Everything hit at once. I can't breathe.

Panic strips away the words, and then you feel bad about having none. Peter managed three, mid-sink, and they were enough. The account says help came immediately — not after he composed himself, and not after he explained.

The conversation

The child: “Daddy God, everything hit at once. I can't breathe.”

God: “Peter felt that. He was walking on water and then he looked at the wind.”

The child: “He was walking on water?”

God: “Until he saw the storm. Then he started to sink.”

God: “He didn't sink because the waves got bigger. He sank because he looked at them.”

The child: “So what did he do?”

God: “Three words. 'Lord, save me.' That was the whole prayer.”

God: “No eloquence. No explanation. The shortest prayer in Scripture.”

The child: “Did You wait until he said it properly?”

God: “'Immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand.' Immediately.”

The child: “I don't have words right now.”

God: “You don't need them. Three will do. I'm already reaching.”

The child: “Lord, save me.”

God: “Already have you.”

"But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me." Matthew 14:30, KJV