Farthest Shore

So, one of the things that I have been doing in this transitional time is taking guitar lessons.  It's one of those things that I have wanted to do for a while but never found the time to do it.  So, I figured this would be a good time to give it a go.  To learn some of the basics, my teacher asked me about a song that I really loved and I told him about David Wilcox's song, Farthest Shore.  So, we've been working on some of the basic chords for the song.  (I'm not anywhere close to it sounding like the song of course, but it has been fun).  The song is a beautiful piece reflecting on what is most important - he sings of diving into a lake leaving behind everything he owns to swim to what is on the other side.

The Farthest Shore came to mind again for me yesterday as I was reading my chapters from Matthew 14-16.  In those three chapters, you have  Jesus trying to get away to the "farthest shore" to grieve the death of his cousin John and then a little bit later (after the crowd that found Jesus was miraculously fed) Jesus tells the disciples to get in the boat and go to the other side while he dismissed the crowd.  And you have then the story of Peter falling in after walking briefly on the water to Jesus.  Jesus shares with Peter as he is pulled up from the water, "You of little faith, why did you doubt?"

What I heard through all of that, especially as I was walking around a lake yesterday thinking and praying about all of this is one of the lyrics in the song - "So let me dive into the water, leave behind all that I've worked for except for what I remember and believe and when I stand on the farthest shore, I will have all I need."

I hear as much in what Jesus said to Peter, "Peter, I'm all you need."  Jesus said that in actions to the crowd he fed, "I'm all you need."  Jesus says that to me today.  Ed, I'm all you need.  Jesus says that to us all..."I'm all you need."