Head. Peter, in the moment, that same instance he took his eyes off Jesus Yahshuah and felt all puffed up, over confident in himself not in Jesus, he lost his connection to his only power source —- the power of the living God, in Jesus, so Peter began to sink. Peter was now walking the plank.
Peter went from walking on water to walking the plank. The expression walking the plank became famous in the 18th century. In Francis Grose”s , Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, published in London, England (1785; 1788) he wrote: “Walking the plank. A mode of destroying devoted persons or officers in a mutiny on ship-board, by blind-folding them, and obliging them to walk on a plank laid over the ship's side; by this means, as the mutineers suppose, avoiding the penalty of murder.” Lord, have mercy! Lord, save me!
My brothers and sisters, in leadership are you walking the plank, blind-folded with the light of Christ Jesus within you dimmed because you are weighed down in sins—the sins of each day, burdening you down, to the pit of hell? Do you think you could go inward, inside of yourself, introspective, forsaking your God while with your God facing your God and your God, not know this to be true; your God not see this to be true, in you —- in your heart and in your mind —- the weakness of the flesh? You want to walk on water all by yourself in your power when the power you have is God’s power on God’s earth yet you feel masterfully superior to even your God, in your moment of delusional doubt, for you are blinded by your ambition to be the Head. Possibly, you feel on top of the world, even over the moon and you do not need Jesus Yahshuah anymore, for you think, Look at me, I am walking on water. I do not need you!
More importantly, if those dark thoughts of fantasy were truth, then truly you know the meaning of what comes first, the chicken or the egg?[“So in a nutshell (or an eggshell, if you like), two birds that weren't really chickens created a chicken egg, and hence, we have an answer: The egg came first, and then it hatched a chicken.”— The story goes like this:
“Basically, many, many moons ago there was a chicken-like bird. It was genetically close to a chicken but wasn't a full-blown chicken yet. The video calls it a proto-chicken. So proto-hen laid an egg, and proto-rooster fertilized it. But when the genes from ma and pa almost-chicken fused, they combined in a new way, creating a mutation that accidentally made the baby different from its parents. Although it would take millennia for the difference to be noticed, that egg was different enough to become the official progenitor of a new species, now known as... the chicken! Maybe the question we should be asking is: Which came first, the proto-chicken or the proto-chicken egg?”
Interesting enough, we find a smidgen of truth in a tale of fantasy, make-believe. “As Luna Lovegood, the dreamy yet dotty witch from Harry Potter put it when asked the riddle, "A circle has no beginning." And indeed, attempting to identify the first case of a circular cause and consequence is an exercise in utter futility. For those who don't have a pat story involving a divine being who spits out perfectly formed species, it's a no-win situation.”]
Do you believe in God? Obviously, Peter was still in training, not yet able to move a mountain or even create a black or white hair on his own head [“Nor shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black.” Matthew 5:36, KJV; “And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.” Matthew 17:20, KJV].
Peter needed his God and for the feat of walking on the water, he needed to keep his eyes on his God, Christ Jesus, Yahshuah, Do you believe in God?
Do you believe because you were created man in the image of God that you are superior to your God or made a woman by God that you are superior to your God? How holy is that thought process, in your heart and in your mind? Truly, you must come back to the light, God’s marvelous light, to see clearly, through the darkness, in order to walk on water or look down on the Earth and see mankind as grasshoppers, [“It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:” Isaiah 40:22, KJV]
This is truth! God bless
