Be Still and Know That I am God
Part Two

As a reminder, here is the scripture verse this experience was based on. The story continues immediately afterward:

Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He sent the multitudes away. And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there. But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary. Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, "It is a ghost!" And they cried out for fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, "Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid."
And Peter answered Him and said, "Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water."
So He said, "Come." And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, "Lord, save me!"
And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?" And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, "Truly You are the Son of God."

Fourth Vision: A Fish

This time, I had a hard time getting the picture in front of me to make sense. Then I realized I was seeing the hull of the boat as it was going through the water, from below! Whether I was a fish, with a fish-eye's view, or merely a rock underwater I still do not know to this day. I know that I saw the hull, rising, falling, swerving, twisting, rocking, rolling. Once I realized that I was looking at the hull, I turned around, looking ahead of the bow, because I expected to see, and saw, the imprints of someone walking on the water. No, not just someone, but someone such that just seeing his feet electrified me. It was Him Who created me! I was so excited to see him again I felt myself tremble! There he was! I remembered my place, and the storyline, so I turned back towards the boat. Sure enough, after a slight delay, here was another set of feet. Not exciting at all, but walking across the water surface just the same. Then as the two seets of feet (yes, for some reason no sandals, just bare feet) got close to each other, one set ... changed. Now I could see ankles, now calves, now knees, now ... just arches and toes. He was back up! The two sets of feet were now going the same way, then disappeared into the boat, which then stopped rocking, and now I could see the figures well because the water had settled down. They had been great blurs before.

I found myself with my head back, looking upward when I opened my eyes. I was drained even more, and even more convinced that we were done. I asked if I could get up, and heard, ever so softly and tenderly, "Be still, and know that I am God." This time, I just closed my eyes without reading the scripture.

Fifth Vision: The Ship's Hull

I could see the waves, the wind, and then I saw nothing but blurs. Again the waves, the wind, the howling, and then the blur again. Wait, I was going up and down through the water. Wow, now I was leaning left, now right. Now I was underwater again! I realized that for this view, I would have the vantage point of one of the boards in the hull of the ship, near the starboard bow. I was between the lookout and Peter, several rows down from the top. There was the voice, yelling 'Ghost' or something. (It was cut off by my going under the water, again.) When I came back up and the water ran off me I could make out a figure in the distance, calmly walking toward us. Between my dunkings I could here someone yell out to the figure, could see Peter walk by me and away from me. I was well out of the water when the lookout yelled, "Peter, be careful", because I wanted to tell the lookout to shut up and not call out! I missed Peter going under because I went under at the same time. I wondered later if that was a coincidence or a part of the lesson. I then saw Peter and Jesus, arm-in-arm, walking by toward the middle of the right side of the boat. Shortly thereafter, the waves stopped, the wind stopped and I was no longer tossed about.

I opened my eyes, noticing that I was sitting upright. Again amazed at what I had just witnessed, and more amazed at what I said next. "Lord, if there's more, if you think I can handle more, bring it on, please." Yes, a gentle voice kindly replied, "Be still, and know that I am God." I closed my eyes.

Sixth Vision: The Ship's Mast

I was swaying violently left and right. This was awful. This was extremely uncomfortable. I was now leaning forward, and now back, but mostly moving left and right, quite a distance. I could hear the howling wind quite well, but the water was ... different. It was much lower below me. No, I was much higher. I was the top of the mast! I could look down, and see the violent storm, and certainly feel the violence of the tossing up here. I was about 15 or 20 feet above the deck of the boat and holding on for dear life! I could not make out the voice as I saw the lookout down below (he was smart enough not to be up here!) and forward point out to sea. I could see the figure, looking so much smaller than in the previous visions. Hearing more yelling, I looked down to the right, just in time to see Peter get out of the boat onto the water. There he went, walking along as if in a field of grain, walking to greet an old friend. Then I heard the lookout yell something, Peter turned his head, and started to sink. Jesus pulled him up, walked him back, they got in, and I stopped swaying as everyone in the boat below me got on their knees.

I opened my eyes to realize I was looking down at my lap. Shaking my head in disbelief, I asked for a moment before continuing. After a short while I heard, "Be still, and know that I am God" in my head as we went into the next scene.

Seventh Vision: God The Father

This time, I was looking down from a high altitude. I estimate I was about a mile up, and could see the boat. I 'felt' myself descending for a closer look, as the boat grew bigger, and now I could see a figure walking towards it. Ah, I must be looking at this from the Father's viewpoint. I didn't resist this view, I just said, "If you will it, I will see this through Your eyes, from above." Wouldn't you know it, I still had something to learn. As soon as I said that, the camera viewpoint started to shift. Like it does in so many movies. How do I describe this? The camera came down, behind Jesus and looked toward the boat. As Peter started out, and toward Jesus, the camera moved left in a large arc, finally positioning itself behind the boat, but of to the side. I was looking directly at Jesus, with Peter's back off to the side. Just before Peter sank, the camera moved left again, all the way around the boat so that I was beside Peter and Jesus, and could clearly see both of their faces. I even heard the lookout's call saw Peter's facial expression change, as did Jesus's. Then I was behind Jesus again as they walked toward the boat. I got to the side of the boat before they did, and almost helped Peter get in. I felt such a rush of warmth and approval toward Jesus, I could feel my head nodding my approval as they worshipped him.

My head was still nodding as I opened my eyes. Now I knew we were done. So I slowly started to get up, only to hear, unbelievably, "Be still, and know that I am God." I sat back down and closed my eyes.

Eighth Vision: In an Auditorium

This was different. This time I was hearing my own voice reading the scripture! It was in a small auditorium, and I was about four or five rows back. I was slightly to the speakers right, about 15 feet away. I looked at the speaker carefully and it took a while for me to realize that I was the speaker! I watched myself read scripture to the audience, amazed to be hearing my voice, seeing my face, knowing I was looking at me, knowing I was in a chair in the audience. I was telling this story that you are now reading. I was so amazed I was only getting bits of it. There I was talking about the lookout who's involvement and identity have been kept secret for so long. I was talking about being underwater, and when I mentioned the knees I heard laughter from one of the audience. Then my viewpoint switched, and I was speaking and looking at the audience. The people to my left were incredulous as I mentioned being part of the hull. I kept on until I shared this the eighth vision with the group, and some were amazed and others turned off completely.

I opened my eyes, really confused and drained, begging for it to end. Then I heard the signal for our return to the group. I was grateful that it was finally over. I didn't know any better, but I was wrong.

Addendum:

Two years later, as part of one of my classes at Regent University towards my degree in counseling, we had to share a spiritual story from our personal walk with God. I picked this to share. I gave the talk in a small auditorium. No, not just any small auditorium. It was the one I saw in the eighth vision above. I didn't realize that until I was telling them about it, and how they were part of that eighth vision! You can imagine the range of reactions, can't you? True, some of them were amazed that God doesn't stay in the box in which we put Him, others said that I was delusional and still others thought I was into "New Age" and obviously not as good a Christian as they were. Whenever you have an audience of about 40 people, you will have quite the range of reactions, especially to something controversial!

You may have a reaction of your own now. Please, about it!