Matthew 14:25 During the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake.

I wonder why Jesus walked on the water? It seems odd, and unlike the many miraculous healings and feedings and deliverances and resurrections he brought about in order to help, to minister to those in need. Somehow, odd as it seems, the disciples needed to see it—Jesus on the water. So out he went!

Psalm 8:1 O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth.

Psalm 8 was an ancient processional hymn—the people sang this one as they marched together toward the temple in Jerusalem. Somehow we know to line up and march and sing when something really important is about to happen! From deep within the human spirit comes forth praise to the Living God, the majestic one, famous in all the earth.

Matthew 14:8 Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist.

In a public moment of unbelievable vengeance, a mother and daughter call for the death of John the Baptist, and they get their amazing wish, right there in front of a large party. For that truly awful request, we remember them all these centuries later. It could not possible have given them any measure of contentment, peace, joy, or hope as time went on.

Galatians 1:23 They only heard the report: the man who formerly persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.

The Apostle Paul is describing himself here—an enemy of Christians who became a missionary and evangelist after Jesus called him out in a very dramatic way. What must the believers have thought, at first ? Can a leopard change his spots? Maybe not, but a man can change the direction of his life in an instant.