If you want to walk on water you`ve got to get out of the boat by John Ortberg

If you want to walk on water you`ve got to get out of the boat

John Ortberg

Preface
Invitation to go for a walk - unforgettable walks in the bible.
First one was taken by God himself, who used to walk in the garden in the cool of the day.  But generally God asked people to walk with him.
Abraham - hard walk with his son Isaac on the road to Moriah.
Moses - liberating walk as he and Israelites went through path of Red Sea.  Frustrating walk that took them on the roundabout way of the desert for 40 years.
Joshua`s - triumphant walk around Jericho.
Disciples on road to Emmaus - illuminating walk.
Paul - interrupted walk to Damascus.
Praetorium to Golgotha (Via Dolorosa) - so sad and holy walk, way of great sorrow.
Peter - unforgettable walk when he got out of a boat and walked on water.   Let Peter`s walk stand as an invitation to everyone who wants to step out in faith, who wants to experience something more of the power and presence of God.  Let water-walking be a picture of doing with God`s help what I could never do on my own.  There is a consistent pattern in scripture of what happens in a life that God wants to use and improve.
There is always a call.  God asks an ordinary person to engage in an act of extraordinary trust, that of getting out of the boat.
There is always fear.  God has an inextinguishable habit of asking people to do things that are scary to them:
Fear of inadequacy - (Moses "I am slow of speech and slow of tongue".)
Fear of failure (Spies "The land we explored devours those who live in it.)
Fear of God (Servant in Jesus` parable "For I knew you were a hard man, seeking to reap where you did not sow.")
There is always reassurance:
God promises his presence (Gideon "The Lord is with you Mighty Warrior!)
God promises gifts needed to fulfil his assignment (Moses "I will help you to speak and teach you what to say")
There is always a decision:
Moses and Gideon said yes to God`s call
10 spies and rich young ruler who spoke to Jesus said no.
There is always a changed life.  Those who say yes to God`s call don`t walk the walk perfectly but because they say yes to God, they learn and grow even from their failures.  And they become part of his actions to redeem the world.  Those who say no are changed too - they become a little harder, a little more resistant to his alling, a little more likely to say no the next time.  Whatever the decision it always changes a life - and it changes the world that little life touches.
If you want to walk on water, you`ve got to get out of the boat

Chapter 1 - On Water Walking

Can I trust the pilot?  Every day you and I take another leg of our journey in this giant balloon that`s whirling around a vast universe.  We only get one trip, I long to take it with an enormous spirit of adventure and risk - and I`ll bet you do too.  But it`s a pretty uncertain ride sometimes.  I wish the walls to my basket went up a little higher, I wish the balloon was a little thicker.  I wonder how my little ride will end up.  I`m not sure how it will handle on the way down.  I can try to psyche myself up for taking chances and believing everything will turn out ok.  But the real question is, Is there somebody piloting this thing?  And are his character and competence such that he can be trusted?  Because if they`re not, I don`t want to take a chance.  My story, like every human story, is, at least in part, the struggle between faith and fear.
Peter getting out of the boat and walking on the water with Christ is one of the greatest pictures of extreme discipleship in scripture.
What goes into the making of a water walker?
Peter and his friends got into a little boat one afternoon to cross the sea of Galilee.  Jesus wanted to be alone so they were boating without him.  Peter didn`t mind - he had been on boats his whole life.  He liked them.  Then a storm blew in - Matthew says the boat was "tormented" by the waves.  So violent that the only thing the disciples could do was to keep the boat upright.  Then one of the disciples noticed a shadow moving toward them on the water - as it got closer it was apparent it was the figure of a human being - walking on the water.  Disciples convinced he was a ghost so they were terrified and cried out in fear.  Matthew wants us to know that sometimes it takes eyes of faith to recognise when Jesus is around.  Often in the middle of the storm, tormented by waves of disappointment and doubt, we are no better at recognizing his presence than they were.
What was Jesus up to walking around on the lake at 3 in the morning?  David Garland - Mark`s version of the story - Jesus "intended to pass them by".  Why?  The verb parerchomai (to pass by) is used in Greek translation of OT as technical term to refer to a theophany - those defining moments when God made "striking and temporary appearances in the earthly realm to a select individual or group for the purpose of communicating a message.  Remember when God put Moses in the cleft of a rock so he could see "while my glory passes by ... The Lord passed before him."  Remember Elijah - God told him to stand on the mountain "for the Lord is about to pass by."
God had to get people`s attention - through a burning bush, or wind and fire, or walking on the water.  God was going to call them to do something extraordinary.  In each situation the person that God called felt afraid.  But every time that people said "yes" to their calling, they experienced the power of God in their lives.
So Jesus coming to the disciples on the water intending to pass by was revealing his divine presence and power.
The disciples entered boat in the first place at Jesus` command.  They would have to learn - as we do - that obedience is no guarantee of being spared adversity.  But now that the storm had their full attention, Jesus decided it was time the disciples got to know a little bit more about the person who was piloting this thing.  They didn`t fully grasp it yet but God was visiting them in the water-walking flesh.
Jesus often comes when least expected - 3 am in the middle of a storm!  Jesus still asks his followers to do extraordinary things.  And if you`re not looking for him, you just might miss him!
12 disciples sat in a boat and we don`t know how 11 of them responded to that voice.  Perhaps with confusion, wonder, disbelief or a little bit of each.  One of them, Peter was to become a water-walker.  He recognised that God was present - even in the most unlikely place.  He realised that this was an extraordinary opportunity for spiritual adventure and growth.  So he got an idea.
Peter blurted out "if it is you, command me to come to you on the water."  Why does Peter not just get out of the boat there and then? This is a story not about risk taking but obedience.  That means I will have to discern between an authentic call from God and what might simply be a foolish impulse on my part.  Courage alone is not enough; it must be accompanied by wisdom and discernment.  This is about extreme discipleship.  This means that before Peter gets out of the boat, he had better make sure Jesus thinks it`s a good idea.  So he asks for clarity "if it is you, command me ..."  Peter had enough faith to believe that he too could share the adventure.  He decided he wanted to be part of history`s original water-walk - "command me."
What`s your boat?  Your boat is whatever represents safety and security to you apart from God himself.  Your boat is whatever you are tempted to put your trust in, especially when life gets a little stormy.  Your boat is whatever keeps you so comfortable that you don`t want to give it up even if it`s keeping you from joining Jesus on the waves.  Your boat is whatever pulls you away from the high adventure of extreme discipleship.
Want to know what your boat is?  Your fear will tell you.  What is it that most produces fear in me - especially when I think of leaving it behind and stepping out in faith?
So Peter goes to the side of the boat.  He abandons himself utterly to the power of Jesus.  And suddenly, for the first time in history, an ordinary human being is walking on the water.  For a while it`s as if only Peter and Jesus are present on the water.  Peter is beaming with delight.  Jesus is thrilled with his student.  Like master, like disciple.
Then it happens.  Peter "saw the wind".  Reality sets in and Peter asks himself, What was I thinking?  He realised he was on the water in the middle of a storm with no boat beneath him and he was terrified.  Nothing has changed though.  The storm should have come as no surprise - it`s been there all along.  What has really taken place is that Peter`s focus has shifted from the Saviour to the storm.
Because of the wind, some people decided to never leave the boat.  But you may as well know now, there is no guarantee that life in the boat is going to be any safer.  There is danger in getting out of the boat.  But there is danger in staying in it as well.  If you live in the boat - whatever your boat happens to be - you will eventually die of boredom and stagnation.  Everything is risky.
