"You just won't believe what happened to her the other night when she was sleeping in her quiet house on a quiet street among quiet and friendly neighbors. She had gone to bed about 11:30...Not that she had worried unduly about her personal safety, but the doors were locked tight and nobody could have opened a window even if they had tried. She was sure of that.

"She picked up [a] novel...and settled down to read for a while. She grew sleepy. She put down the novel, turned off the light and settled down to sleep.

"As best she could reconstruct the night's events later, she must have fallen into a deep, relaxed sleep. Then about 2 or 3 a.m. she came up ever so gradually to the border between sleep and waking. She moved, put her arms above her head and dozed off again. All was still quiet, peaceful and relaxed. She had no fearful apprehensions, no premonitions, no worries.

"People who sometimes sleep with their arms above their heads will understand what happened next. It was a minor matter. Her left arm simply grew tired of the position. She was dimly aware of the discomfort. It continued. Still dozing, she tried to lower her arm. It wouldn't come down.

"Then, she says, she became aware of a warm, firm hand holding her arm tightly. She woke up in a hurry--and in a panic. She struggled in the dark to free her hand, but the strange hand wouldn't turn loose. The harder she struggled, the tighter the grasp grew. She was struck by how warm that hand was, and how firmly it held her. Frantically, she tried harder to get loose. Then something dawned on her. It was her own right hand doing the holding.

"Actually, it almost turned out badly after all. She nearly fell out of bed laughing. But she didn't. She finally managed to pry her right hand loose from her left, and laughed a while, and then fell back to sleep for the rest of the night, and no harm was done. It was simply a case of the left hand not knowing what the right hand was doing."

Sometimes our fears get the best of us. It happened to the disciples. They were sailing across the lake when a terrible storm arose. They were fishermen by trade. They had experienced many such storms. They were strong men, but when the storm showed no signs of letting up, it got the better of them. They feared for their very lives. Then across the water they saw Jesus. In times of panic sometimes our minds run wild. The disciples failed to recognize Christ. One of them cried out, "It is a ghost!"

Jesus spoke words of comfort to his fearful disciples, "Take heart, it is I, do not be afraid." What beautiful words to the fearful heart.

Ron Newhouse