Here Be God

“Take courage. I am here!” Matthew 14:27 NLT

The disciples were afraid. A storm had developed at the darkest part of the night while they were in the middle of a lake on a boat. Jesus came to them walking on water telling them that everything was going to be okay. He was with them. An old mariner’s map drawn in 1525 is on display in the British Museum in London. On the unexplored areas along the North American coast is scribbled: “Here be dragons,” “Here be giants,” and “Here be fiery scorpions.” In the early 1880s, the map came into the possession of British explorer Sir John Franklin who didn’t fear the unknown because He so fully trusted what He did know. Rubbing out the terrifying inscriptions, he wrote: “Here be God.” It’s easy to feel like the disciples being tossed by the waves and that scared mapmaker. We can survey our unfamiliar situation and want to yank the covers back over our heads and hide. “There be dragons!” we protest. Through the confidence we have in Jesus Christ, we can face uncertainty with what is certain and proclaim like Sir John Franklin, “There be God!”