You`ve got to get out of the boat a little every day.  The disciples get into the boat, face the storm, see the water-walker and are afraid. "Don`t be afraid" Jesus says.  The fear will never go away - why - because each time I want to grow, it will involve going into new territory, taking on new challenges. And each time I do that I will experience fear again.
Now you can give up trying to make fear go away.  Fear and growth go together - it`s a package deal.  The decision to grow always involves a choice between risk and comfort.  This means that to be a follower of Jesus you must renounce comfort as the ultimate value of your life.
The 11 disciples could be called "boat potatoes".  They didn`t mind watching but they didn`t want to actually do anything.
Both choices - risk and comfort - tend to grow into a habit.  Each time you get out of the boat, you become a little more likely to get out the next time.  It`s not that the fear goes away but that you get used to living with fear.  You realise that it does not have the power to destroy you.
On the other hand, every time you resist that voice, every time you choose to stay in the boat rather than heed its call, the voice gets a little quieter in you.  Then at last you don`t hear its call at all.
As a result of seeing the wind and giving in to fear, Peter began to sink into the water.  Did Peter fail?
Failure is not an event, but rather a judgment about an event.  Failure is not something that happens to us or a label we attach to things.  It is a way we think about outcomes.  In a way he did fail.  His faith wasn`t strong enough.  His doubts were stronger.  "He saw the wind".  He took his eyes off of where they should have been.  He sank.  He failed.  But ... there were 11 bigger failures sitting in the boat.  They failed quietly.  They failed privately.  Their failure went unnoticed, unobserved, uncriticized.  Only Peter knew the shame of public failure.
Peter knew 2 other things as well.  He knew the glory of walking on the water.  He alone knew what it was to attempt to do what he was not capable of doing on his own, then feeling the euphoria of being empowered by God to actually do it.  Once you walk on the water, you never forget it - not for the rest of your life.  And only Peter knew the glory of being lifted up by Jesus in a moment of desperate need.  Peter knew, in a way the others could not that when he sank, Jesus would be wholly adequate to save him.  He had a shared moment, a shared connection, a shared trust in Jesus that none of the others had.  They couldn`t because they didn`t even get out of the boat.  The worst failure is not to sink in the waves.  The worst failure is to never get out of the boat.
As soon as Peter asks for help, Jesus is there.  He helps Peter physically by pulling him from the water  But he also helps Peter grow by pinpointing the problem "You of little faith, why did you doubt?"
Jesus makes this comment to Peter when they are alone on the water.  The text says it is only after this comment that they got into the boat.  It may be that Jesus - like any good mentor - did not want to embarrass Peter in front of the other disciples.  So in the privacy and safety of his strong right hand, he gently helps Peter locate the source of his problem.
The problem was quite clear: Whether Peter sank or water-walked depended on whether he focused on the storm or on Jesus.  But now he understood his dependence on faith much more deeply that he would have if he had never left the boat.  It was his willingness to risk failure that helped him to grow.
We hate for other people to see us fail.  Because Peter puts himself in a position to fail, he also puts himself in a position to grow.  Failure is an indispensable, irreplaceable part of learning and growth.  Here is the principle involved: Failure does not shape you; the way you respond to failure shapes you.
This is a story not only about risk but also about waiting.  The disciples had to wait in the storm untilt the fourth watch of the night before Jesus came to them.  Even then, it`s not until the very end of the passage that the disciples finally get what they were hoping for - relief from the storm.  Why couldn`t Jesus have made the wind die down before Peter got out of the boat?
We have to learn to wait on the Lord to receive power to walk on the water.  We have to wait for the Lord to make the storm disappear.  In some ways, "waiting on the Lord" is the hardest part of trusting - it is putting yourself with utter vulnerability in his hands.
Why risk getting out of the boat?
it is the only way to real growth
it is the way true faith develops
it is the alternative to boredom and stagnation that causes people to wither up and die
it is part of discovering and obeying your calling.
There are many good reasons to get out of the boat - one that trumps them all - The water is where Jesus is.  Peter got out of the boat is that he wanted to be where Jesus was.  Matthew keeps referring to this reality.  Peter`s request is "Lord if it`s you command me to come to you."  Then Peter got out of the boat "and came toward Jesus."  Because Peter did this, both he and his friends came to a deeper understanding of their Master than ever before.  They came to see more than ever that they could place their destinies in his hands with confidence.
They understood that the One in their boat was the One alone who treads the waves of the seas - and they worshipped him.
The call to get out of the boat involves crisis, opportunity, often failure, generally fear, sometimes suffering, always the calling to a task too big for us.  But there is no other way to grow faith and to partner with God.

Chapter 2 - Boat Potatoes

Anytime a gift is given, the recipient must choose to respond in 1 or 2 ways.  The first way says, This gift is so valuable it can`t be risked.  The second way says This gift is so valuable it must be risked.  There is no tragedy like the tragedy of the unopened gift.  Along with the gift you have been given a choice - whether or not you will open and use what was given to you.  Is your life following the first way or the second?
Peter chose the second way.  Peter asked Jesus for a promise - "Lord, if it is you, command me."  Peter didn`t ask for a guarantee, just an opportunity.
The disciples who stayed in the boat were, followers of the first way.  They did not want to risk brokenness or failure.  They treasured safety over growth.  The Lord wanted to "pass them by" not to bypass them!  The ultimate adventure of faith was something they were content to watch from the sideliness.  They didn`t want to be passed by, just passed up.  Let them stand for all who ask not for a command but a promise, who seek not a mission but a guarantee!  They understood the cost of getting out of the boat.  They were very much aware of the pain of potential failure, embarrassment, inadequacy, criticism and even loss of life.  But what they were not so aware of was another price - the cost of staying in the boat.
There are few things that attract us more than growth.  We were made to grow, and we love to be around growth.
There are few things sadder than stagnation.  This is a way that leads to stagnation - unrealized potential, unfilled longings.  It leads to a sense that I`m not living my life; the one I was supposed to live.  There is no tragedy like the tragedy of the unopened gift.
Think of the story of the man with 3 servants and he entrusts talents to each of them - 5, 2 and 1.  The first - dawns on him that this is an unbelievable opportunity.  This is a chance for all of them to exercise initiative, use judgment, test their skills in the marketplace and potentially rise to positions of greater responsibilty.  Most likely there would have been an implicit arrangement for them to share in profits as well.  This is an act of unprecedented trust and generosity.  Vocationally, organizationally and financially the lord of the gift has given them the chance of a lifetime.  This is their defining moment.
"At once" isn`t so much a chronological detail as a statement about the recognition of reality.  The first servant realizes that as long as he lives, he will never have another chance like this.  He resolves that he will allow nothing to interfere with his seizing this opportunity.  He will not be sidetracked or distracted.  Jesus says this is how it is with anyone who grasps what God offers.
The Lord of the Gift has entrusted his property to you and me.  Everyone receives a gift. This is not a story where some are gifted and some are not.  We are all called by God.  We are all equipped and expected to contribute.  Every gift is chosen by the master.  No one decides on his or her giftedness.
In fact, we get the meaning of the word talent from this very story.  He has been very generous, the Lord of the gift.  There are no no-talent people in his story.  Not only that, God himself offers to partner with you in your life.  He offers to guide you when you need wisdom, encourage you when you falter, pick you up when you sink, and forgive you when you stray.  He offers us himself as the best gift of all.
All human beings, including you and me, give their lives to something.  Between this day and your last day, you will give your life to something.  The only question is, what will you give your life to?  Will it be worthy?  The practical implication is, I must come to prize and appreciate what the Lord of the Gift has given to me.  You had better respond at once.
