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Viewpoint from Tony Mallion 28/09/2018

TONY MALLION 10-2017 stephen gTony Mallion (photo: by Stephen Gostick)
Cliff Park Community Church
 

as published in the Yarmouth Mercury

 

Walking on Water

 
OK. Hands up anyone else who has the occasional anxiety dream. Or is it just me? Its years since I retired from being on the radio but once in an occasional blue moon I have a dream which could be any broadcaster’s nightmare. I just can’t reach the studio. The clock ticks away while I am stuck in a traffic jam or another building; anywhere but where I am supposed to be presenting a programme. Will I make it on time?
 
dove leftSuch dreams can have a basis in reality like the time the RAF Red Arrows – a big attraction at the recent Yarmouth Air Festival - were spending the night at Norwich Airport between appearing at Cromer Carnival and Clacton. I was supposed to do a live teatime interview on the runway with their commander except some unexpected traffic delay meant I was halted a mile or two away as the famous jets came in to land swooping over my radio car. I did make it to the runway by the skin of my teeth but it was touch and go (and the Red Arrows looked magnificent close up)
 
Dove rightRecently I dreamt I was once again finding myself separated from a studio except for the first time my destination was tantalisingly across an expanse of water (please don’t write in with expert analysis, just bear with me). As I looked across the lapping waves I thought of the Bible account of Jesus walking on the water of Lake Galilee and inviting his follower Peter to follow suit. So in this vivid dream I did the same thing; I stepped out. I wasn’t wearing Holy Land sandals but just normal Clarks shoes. I moved forward and lo and behold, unlike Peter, didn’t begin to sink down; nor did my feet get wet. I made it to the other side, at which point I woke up. Rather than a scary nightmare it felt like a great experience even if it was a dream.
 
Could this be a reminder what stepping out in faith can really be like?  Maybe not trying to walk on water which, in the time honoured Blue Peter phrase would have the warning of ‘don’t try this at home’ but as Martin Luther King once put it: “Faith is taking the first step, even when you don’t see the whole staircase”
 


 

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