; but Jesus reassured them; He said, “It is I.” He didn’t have to identify Himself because they knew His voice.
When Christ came to rescue them, He needed only to speak to the wind and the waves, as He had done before, but He chose to save them in the most gracious way He could; He came Himself. But He calmed their fears by letting them know that it was Him.
The knowledge that Christ is near us, is enough to drive away the fear from any disciple of Christ.
He came walking on the water. And now, we can see Peter’s great love for Christ; because he desired to go to Him. When He saw Christ, he became impatient to be with Him. He doesn’t say to Jesus, “Let me walk on the water,” as if he wanted to be part of a miracle; But he asks, “Let me come to you.” He wants to go to Him, no matter how he has to do it.
Here you can see Peter’s faith and determination, because he stepped out on the water when Christ said, “Come.” He left the safety of the ship, even willing to slip into the depths of the sea, which he had just a few minutes earlier dreaded. He demonstrated a very strong dependence upon the power and word of God. But now we see three things: first, Peter’s cowardice; second, Christ scolds him, and third, Christ helping him.
Christ didn’t ask Peter to come to Him just so he could walk on water, it was because He knew that he would sink; then he would know Christ’s power and his own weakness, and his faith would be increased.
Listen. Christ is the great Savior. He came to save. Those that want to be saved, must not only come to Him but must ask Him for salvation. But most people don’t come to Him until they are in a situation like this, where they find themselves sinking; a sense of need will drive us to Him.
The storm had ceased, and the sea was peaceful. Listen. Welcome Christ and the storms in your life will be quieted. The way to know peace is to know that He is God; that He is the Lord with us.
They were surprised and astonished by this miracle. They evidentially did not give enough weight to the previous miracles that they had seen. The feeding of the five thousand was great evidence of His amazing power, and if they would have given that the proper consideration, they would not have been so overwhelmed by what He did here.
But it did confirm their faith; that He was the Son of God. They worshiped Him and said, “It is true, you are the Son of God.” What they had seen was evidence for their faith. They knew before, that He was the Son of God, but now they knew it better.
What a great example of Christ’s power and compassion is on display here. He is still the same today-He loves us and wants to save us.
Thomas Mathews is a Toronto-based lawyer building a broad practice in civil and commercial litigation and criminal defence. These areas permit a lawyer to develop different skill sets, while often complementing each other for unique cases. There is a significant area of law developing in the grey areas between civil, commercial, and criminal litigation, which is of great interest to Thomas. Such areas include competition law, white collar crime, securities litigation, and investigations.
Thomas enjoys the personal relationship he can develop with his clients, providing them full attention and accountability for their legal needs — all at a fair price.
Thomas is member of the Bars of Ontario and Quebec, trained in both the common law and civil law legal traditions. He practises in both provinces, most often in Toronto and Montreal, representing clients in both English and French.
Training
A native of Ancaster, Ontario, Thomas completed his undergraduate degree in the Arts & Science Program at McMaster University. After spending a year in France playing rugby two divisions below the professional leagues, he studied law at Université Laval and the University of Ottawa. He summered and articled with a national law firm in Montreal, first being called to the Bar of Quebec in 2010, and subsequently, Ontario, in 2013.
As competition law is a discipline that combines business law with commercial and criminal litigation, Thomas was particularly drawn to this field during his legal studies. In 2013, Thomas was awarded the Canadian Bar Association’s James Bocking Memorial Award and the J.S.D. Tory Writing Award, for a paper entitled The Failing Firm: Re-examining Canada’s Approach to Rescue Mergers in Light of the US and EU Experience. This paper was subsequently published in the Canadian Competition Law Review. Thomas further completed a placement with the Criminal Matters Branch of the Competition Bureau, participating in cartel and price-fixing investigations.
Outside of the law
As lawyers have always played a role in the public affairs of their country, Thomas enjoys writing on political and business issues. He has been published in both national and local newspapers.