The opportunity to use whatever gifts you have in the service of the Lord of the Gift is the chance of a lifetime.  But it will slip away from you unless you are very intentional.  The time to respond is at once.
But the third servant fails to do this.  He takes the greatest gift he will ever be given and buries it in a field. Why would he do such a thing?  What would cause a human being to discard the chance of a lifetime?
Somehow the third servant forgets a very important fact of life.  He forgets that the Lord of the gift is coming back.  But the day comes "After a long time, the master of those slaves came back and settled accounts with them."
There is one before whom we will all stand.  He is loving, holy, gracious, and just, but he intends for us to understand that we really will give account to him of our lives.
So many people blame their refusal to get out of the boat on some external circumstance:
I would develop my gifts more thoroughly, but I have a boss who stifles my initiative
I would pursue another job, but I need the money/security/familiarity of this one
I would grow in my capacity for intimacy, but my spouse isn`t interested
I would devote myself more fully to spiritual growth, but I can`t find the time
I would have realised more of my potential, but no one was ever interested in mentoring me
Jesus warns us about the primary reason that potential water-walkers turn into boat potatoes and how servants rationalize burying their gifts.
Why did the man only receive 1 talent.  I wonder if comparing his one talent with the multiple talents of the other servants made him feel inadequate or insignificant.  I wonder if he felt angry toward the other servants - or perhaps even toward the master.  Maybe burying his talent was a passive way of getting even with the master for not giving him more.
Usually in Jesus` story there are only 2 characters - wise and foolish builder, tax collector and publican.  In this story there are 2 variables - varying amounts of gifts.  One man gets 5, another 2 and a third gets one.  Some people are gifted in ways that will be visible and celebrated in this world; others are gifted in ways that remain quiet and unseen.  The variable that does matter is what each servant does with what he`s been given.  The size of the gift is not the crucial variable.  Even though the first servant receives a gift much larger than the second, the master responds in identical fashion to each of them.  Jesus wants us to understand that the visible level of giftedness and calling is not the hinge point.  I must ruthlessly refuse to compare my talents with anyone else.
Comparison will lead to pride and a false sense of superiority if I`m ahead of someone and misery if I`m behind.  Or worse, I will discount and bury the irreplaceable treasure that the Lord of the Gift has given to me alone.  Have you been comparing what you`ve been given with someone else - physical appearance, intelligence, relationships, accomplishments, energy or temperament?
I must come to identify, cultivate, invest, prize and enjoy the gifts that have been given to me.  The Lord of the Gift is very wise.  He knew exactly what he was doing when he created you.  He is well-pleased that you exist.  He has entrusted to you everything you need to fulfill the purpose for which you were created.  At the end of the day, God will not ask you why you didn`t lead someone else`s life or invest someone else`s gifts.  Comparison is not an adequate excuse for the tragedy of an unopened gift.
When the lord of the settled account came to the third servant, he gave another rationale for his passivity "For I knew that you were a hard man, reaping where you do not sow, and I was afraid, so I hid what you gave me."  He wanted a promise that nothing would go wrong, not a command to do what`s right.
Fear makes people bury the treasure God has given them.
Fear makes people disobedient to the calling of the master.

In scripture when God calls Moses, Joshua, Gideon or Esther to do something great for him, the single greatest obstacle that stands in the way is fear.
But we find a major surprise here - when the servant says fear of the master inhibited him, the master doesn`t contradict him.  The master graciously lets pass the slur on his character.  He doesn`t remind the servant how generous he was in the first place - that he had given this servant the chance of a lifetime.
Fear is not an adequate excuse for the tragedy of an unopened gift.
One of the most sobering aspects of the story is that the servant is judged, not for doing bad things but for doing nothing.  Jesus uses 2 very serious words to describe him - wicked and lazy.  We don`t use these 2 words together much anymore.
Our lives are not about self-preservation and fulfillment, but are to be acts of stewardship.  To fail to be good stewards of what God has given us is a form of robbing him.
One of the great temptations most of us face that could block us from getting out of the boat is comfort.  Comfort will often keep us from growth.  Comfort is not an adequate excuse for an unopened gift.
The Lord of the Gift and the Lord of the Settled Account is also the Lord of the Reward.  He has wonderful things in store for those who steward his treasure wisely.
The master says "You have been trustworthy in a few things.  Now I will put you in charge of many /things."  Now it is time for you to get on with your real work!  Remember the master had given the servant an enormous amount of wealth.
From this story of the talents we learn that heaven will be nothing at all like an eternal retirement village.  In fact, heaven will be that place where we finally experience the fullness of adventure, creativity and fruitfulness we were made for.  Jesus said "To the one who conquers I will give a place with me on my throne, just as I myself conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne."  Part of the reward of heaven is that we will finally see the full potential of humanity realized - including ours.  Heaven will be the ultimate place of realized potential.
What has the Lord of the Gift given to you that you need to invest in the kingdom?  Maybe it`s your mind.  Your mind can be a place of unrealized potential, saturated with whatever is on billboards or in the mass media.  You can fill it with junk, jealousy greed, anger or fear.
Or your mind can be renewed.  Filled with thoughts that are good, noble, true and courageous.  But you will have to invest it.  Maybe it`s your material possessions.
John Wesley - make all you can - save all you can - give all you can.
Or you can take each moment and say "God this is yours."
You may have lavish talents - resources of finances or networks or abilities that could produce huge returns for the Lord of the Gift and you`re just sitting on them.
Jesus has made it clear: There is no truth in such a perspective.  We serve the Lord of the Gift.
The Lord of the Gift can take 5 fish and 2 loaves and feed the multitudes.  The Lord of the Gift can take 2 mites given by an impoverished widow and make it the lead gift in the whole campaign.  The Lord of the Gift can take a stuttering fugitive named Moses and defy a world-power dictator and his arm.  The Lord of the Gift can go from a blood-stained cross to an empty tomb.  The Lord of the Gift can take 12 bumbling followers and create a community that has spread throughout the world with a dream that refuses to die.
He can take what you have to offer and make a difference that matters for eternity.  You have no idea what your potential is.  For there is no reward like the reward of the opened gift.  "Beloved, we are God`s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed." But it will be revealed when the Lord of the Gift returns.

Chapter 3 - Discerning the call
There is a big difference between faith and foolishness.  Historically commentators have differed on whether Peter`s desire to leave the boat was an expression of devotion or an impulse control problem.  Peter did not immediately jump out of the boat.  He begins by requesting Jesus to give him permisson first "Lord if it is you, command me to come to you on the water."  Why does Peter do this?  After all he certainly does not have a problem acting out his impulses.  Matthew wants his readers to understand a crucial aspect about water walking - Peter is not in charge of water-walking - Jesus is.  Before he gets out of the boat he had better make sure that this is what he is called to do and that Jesus is the one doing the calling.  Jesus is looking for something more than mere impulsiveness.
How do I discern the difference between an authentic call from God to get out of the boat from my own rash impulse?
What does God do all day?  He works!  After Genesis God does not go into retirement
You make springs gush forth in the valleys ... From your lofty abode you water the moutains; the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work.  You cause the grass to grow for the cattle and plants for people to us ... O Lord how manifold are your works!
God is particularly active in working with people.  The Psalmist says that the God of Israel will "neither slumber nor sleep" but is always guiding and protecting his flock.
When Jesus came to earth, he came as a worker.  In fact, for most of his adult life he worked as a carpenter.  God is described in the Bible by many metaphors that involve work: He is a gardener, an artist, a potter, a shepherd, a king, a homemaker and a builder.
