Water striders belong to the Gerridae family of true bugs in the order Hemiptera. They are known by many other names, such as water bugs, water scooters, skeeters, skimmers, skippers, pond skaters and “Jesus bugs.” This large family of insects are well known for their uncanny ability to walk on water. They are anatomically designed to spread and distribute their body weight, which enables them to “walk” on the surface of the water.
Water striders are usually seen glissading gracefully on top of ponds, streams, rivers and lakes. There are over 1,700 species of gerrids, of which 10 percent are marine or oceanic.
These insects take advantage of a property of liquids known as surface tension. The attractive nature of water molecules results in the formation of a film-like layer on the surface. This thin and elastic membrane allows lightweight insects to stand, walk, or glide over it with ease and speed.
Most water-walking insects have oil glands at the ends of their long, hydrophobic legs, which prevent them from getting wet or waterlogged. Some gerrids also have long, feather-like hairs on the tip of their middle legs. Working like paddles, these hairy legs propel the insects against strong winds or currents, enabling them to push against the water’s surface with amazing grace and miraculous speed.
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Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while He dismissed the crowd. Then He went up on a mountainside to pray. The boat was already a considerable distance from land when the wind rose and roiled the waves.
Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw Him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost!” they cried out in fear.
But Jesus said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
“Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”
“Come,” He said.
Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But he became afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”
Jesus immediately reached out His hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” He said, “why did you doubt?”
When they were in the boat, the wind suddenly died down. Then all of His disciples worshipped Him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”—Matthew 14:22-33 (New International Version)
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Before He made His move, Jesus waited for the moment when the boat carrying His disciples was already a considerable distance away from the shoreline, when they were indeed farthest from the land, out there in the middle of the lake.
By then, utter wretchedness and despair had set in, and all their hopes had dissipated. That was when He decided to come to them, walking with amazing grace upon the troubled and bridgeless waters.
He showed them that He is in full control and command of the elements, a feat that only God can do. As it turned out, Jesus was merely testing the strength of their faith or the weakness of their resolve. Seeing Jesus walking across a wilderness of waves on the surface of the lake, on such a wild and windy night, His disciples were finally convinced that He was indeed the Son of God.
We are often beset by the many vicissitudes of life, buffeted by the fickle winds of fate, battered by the ups and downs of outrageous fortune. There are times when we are engulfed by seemingly insurmountable hardships and difficulties such as sickness or death in the family, separation from our loved ones, or dire financial straits. Yet, it is only when life seems to be at its lowest ebb, when we feel we are being inundated under immense and implacable impediments, when night is the darkest it can ever be, that we realize the presence of God.
All the hurdles and the harrowing thrown our way are meant to test our faith; they are intended to bring us closer to God. Jesus comes to us in the storms of life, when He knows we need Him the most. Jesus will walk the sadness away. He will walk us to the ends of the world and to the End of Days. At the fag end of your rope, you will find God’s hands, blistered from all that braiding!
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Here are three haikus I wrote, dedicated to Him Who Walks on Water:
Jesus Bugs
Weird that You walk on water,
but not weirder than I—
drowning on dry land!
*
Ode to the Water Boatman
Water strider that walks on water:
You must be sinless
to be so light!
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Water Strider, My Lord
I want to follow your footsteps
as you walk on water
without sinking
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Antonio Calipjo Go (sickbooks_togo@yahoo.com) is the academic supervisor of Marian School of Quezon City.