Outside the courtroom, Thomas finds his competitive spirit on the rugby pitch, and is most at home playing scrum-half. Past school teams and clubs include Ancaster High, Ancaster Loyalists, Stoney Creek Camels, McMaster University, and the infamous PUC (Paris Université Club). He currently plays with Bay Street RFC in the Toronto Rugby Union.
ABC, Inc. is an Applied Behavior Analysis agency dedicated to providing the most up to date empirically sound interventions in the treatment of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), Attention Deficit Disorder with/out Hyperactivity (ADHD/ADD), Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD), Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and other related behavioral disorders/disabilities.
• Applied Behavior Analysis is a science evidence-based treatment that has been well cited in over 3,000 peer reviewed journal articles on its clinical effectiveness in treating a variety of neurological, behavioral and mental disorders such as autism, Asperger’s, ADHD, OCD, Tourette’s, ODD and anxiety.
•Our clinical team consists of qualified professionals with Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBA’s/BCBA-D’s) and Associates (BCaBA’s) who serve as consultants and senior consultants on all client intervention programs. ABC adheres to a clinical supervision structure consisting of an executive clinical/administrative team to ensure quality control of ABA treatment provided across clients. All of our staff receive extensive training and support working as part of a team with regularly scheduled supervision and continuing education.CoE Faculty Recognized at LSU Distinguished Faculty Award Reception
May 5, 2009
Seven College of Engineering faculty members were recognized during the LSU Distinguished Faculty Award Reception. The reception was held on May 5, 2009, at the Lod Cook Alumni Center and recognized University-wide faculty members for their outstanding achievements.
Marybeth Lima, PE, PhD, professor of biological & agricultural engineering (BAE), was awarded the LSU Distinguished Faculty Award. She received her PhD from Ohio State University. Lima specializes in food and bioprocess engineering, value-added processing, and service learning engineering education. Lima and her students work with East Baton Rouge Parish public school students, teachers, parents and administrators to design, implement and raise funds for “dream playgrounds,” created by the elementary school students. To date, 18 playgrounds have been built for children through Lima’s service learning classes.
The LSU Distinguished Faculty Award recognizes faculty members with sustained records of excellence in teaching, research, service, and/or any combination of the three. Any full-time faculty member who has not received this award previously is eligible.
Todd Monroe, PE, PhD, associate professor of BAE and holder of the Mr. and Mrs. C.W. Armstrong, Jr. Professorship in Engineering, was awarded the Tiger Athletic Foundation President’s Award. He received his BS in biological engineering from LSU, and his MS, PhD in biomedical engineering from Vanderbilt University. He also conducted postdoctoral research in biomedical engineering/physics at Vanderbilt. He has received many awards and honors, including the 2008 NSF CAREER Award and the 2007 LSU College of Agriculture Sedberry Outstanding Undergraduate Teacher Award. Monroe specializes in biophotonics, bio-MEMS, molecular and cellular engineering.
The Tiger Athletic Foundation President’s Award recognizes a faculty member for extraordinary classroom teaching as demonstrated by an impact on and involvement with students, a scholarly approach to teaching and learning, and contributions to the profession of teaching. Any full-time faculty member who has not received this award previously is eligible.
The following assistant professors received the Tiger Athletic Foundation Undergraduate Teaching Award. Each recipient was selected for demonstrating outstanding teaching.
Jin-Woo Choi, PhD, assistant professor and holder of the Dr. Fred H. Fenn Memorial Professorship in the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering. Choi received a BS and MS in electrical engineering from Seoul National University, located in Seoul, South Korea. He also received his PhD in 2001 from the University of Cincinnati. His research interests include: Bio-MEMS, lab-on-a-chip, and microfluidics; biofuel cells and bio-inspired energy harvesting devices in microscale; micro/nanoscale transducers; polymer-based microactuators and biomimetic systems; and bioelectronic transducers and biosensors.
Shengmin Guo, PhD, is an assistant professor of mechanical engineering. He received his B.Eng. in engineering mechanics and his M.Eng. in fluid mechanics from Tsinghua University in Beijing, China. He went on to receive his PhD, in engineering science from the University of Oxford. Guo