A calling is something you discover, not something you choose.  The word "vocation" comes from the Latin word for voice.  Discovering it involves very careful listening.  The whole idea of a calling is taken from Scripture, where time after time God calls someone to do his work.  The whole idea of calling is that there is a Call-er and a call-ee.
What work brings you joy? For what do you have desire and passion - for these too are gifts from God.  This is why giftedness is about more than just talents - it includes passion.
Psalm 19 "in the heavens he has set a tent for the sun, which comes out like a bridegroom from his wedding canopy and like a strong man runs its course with joy."
That does not mean that following a calling always brings feelings of enjoyment.  Often it means the gritty resolution to bear with a hard task when it woud be easier to quit.  But even this yields a certain satisfaction when I know I have been skilled and fitted by God for the task.
It is very important to distinguish what I love doing for its own sake from what I may want to do because of the rewards it may bring me.
One of the hardest commands in Scripture to obey is Paul`s statement to regard yourself with "sober judgment".  To come to an accurate assessment of my passions, gifts and limits is one of the great challenges of life.  In part, this command requires tremendous self-awareness.  But I am also likely to need some help from other people to overcome my blind spots.
Since discerning a calling usually requires time and patience and most of us have bills that must be paid - what do we do while we are searching?    Discernment honours previous decisions and commitments.  God is a careful worker and does not waste any resources.  The competencies and skills you have acquired until now matter to him and may be squandered if you leave your current situation too quickly.
People sometimes romanticise the notion of vocation.  Receiving a calling from God is not the same thing as falling into your dream career.  A dream career generally promises wealth, power, status, security and great benefits.  A calling is a different story.  Think of Moses told to go and speak to Pharaoh - he said here am I send Aaron.  Think of Jonah told to go to Nineveh to tell the people they must repent or die - he asked where the next boat was going in the opposite direction.  Think of Jeremiah, told to preach to a people who wouldn`t listen.
The first response to a God-sized calling is generally fear.  Where God calls, God gifts.  Our natural talent alone is not enough to honour a calling from God.  I will need ideas, strength and creativity beyond my own resources to do what God asks of me.  It will have to be God and me doing it together.  We are not called just to work for God.  We are called to work with God.  Everyone in Scripture who said yes to their calling had to pay a high price - so will you and I.  Sometimes it will mean putting in hours of work and effort when you would rather not.  Will you do it?  Somewhere along the line, people will oppose you, disapprove of you, or block what you are trying to do.  Can you endure?
Maybe it will take a long time to discern you calling.  Maybe it will involve much trial and error and many false starts.
A career is something I choose for myself, a calling is something I receive.  A career may end with retirement - a calling isn`t over until the day you die  The rewards of a career may be quite visible but they are temporary.  The significance of a calling lasts for eternity.  A career can be disupted by any number of events - but not a calling.  When God calls people, he enables them to fulfil their callings even in the most unlikely circumstances.

Chapter 4 - Walking on the water
Peter knew the joy and freedom of experiencing God`s power after taking an enormous risk.  Getting out of the boat was Peter`s great gift to Jesus; the experience of walking on water was Jesus` great gift to Peter.  Jesus` confidence contrasted with his disciples` fear.
To experience God`s power you have to take the first step.  This not only involves a mental acknowledgment God`s power, but requires them to take a step of action based on the assumption that God is trustworthy as well.   What am I doing that I could not do apart from the power of God?
The only way Peter would be able to stay afloat was if God took over.  If you want to walk on the water, you have to be willing to get your feet wet first.  Then you discover it is worth the risk.
God generally helps people`s faith grow by asking them to take the first step.  When God called Moses to get out of the boat - to confront Pharaoh and lead his people - Moses balked.  So God asked him to take a small step "throw down your staff".  Moses did and immediately it became a serpent.  Serpents were worshipped in Egypt and were regarded as poisonous so Moses would have been struck by the next command "put out your hand and pick it up - by the tail."  God wanted Moses to learn something about the first step principle.  So Moses picked up the snake and it became a staff again.  Moses discovered God was faithful.  But Moses had to pick it up first.  He had to take a first step.  God promised Moses and the Israelites freedom.  He did deliver them from Pharaoh, but first they had to act in trust.  They had to march to the Red Sea before he parted it.  Over and over in Scripture this pattern is repeated.
Namaan has to wash 7 times in water before he is cured of lerosy.
Gideon must winnow his army from 32,000 down to 300 before God will deliver them from the Midianites.
The loaves and fishes must be relinquished before they can be multiplied.
The seed must be buried in the earth and die before it can be raised to greater and more fruitful life.
If I am going to experience a greater measure of God`s power in my life, it will usually involve the first step principle.  It will usually begin by my acting in faith - trusting God enough to take a step of obedience.  Simply acknowleding information about his power is not enough.  I have to get my feet wet.
Why God so often asks us to take a first step has to do with the nature of faith and how it grows.  When people wrestle with doubt, they may tell themselves that they will try harder to have more faith.  But faith is not the sort of thing that can be acquired by trying harder.
Never try to have more faith - just get to know God better.  And because is faithful, the better you know him, the more you will trust him.  The way to get to know his trustworthiness is to risk obeying him.
How much faith do I need?  Not a feeling of certainty.  Just enough faith to take a step.
Most of us have an area that might be called our "spiritual comfort zone" which is the area where we feel most comfortable trusting God.  When God calls us to go beyond our spiritual comfort zone, we begin to feel nervous or uncomfortable.  We would prefer not to go outside the zone until we feel better about it.
There is only one way to increase your spiritual comfort zone, and acquiring more information alone will not do it.  You will have to follow the Path of God, which requires taking a leap of faith.  You need to get out of the boat a little every day.  Begin by asking God for wisdom about where you need to get your feet wet that day.
4 indicators that may help you to know where God is calling you to walk on water.
The indicator of fear.  Example - helping another human being find God.  The number one reason that keeps us from getting out of the boat evangelistically is fear.  Worst-case scenario is that the other person will not want to talk about spiritual matters.
The indicator of frustration.  Nehemiah could not tolerate the idea of Jerusalem being in ruins.  He was moved to risk a king`s displeasure and lethal opposition to rally God`s people.  David could not tolerate a pagan Philistine giant taunting the God of Israel.  He was moved to risk his life in the name of his God.  Elijah could not tolerate the barbaric practice of pagan idolatry.  He was moved to take on all the prophets of Baal single-handedly.  Even in the world today, it is often at the point where we are frustrated by the gap between fallen reality and our sense of God`s desire that we are moved to action in a cause greater than ourselves.
The indicator of compassion.  Jesus did this all the time - touching lepers, eating with tax collectors, and hanging out with prostitutes was an avocation with him.
The indicator of prayer.  Walking on the water is not about some great thing you will do.  In fact, by yourself you can do nothing of lasting value.  It is about what God longs to do with you by his power and grace.  But first you have to get your feet wet.

Chapter 5 - Seeing the wind
We launch into a great adventure - start a new job, take on a stretching ministry assignment, being a family.  In the initial days we are filled with hope.  We are out of the boat!  We are on the way to hero status, or at least achieving something worthwhile.  Then reality sets in.  We see the wind.  We face obstacles.  Unexpected conflict saps our spirit.  Plans go awry.  People we were counting on let us down.
There is a field in the social sciences that has come to be known as resiliency.  People generally respond to traumatic problems in 1 of 2 ways.  Many are simply defeated by such difficult conditions, as we might expect.  But some are marked by resiliency, a condition whereby they actually enlarge their capacity to handle problems and in the end, not only survive but grow.  What makes the difference?  How do you endure in the face of a storm?
