I was struggling in one of the most beautiful places in the whole world.  I was snorkeling in the water of Waikiki Beach, Hawaii, and I could not seem to get the hang of it.  There was my major claustrophobia, and the uneasy feeling of having all kinds of fish (although gorgeous ones!) bumping into my legs.  And the object of my struggle at that moment was a medium sized coral reef that I couldn’t seem to maneuver around.  I saw Robert not too far from me with my stepson, and I called over to him to swim over and help me.  He told me “you can do it, you’re ok” and then I panicked again and called him again!  He then stopped what he was doing, and said, “Beth!  Stand up!!  You don’t have to swim around it, you can just WALK around it…you’re only in 3 feet of water!”  And you know what?  He was right!  Once I understood that I wasn’t stranded, I stood up, and realized I had WAY overestimated how deep the water was!  My view underneath the water, with my snorkeling gear on and looking around, was that I was in big trouble.  But guess what?  Once I stood up, and looked from the top down, it was a piece of cake!

I was thinking about this story the other morning, and I found myself laughing again, but also immediately reassured.  Sometimes living in a world where it really does seem that everything is wrong…murder, divorce, adultery, hate, break-ins and stealing, can skew the perspective of even the most positive of us.  It’s just not hard at times to think how awful it is, and to be scared of even more to come.  And while that’s true, that we are going downhill as a society, and it doesn’t seem to be getting any better, that’s the view from UNDERNEATH, not from the top.  Especially during this election season, it seems many people are proclaiming doom and gloom if Trump wins, and/or doom and gloom if Clinton wins, and some are even too discouraged to even consider voting.

AND YET!  God doesn’t want us to only look at our problems from OUR perspective!  When we are “underneath” or even “beside” a problem (like the water and the coral reef) we do not see an accurate picture.  My idea of getting away from the reef and to safety involved swimming, which was totally ridiculous since I could just stand up and walk there!  I was about to really embarrass myself by swimming and gasping and being afraid when I didn’t have to.  And the big bad reef was not nearly as intimidating when I found out it was only about 4 feet long and maybe a foot high.  Robert, however, who can never be compared with God, still had the “over” perspective..that the water was fine, the troubles easy to conquer, and the knowledge that I was going to be fine.

But I am not alone in this!  And neither are you.  The disciples even actually had Jesus ON THE BOAT with them, and still panicked at the storm that came up and the waves that appeared to be about to take them down.  They knew the Creator, and they knew His power, but they still were shaken with fear. In Matthew 8:25, they even called out to Him (much like I called out to Robert) “Lord, save us!  We are perishing!”  I can relate to that so well.  And just as Robert was saying, “just STAND up!”  Jesus asked His disciples, “Why are you fearful, oh ye of little faith?”  Because Jesus had the ultimate perspective..that all was really not lost…and He had the solution….”Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm”.

So, as we go through the rest of this election season, and times of uncertainty and unrest in our world, let’s make sure which picture we are seeing…ours, or God’s….and then act accordingly.  After all, sometimes you just have to STAND UP, and WALK, not panic!