{"id":501,"date":"2026-07-12T11:44:01","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T16:44:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stumbleup.me\/?p=501"},"modified":"2026-07-12T11:44:03","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T16:44:03","slug":"take-heart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stumbleup.me\/index.php\/2026\/07\/12\/take-heart\/","title":{"rendered":"Take Heart"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<!-- POST TITLE: Take Heart -->\n<!-- CATEGORY: Rooted \/ Week 2 -->\n<style>@import url('https:\/\/fonts.googleapis.com\/css2?family=Oswald:wght@400;500;700&family=Lora:ital,wght@0,400;0,500;1,400&display=swap');\n.rtd{font-family:'Lora',Georgia,serif;color:#2B241D;background:#F1EBDD;max-width:720px;margin:2em auto;padding:2.5em 2em;line-height:1.7;font-size:1.05em}\n.rtd .eyebrow{font-family:'Oswald',sans-serif;font-size:.85em;letter-spacing:.18em;text-transform:uppercase;color:#46633C;font-weight:500;margin:0 0 .4em}\n.rtd h1{font-family:'Oswald',sans-serif;font-weight:700;font-size:2.2em;letter-spacing:.02em;text-transform:uppercase;color:#2B241D;margin:0 0 .5em;line-height:1.1}\n.rtd h2{font-family:'Oswald',sans-serif;font-weight:500;font-size:1.3em;letter-spacing:.08em;text-transform:uppercase;color:#46633C;margin:2em 0 .7em;border-bottom:1px solid #C99A46;padding-bottom:.3em}\n.rtd .verse{font-family:'Lora',Georgia,serif;font-style:italic;font-size:1.08em;line-height:1.6;background:#E9E1CE;border-left:4px solid #C99A46;padding:1.1em 1.4em;margin:1.4em 0;color:#2B241D}\n.rtd .verse-cite{display:block;font-style:normal;font-family:'Oswald',sans-serif;font-size:.82em;letter-spacing:.1em;color:#46633C;margin-top:.6em;text-transform:uppercase}\n.rtd .divider{border:none;border-top:1px solid #C99A46;margin:2em auto;width:80px}\n.rtd p{margin:0 0 1.1em}\n.rtd .pull{font-family:'Oswald',sans-serif;font-weight:500;font-size:1.15em;letter-spacing:.04em;color:#2B241D;border-top:1px solid #C99A46;border-bottom:1px solid #C99A46;padding:1em 0;margin:1.6em 0;text-align:center;line-height:1.4}<\/style>\n<div class=\"rtd\">\n<p class=\"eyebrow\">Rooted \u00b7 Week 2 \u00b7 Sunday<\/p>\n<h1>Take Heart<\/h1>\n<p>Week 2. Same storm, deeper water.<\/p>\n<p>Last week in Rooted we learned that joy is the power to endure a trial, and that we do not get to choose the storm, only who we become in it. This week the question gets more personal and harder. While the wind is still against us and the boat is still pitching, where exactly is God?<\/p>\n<p>Matthew 14 gives us the answer in a scene no one who has been through a hard night ever forgets.<\/p>\n<h2>The Boat in the Dark<\/h2>\n<p>Jesus sends his disciples out onto the sea ahead of him. A storm comes up. And by the middle of the night they are a long way from land, beaten by the waves, straining at the oars, getting nowhere, and afraid. And here is the part that stings. Jesus is not in the boat with them. He put them out there, and then he was not in the boat.<\/p>\n<p>But he was never gone. He was up on the mountain praying, and then he came to them in a way only God could.<\/p>\n<div class=\"verse\">And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea.<span class=\"verse-cite\">\u2014 Matthew 14:25, ESV<\/span><\/div>\n<p>He walked out onto the very water that was trying to drown them. The storm that was their terror was his sidewalk. And when they cried out in fear, certain he was a ghost, he said the words this whole week is built on.<\/p>\n<div class=\"verse\">But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, &#8220;Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.&#8221;<span class=\"verse-cite\">\u2014 Matthew 14:27, ESV<\/span><\/div>\n<h2>The Name Over the Waves<\/h2>\n<p>That little phrase, &#8220;it is I,&#8221; is far bigger than it looks in English. In the Greek it is <em>ego eimi<\/em>, I AM, the exact name God gave Moses from the burning bush. Jesus is not just identifying himself so they will relax. He is speaking the name of God over the storm while he stands on top of it. I AM is here. That is the answer to where God is in the wind.<\/p>\n<h2>He Doesn&#8217;t Calm It First<\/h2>\n<p>Now catch what he does not do. He does not still the storm before he speaks. The wind is still howling and the waves are still high when he says do not be afraid. The peace he offers is not the peace of a calm sea. It is the peace of his presence in a sea that is anything but calm.<\/p>\n<p>That matters, because our idea of peace is usually just the absence of trouble. But remember what peace actually is. It is not merely calm. It is whole, complete, lacking nothing, content. And that kind of peace does not depend on the wind dying down. It depends on who is walking toward you across the water. This week we learn to find him in the storm instead of only begging him to end it. Keep your eyes on Him, not the wind.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"divider\" \/>\n<p class=\"eyebrow\">Tomorrow \u00b7 Even Jesus Grieved<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rooted \u00b7 Week 2 \u00b7 Sunday Take Heart Week 2. Same storm, deeper water. Last week in Rooted we learned that joy is the power to endure a trial, and that we do not get to choose the storm, only&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":502,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rooted"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/stumbleup.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/SU_20260712_BLOG.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stumbleup.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stumbleup.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stumbleup.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stumbleup.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stumbleup.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=501"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stumbleup.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":503,"href":"https:\/\/stumbleup.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501\/revisions\/503"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stumbleup.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stumbleup.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stumbleup.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stumbleup.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}