The answers have centered on a few themes:
Resilient people continually seek to reassert some command and control over their destiny rather than seeing themselves as passive victims.
Resilient people have a larger than usual capacity for what might be called moral courage - for refusing to betray their values.
Resilient people find purpose and meaning in their suffering.
For those who seek to water-walk in wisdom these qualities are not just the product of a strong character.  Each one of them grows out of a deep dependence on God.
Think of the story of Joseph.  Joseph wore the robe.  The robe said he was the chosen one - the golden boy.  It meant he never had to wonder if his father loved him.  It was the promise of a charmed life.  What made the coat an explosive matter in the family was not just that it was expensive and made out of nice material.  In those days, clothing was an expression of status.  Purple was reserved for kings - a statement of royalty.  This robe marks Joseph as his father`s pet.  This is an open, visible, in-your-face expression of raw favouritism.
Joseph wears the robe quite often - it makes him feel special.  It feels like a promise, perhaps, that he will never be alone, that he will never be merely "normal" that he will always have his father`s protection and will be spared the problems others face.  But every time he wears it, it is a reminder to his brothers that they will never be loved by their father the way Joseph is loved.  Every time he wears it, they die a little inside.
That beautiful robe becomes a death shroud for the family.  One day his brother decide they cannot endure it for another day so they tear the robe off Joseph and sell him into slavery.  He is just in the foothills - Joseph`s problems are just beginning.
Joseph also dreamed big dreams of his destiny.  Dreams in that day were generally considered prophetic, though it is interesting that the writer does not say Joseph`s are from God.  These are striking dreams about Joseph`s future and you`d think that he might have the common sense to keep quiet.  But he does not.  Instead, he gathers his brothers - who don`t have a special robe like his, who have been desperately hurt by his father, and who hate him - and tells them about his dream.  "So they hated him even more because of his dreams and his words."
Then Joseph has another dream.  He is going to accomplish great things.  He is going to be famous.  He is going to make his father proud.  He is going to do a little water-walking.  Joseph wears the robe.
Then one day Joseph was attacked by his brothers, sold to a travelling caravan, carried off to a distant land and purchased as a slave by a family he did not know.  Joseph saw the wind.  Penniless, powerless, friendless, homeless - he was about to learn what each of us sooner or later comes to know.  Your heart and your character is forged when life does not turn out the way you planned.  It is hard enough to get out of the boat when the wind is calm and the water`s smooth.  But in life that is rarely the case.  Sooner or later the storm strikes - in your marriage, work, ministry, finance or health.  It is in the act of facing the storm that you discover what lies inside you and decide what lies before you.
A major theme that characterizes resilient persons is their surprising exercise of control in a stress-filled environment.  Joseph too is a prisoner - far from home, separated from his father, betrayed by his own brothers, surrounded by strangers who bought and sold him.  His robe is long gone - stolen by his brothers ripped to shreds, covered with blood and presented to Jacob as evidence of Joseph`s death.  His robe - and the charmed life it once stood for - is just a memory now.
Note what the bible says at this point - "The Lord was with Joseph."  Even though he had lost his freedom, Joseph refused to think of himself as powerless.  He began to show remarkable amounts of initiative and autonomy - because the Lord was with him.
Daniel in exile took control of his diet.  Peter and the other apostles refused to accept a gag order against preaching the gospel as a Get-out-of-Jail-Free Card.  Paul and Silas took control of their time by holding a sing-along "About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God and the prisoners were listening to them" - as if the other prisoners had a choice!  Faith believes that with God, we are never helpless victims.
Even though it wasn`t his dream, even though his dream seemed dead, Joseph applied himself diligently to the task at hand.  Joseph even though a slave, worked hard to please both master and Lord.  There is a progression in the story.  We are told that Joseph was "in the house" meaning that he was not simply a worker in the field.  He had been promoted to work in the house.  He was management  "Joseph found favour in his (Potiphar`s) sight and attended him" - now he is executive assistant.  After this Potiphar names him overseer: Joseph becomes CEO of the whole operation.  Potiphar`s trust is so complete that he never even asks to look at the books "So he left all that he had in Joseph`s charge, and with him there, he had no concern for anything but the food that he ate."
Because Joseph did not quit, he set in motion, the development of his potential - the deepening of his faith and endurance - that would one day enable him to become the most effective leader in Egypt and fulfill the part God intended for him to play in the rescue of his family and the redemption of the world.
Growth happens when you seek or exert control where you are able to rather than giving up in difficult circumstances.  It happens when you decide to be wholly faithful in a situation that you do not like and cannot understand.  It happens when you keep walking even though you see the wind.  Then you discover that, somehow, you are not alone.  As he was with Joseph, the Lord is also with you.
Joseph endures and rises to the top of the organisation chart.  But then he runs in to trouble of another kind. Potiphar`s wife "cast her eyes on Joseph" and said to him "lie with me.".  Now Joseph must wrestle with temptation.  The text of scripture never actually describes Potiphar`s wife.  In his loneliness Joseph was tempted.  But Joseph says no.  He speaks of the trust that Potiphar has placed in him and about the significance of honouring trust.  His life and world are given meaning by loyalty and honouring relational commitment.  To follow another way would be to enter a world of darkness that would destroy life as he knows it.
Potiphar`s wife persists "And although she spoke to Joseph day after day he would not consent to lie beside her or to be with her."  Still Joseph refuses.  Finally she decides to force the issue.  There are times, when life does not turn out the way you planned and temptation has a very strong hold on your garment, when the only thing to do is run.
Joseph stands firm.  He is loyal to his employer, forthright with his would-be seductress and true to his values.  Now God will surely have to reward him - right? Mrs Potiphar stands there with his garment in his hand.  Once more Joseph will be stripped of his robe and have it used against him.
Potiphar goes on the warpath, Joseph goes to prison, and Mrs Potiphar goes home, presumably to wait for a more compliant slave.  "The Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love; he gave him favour in the sight of the chief jailer."
The Lord did not spare Joseph from prison.  The Lord often does not seem to spare his children much.  But the Lord was there with him - as he is with you.  Joseph decided he would rather face life with the Lord and have nothing than face life without the Lord and have everything.  "But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love; he gave him favour in the sight of the chief jailer.  The chief jailer committed to Joseph`s care all the prisoners who were in the prison, and whatever was done there, he was the one who did it.
In prison Joseph initially found meanng in a very simple way - by helping a couple of cell mates, a baker and a butler.  "When Joseph came to them in the morning, he saw that they were troubled.  So he asked Pharaoh`s officers who were with him under house arrest, "why are your faces downcast today?"  It would be easy for Joseph to become isolated, to focus only on his own disappointment.  When life does not turn out the way you plan, you forget that other people face disappointment too.  You may begin to think only about your own hurts.  Your world becomes so small that your pain is the only pain you notice.  This is the death of the heart, the loss of meaning.
Instead, Joseph realises that he is not the only one for whom life has not turned out according to plan.  He lives the way Jesus would.  He treats disgraced prisoners like human beings - he notices them, asks about them, and expresses genuine interest in them.
At a time when we would expect him to be self-preoccupied, Joseph is sincerely concerned for others` well being "Why are your faces downcast today?"  He does this even though he is not expecting anything in return.  And by his noticing Joseph gives meaning to his presence in prison.
Part of the meaning of Joseph`s suffering was to develop his compassion.  It can be hard thing to wear the robe of favouritism and expectations.  It damaged the brothers who were deprived but did it damage Joseph too?  When you are the golden child and expect to lead a charmed life, some bad things can happen:
You may grow up with a need to be the big sheaf among smaller, submissive sheaves.  When someone else comes along who is smarter, more powerful, or more attractive - you don`t like it.  You want to be the one to wear the robe.
You may become insensitive to the way your power and status affect others
Beneath that robe may lurk the fear that you will lose your favoured position.  Then who would you be?
It may have been no accident that Joseph spent years as a slave and then as a prisoner in jail before he was ready to be exalted to a prominent position and be used by God.  Storms have a way of teaching what nothing else can.
As long as he was wearing the robe, Joseph could never enter into community with his brothers.  As long as he was wearing the robe, Joseph would never know what he was capable of under adversity.  As long as he was wearing the robe, Joseph would never  learned what life was like without the robe.  When he was home, he never seemed to notice how his grandiose dreams and exalted status affected his brothers.  But now in prison he notices.  His suffering gave him eyes of compassion.
Joseph expressed his heart to his fellow prisoners in a single question "Why are your faces downcast today?"  The prisoners explain to Joseph that each of them has had a troubling dream.  Joseph takes a moment to offer help "do not interpretations belong to God?  Please tell them to me."
The butler tells of his dream about a vine and grapes.  Joseph replies "within 3 days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your office."  The baker is greatly encouraged by this and shares his dream about birds and cakes.  Joseph replies "within 3 days Pharaoh will lift up your head - from you - and hang you on a pole."  And the baker says "That`s the last time I tell you one of my dreams."  The butler is released.  That is good news. Joseph has arranged for the butler to speak a good word in his behalf, to get him released.  Imagine Joseph`s joy.  He will be set free.  No more prison.  No more slavery.  He can return to his father.  He can go home.
Days turn into weeks, then months and still Joseph sits, rotting in prison.  Eventually it becomes clear.  The butler forgot.  He has his own life.  People tend to be obsessed with their own well-being.  For 2 years Joseph sat alone.  It was not the end.  God was not finished yet.  Joseph would learn to see the deeper meaning of his suffering.  All of Joseph`s best days - his rise in Egypt, his service to a nation, his impact as a leader, his reunion with his father, his reconciliation with his brothers - all lay ahead.  And that is because ultimately his story was a part of God`s story.
This is not always easy to believe.  Sometimes it seems that bad news will get the last word.  So perhaps it was not a surprise that in the greatest story of all, when God eventually sent one more dreamer, he ended up being another young man for whom things did not seem to turn out the way he had planned.  He too wore a robe, a scarlet robe - the colourful indication of status.  But it was given in mockery and he too found his robe taken from him by those who intended to kill him.
Crowds mocked him, friends abandoed him, Peter denied him, Judas betrayed him, soldiers crucified him and his body was laid on a tomb - one more dreamer, one more young man whose life turned out to be a disappointment.
Until ... on the third day ... he woke up feeling good.  Ultimate resiliency.  On the third day bad news lost for all time
Ever since that third day, whatever bad news may enter your life has no power to separate you from God.  For the story of this world is a good good news/bad news story.

Chapter 6 - Crying out in fear
What is the most common command in Scripture?  Not to be more loving or to guard sexual purity or to walk with integrity.  The single command in Scripture that occurs more often than any other - God`s most frequently repeated instruction - is formulated in 2 words - fear not.  Do not be afraid.  Be strong and courageous.  You can trust me.  Fear not.  Why does God command us not fear?
He says it to get people to do something that is going to lead them into greater fear anyway.  God says "fear not" so often is because fear is the number one reason human beings are tempted to avoid doing what God asks them to do.  There are 366 fear nots in the Bible - one for every day of the year including one for leap year.
There is a place for fear.  But I want trust to be stronger.  I never want the no of fear to trump the yes of faith.  Fear makes 2 appearances in the story of Jesus walking on the water.  First the disciples are afraid because they do not understand that Jesus is with them in the storm.
A young disciple stood by the side of the boat.  Jesus stood on the water.  Jesus stretched out his hands and said, "Come."  Trust said, Jump.  Fear said, no.  Peter jumped.  And for a while, everything went smoothly.  Then fear struck a second time.  He saw the wind.  And this led to the next phase - he became frightened.  His response to the wind and the storm was to give in to fear.  He lost his sense of confidence that Jesus was master of the situation.  He did not just sink in the water, but sank in his own anxiety and worry.
The reason God says "fear not" so often is that fear will sink us faster than anything else.  Fear disrupts faith and becomes the biggest obstacle to trusting and obeying God.  For someone to whom risk does not come naturally to stand by the side of the boat and jump when God calls; for someone who wrestles with worry and doubt and yet still obeys, trembling but trusting - that is true courage.  And any of us may do that.
Trust and fear have been battling each other for the human heart a long time now.  Eventually one or the other will win.
What is fear?
At its simplest and most benign, fear is an internal warning cry that danger is nearby and we had better do something about it.  It is designed to be what researchers call a "self-correcting mechanism" - to be unpleasant enough to motivate us to take action and remove ourselves from whatever is threatening us.  It readies our body to flee, hide or fight.  There is a large physiological component to fear.
Fear involves several things.  First, your mind senses you are in danger.  The word fear comes from the Old English word for danger.  When a fear response is triggered our bodies go into action  Quick-energy hormones, like adrenaline, get pumped into muscles and the bloodstream.  Blood drains from the skin`s surface and gets diverted into large muscles, like the legs for a quick getaway.  Your heart pounds to enable your body to go into overdrive.  The eyes widen and pupils expand to take in the maximum amount of information.  Many of the body`s other systems shut down to mobilise us for action.
Fear strikes when it is neither helpful nor wanted.  It can get attached to what does not truly threaten us and can become paralyzing instead of motivating.
In some cases, fear ceases to be sporadic and becomes habitual.  When this happens, we become worriers.  Worry is a special form of fear.  The traditional distinction is that fear is caused by an external source while worry or anxiety is produced from the inside.  Yet they produce the same physical responses.
We need to take the physical aspect of fear seriously.  It is a natural part of being human.  For the most part, the number of commands in the Bible suggests that fear generally plays a destructive role in the lives of men and women.  Fear as you and I usually experience and handle it, is not a good thing.  Over and over in the Bible, it is fear that threatens to keep people from trusting and obeying God.
Consider the high cost of living in a mindset of fear.
Why are there so many people lacking self-esteem who have many reasons to have high self-esteem?  They accomplish many things - they are gifted, attractive, and well-liked - yet struggle with self-esteem.  Even people who have accomplished a great deal and are apparently successful are often prone to feelings of self-doubt and inadequacy.  Not only that, many people who receive much affirmation and admiration from significant others tend to disbelieve it and wrestle with self-esteem all the same.
All research suggests that self-esteem largely boils down to one issue: When you face a difficult situation, do you approach it, take action and face it head on, or do you avoid it, wimp out and run and hide?
If you take action, you get a surge of delight, even if things do not turn out perfectly.
When you avoid facing up to a threatening situation, even if things end up turning out all right, inside you say, But the truth is, I wimped out, I didn`t do the hard thing.  I took the easy way out.
Avoidance kills an inner sense of confidence and esteem.  This is why praise from others, even when it is sincere, often does not help much.  Avoiders become experts at "impression management" - pretending to be what they think will be acceptable to others.  But even when we are successful at managing others` impressions of us and eliciting praise, inside we discount it: If you only saw the truth about me, you wouldn`t admire me.  You`re just admiring what I want you to see in me.  But when you take on a challenge, it builds the core of who you are, even if you don`t perform flawlessly.
If you live in fear, you will never experience the potential that God has placed in you.  Growth always involves risk and risk always involves fear.
Fear destroys joy.  Live in it and you will know the pain of constant chronic, low-grade anxiety.  Transcend it and you will know delight.
Fear and hiding go together like adolescence and hormones.  The very first recorded instance of fear reflects this: Where were you, Adam?  ... I heard you in the garden, And I was afraid, because I was naked, so I hid.  And we have been hiding ever since - behind smiles we don`t really feel, behind agreeable words we don`t really believe, mostly behind the things we truly feel and believe but refuse to say.
Fear whispers to us that God is not really big enough to take care of us.  It tells us we are not really safe in his hands.  It causes us to distort the way we think about him.
Fear has created more practicing heretics than bad theology ever has, for it makes us live as though we serve a limited, finite, partially present, semi-competent God.
Many of us learned about fear in families.  Your hopes, dreams and callings are impaired by distorted fears and worry.  On the other hand, fear isn`t the only thing that spreads.  So does trust.  Daring faith is contagious as well.

Chapter 7 - That sinking feeling
Peter was a water-toddler.  His steps, like his faith, were uncertain.  He was willing to risk failure for the adventure of trusting Christ more fully.  And Jesus is not about to treat Peter`s failure as grounds for dismissal.  He takes Peter`s faith seriously - Peter has some things to learn - but he starts by rescuing him.
Why is that for some people failure is energizing, while for others failure is paralyzing?
All of us experience failure and no one likes it.  But for some people it becomes a kind of goad to push on to new learning, deeper persistence, more vigorous commitment, more courageous hearts.  For others failure produces utter defeat - a sense of discouragement, a loss of hope, a desire to hide, a secret resolve to never again get out of the boat.
People`s perceptions of and responses to failure make an enormous difference in their lives - more than IQ, physical attractiveness, charm and financial assets put together.  Those who can learn from it, retaining a deep sense of their own value and marshaling the motivation to try again, become masters of failure management.
Think of King David.  The scriptures relate that for a long time David experienced a glittering string of successes.  He was anointed by Samuel to be king of Israel.  As a boy he defeated Israel`s most formidable enemy - Goliath.  King Saul chose him as a warrior and musician.  The army loved him, the people wrote songs about him "Saul has killed his thousands, David his ten thousands."
David knew what it was to walk on water.  He trusted God and for a long time everything he touched turned to gold.  He was on his way to the palace.  Then a strange thing happened.  One by one all those wonderful things he had been given were stripped away.  David lost his job.  He had been promoted from shepherd to court musician to warrior - the most successful officer in the army.  But now Saul was jealous.  He started chucking spears and David was out of a job.  With it, David lost his income and his security.  He would never serve in Saul`s army again.
Next he lost his wife.  He had married Saul`s daughter, Michal but Saul sent soldiers to kill David.  Michal helped him to escape but she was taken back by Saul and ended up marrying someone else. David later got her back, as we read in 2 Samuel 3.
So David fled to Ramah, where Samuel, his spiritual mentor, lived.  Samuel was the one who anointed David when he was young.  Samuel was the one who assured David of God`s presence in his life.  Samuel was the one through whom God spoke to David.  Samuel, David knew, would be a safe person.
But Saul heard where David went and sent soldiers after him.  David had to make another escape and Samuel could not go with him - he was an old man.  Indeed, Samuel died not long afterward.
Next, David ran to his best friend, Jonathan who had stood up to his father, Saul and risked his life for David. But Jonathan would not leave the court.  He could not, or would not, raise the sword against his own father.  So once more David was on his own and had to run for his life.
David fled his home and ran to Gath, hometown of the late giant Goliath.  David had nowhere to go but to the Philistines his mortal enemies.  This move did not turn out to be any more successful than the others.  Having failed to find a refuge in Gath, David ran once more.  "David left Gath and escaped to the cave of Adullam."
It is called the cave of Adullam, but we might think of it as the cave named Failure.
The cave is where you end up when your props, supports and crutches get stripped away.  The cave is where you find yourself when you thought you were going to do great things, have a great family or boldly go where no one had gone before and it becomes clear that things will not work out as you dreamed.
The hardest thing about being in the cave is that you begin to wonder whether God has lost track of you.  Did he forget his promises?  Does he remember where I am?  Will I ever be anywhere but in the cave?  Will I die in here?
There is one other thing you need to know - the cave is where God does some of his best work in molding and shaping human lives.  Sometimes when all the props and crutches in your life get stripped away and you find you have only God, you discover that God is enough.  Sometimes, when your worst fears of inadequacy are confirmed and you discover that you really are out of your league, you experience the liberation of realising that it is ok to be inadequate and that God wants his power to flow through your weakness.  Sometimes the cave is where you meet God, for God does some of his best work in caves.
David knew about failure.  He spent about 10 years of his life in the wilderness on the run.  He was not entirely alone.  He did have some people come to him to form a little community.  But they were not a very promising group "Everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented gathered to him and he became captain over them."  They had taken wives and started families and periodically they would go raiding other villages.
One day they came home and discovered that their village was gone.  Ziklag had been sacked, their wives and children carried off.  We are told that David and the people with him raised their voices and wept "until they had no more strength to weep". 
That sounds bad enough, but for David things could still get worse.  His men`s grief turned to anger - and their anger was turned toward David.  "David was in great danger; for the people spoke of stoning him, because all the people were bitter in spirit for their sons and daughters."  Then comes one of the greatest statements in Scripture "But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God."
This is a great secret of spiritual life.  When every other resource was gone, when every prop was kicked out from under him and every crutch taken away, when he reached the point of utter failure, David encouraged himself in the Lord.
The starting point in dealing with failure is to honestly face and name our discouragement - Psalm 142 was written when David was in the cave!  This is psalm of lament.  God encourages us to complain to him!!  David does this in the cave.  He gets quiet enough before the Lord to get to the bottom of his pain and discouragement.
Failure in our day often carries with it shame - the shame not just of having experienced failure, but of being a failure.  And facing this feeling is one of the hardest things a human being can do.
One day a man named Elijah found himself in a cave.  He had been by any definition an extremely successful prophet taking on 400 opponents and an evil king and offering faultless weather forecasts to boot.  But the opposition of a single queen triggered something in him.  "It is enough now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors."
But God did not take away his life.  God had a plan for Elijah to go out with a little more style later on.  Perhaps God was not concerned that Elijah had to be all that much better than his ancestors.  God had an angel bake him a cake on hot stones.  Elijah went up a mountain to the cave and was told that the Lord was about to pass by.  After a great wind, an earthquake and fire came "a sound of sheer silence."  And then came a still small voice, as God asked Elijah a wonderful question "What are you doing here?"  The best part of the question is that God did not say "What are you doing there?" God was with Elijah in the cave.
The cave is the most wonderful place of all to find that you are loved by God.  If you know - you really know - that you are loved by God when you feel the weight of failure, then there is no place where you will be beyond the confines of his care.
One of the great gifts failure can give us is the recognition that we are loved and valued by God precisely when we are in the cave of failure.  It was in the cave that David cried out to God "You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living."
You can risk being fully honest with God for a very important reason: God is never a God of discouragement.
David`s next step was to ask the priest to being him the ephod - a sacred vestment worn originally by the high priest while ministering in the sanctuary - so he can inquire of the Lord what to do next.  The ephod was a reminder of the presence of God.  David is seeking to discern what the Lord`s will is.  David too, wants to distinguish faith from foolishness.  David received a very clear message from the ephod "Pursue for you shall surely overtake and shall surely rescue."  So he took action and in doing so, he rescued his community and reclaimed his leadership.
Taking action is very powerful.  The reason many people become paralysed in discouragement is because they fail to devote the time or energy to understand what was involved in the failure in the first place and then they fail to take action toward change.  They wait for some outside force or person to rescue them when God is calling them to action.
In any arena where you are concerned about failure the single most destructive thing you can do is nothing.  God has made us in such a way that taking one single step of action can be extremely powerful in robbing failure of its power.
To run the best race you can, to give it everything that is in you, and win - that is glorious.  To run the race, to give your best and lose - that`s painful.  But it is not failure.  Failure is refusing to run the race at all.
Peter`s water-walking was not a piece of perfection.  But after it was done, Jesus helped him learn about his failure - "You of little faith, why did you doubt?"  His faith wasn`t "A" material yet.  But it was at least a little stronger than that of the 11 disciples sitting in the quality group.  Next time out, Peter`s faith would be a little stronger.
The cave is the place where we can learn from failure and follow God`s plans.  One day Saul brought 3000 soldiers with him to search for David.  "He came to the sheepfolds beside the road where there was a cave and Saul went in to relieve himself."  David and his men were at the back of the cave.  His men told David, in so many words "This must be the day the Lord spoke of!  He`s delivered Saul into your hands.  God doesn`t want you unhappy and miserable in this cave.  You can be king.  One thrust of the sword and all your dreams come true."
In the cave David discovered that, more than he wanted to be king, he wanted to belong to God.  He would rather please God and live in a cave than displease God and sit on the throne.
In the cave David says to God "You are my refuge."  We know that David will not die in the cave.  We know there is a crown ahead.  But David does not.  For all he knows this cave is as good as it is going to get  But he makes a discovery.  He has a refuge.
The Son of David understood that sinking feeling even more than David did.  No one has ever descended the way Jesus did.  The Son of David also lost his position, his status as a teacher, his safety and security.  He lost not only his best friend, but all his friends, in spite of his teachings and warnings.  His life too, was endangered.  But his failure got worse.  He went to a cross and died.  All his dreams, and all the dreams he inspired, appeared to die with him.  What started as a shining success ended in ignoble failure.
And then they put his body in a cave.  That was their big mistake.  His body was there for 3 days.  But they could not keep him there.  They forgot that God does some of his best work in caves.
The cave is where God resurrects dead things.

Chapter 8 - Focusing on Jesus
When Peter was walking on the water, the text does not tell us whether Jesus said anything to him or not.  I imagine that Peter`s eyes were locked on Jesus - that during this experience an awareness of Jesus simply dominated Peter`s mind.  Like master, like disciple.
For however long it lasted, Peter walked on the water.  Then we are told 3 things happened.  The focus of his attention shifted from Jesus to the storm - he saw the wind.  This shift in attention gave rise to a new set of thoughts and feelings that focused on panic and inadequacy.  "He became frightened"  This in turn disrupted his ability to continue walking in Jesus` power - he began to sink and cried out "Lord save me!"
When Jesus rescued him, he asked Peter why he doubted.  I do not think this was simply an exercise in blaming.  I think that, like any good teacher, Jesus really did want Peter to learn from this experience so he could grow.
While Peter`s mind was focused on Jesus he was empowered to walk on the water.  But when his focus was on the storm his fear short-circuited his ability to receive God`s sustaining power.  Hope got Peter out of the boat.  Trust held him up.  Fear sank him.  Everything hinged on whether he was focused on the Saviour or on the storm.
There is a condition of the mind that is essential for us to live the kind of lives we are longing for.  Call it hope, trust, or confidence.  It is the single greatest difference between those who try and those who give up.  When it is lost, like Peter we are sunk.  DON`T LOOK DOWN!
The story of every character God uses in the Bible is the story of hope.  Hope is what made Abraham leave his home.  Hope is what made Moses willing to take on Pharaoh.  Hope is what drove the prophets to keep taking on city hall.  We can survive the loss of an extraordinary number of things, but no one can outlive hope.  When it is gone we are done.  Therefore the capacity to stay focused on the presence and power of God in our lives becomes supremely important.  When we become more focused on the overwhelming nature of the storm than the overwhelming presence of God we are in trouble.  The Bible speaks of this often in terms of "losing heart".
Whenever Jesus calls someone to get out of the boat, he gives the power to walk on the water.
Moses sent out 12 scouts to explore the Promised Land, to look at their enemies, people who defied God.  10 came back and said "The people there are like giants, we`d better turn around and go home."  2 Joshua and Caleb said "We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it."  All 12 looked at the same land, faced the same situation and reached two diametrically opposed conclusions.
A young shepherd boy brought supplies to his brothers, who were serving in the army.  The great champion of their enemies, a giant named Goliath, a character was taunting them.  All the soldiers saw him and were too terrified to challenge him, they lost heart.  David saw him and went after him with a slingshot.
Jesus and the disciples were in a boat when a storm came up.  The disciples were so frightened, they were convinced they were going to die, crying out in panic, they lost heart.  Jesus sat in the same boat, rode out the same storm and took a nap.
In all these stories, 2 sets of people faced exactly the same situation.  They scouted the same Promised Land; faced the same enemy, endured the same storm.  Some responded with peace, some with panic.  Some lost heart and some took heart.  Don`t look down!
What is the common denominator in the 10 fearful spies and the Israelite soldiers who were paralyzed by Goliath?
When someone comes to believe in God, to believe that he really is interested and active in human affairs, the issue of learned helplessness changes radically.  Alburt Bandura is a Stanford psychologist who has led research on what is commonly called "self-efficacy" - the belief that I have mastery over events in my life and can handle whatever comes my way.  People with a strong sense of self-efficacy are much more likely to be resilient in the face of failure, to cope instead of fear.  Self-efficacy is strong confidence in one`s abilities.
But for the one who believes in God, the hinge point is not simply what I`m capable of.  The real question is what might God want to do through me "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength."  Paul did not intend for us to understand that being a Christian means I have great confidence that I can face whatever life throws at me, that I never need to give up, that my efforts have potency - because of the One at work within me.
When I hope, I believe that God is at work to redeem all things regardless of how things happen to be turning out for me today.  The Christ-follower is to be marked by what we might call vital hope.
How do we go about developing minds that focus on Christ in the middle of the storm?
What is your mind focused on?   What we feed everything else we possess is nothing compared with the importance of what we feed our minds.  Paul "Whatever is true, whatever is honourable, or whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing ... think about these things."  Or in other words "feed your mind".
Paul "Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your minds."
Law of cognition.  Jesus once said that a good tree cannot produce bad fruit and a bad tree cannot produce good fruit.  He was making this observation in terms of the connection between our inward condition and outward behaviour.  Good thinking, accurate perceptions, healthy emotions, wholesome desires, honourable intentions cannot produce bad results; bad thinking cannot produce good results.
Law of exposure.  Your mind will think most about what it is most exposed to.  What repeatedly enters your mind occupies our mind, eventaully shapes your mind and will ultimately express itself in what you do and who you become.  People are surprised that what their minds are constantly exposed to, attend to and dwell on eventually comes out in how they feel and what they do.
Isaiah "thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee."  It all depends on where your mind stays.  If you really want to become a certain kind of person, a hopeful person focused on Christ, you must begin to think thoughts that will produce those characteristics.  When you focus on Christ, these are the kinds of thoughts he will inspire you to think.
Scripture talks about meditating on God`s Word.  The psalmist says that godly persons meditate on the Word "day and night".  To meditate merely means to think about something over and over.  Let it simmer in your mind, Reflect on it from different angles until it becomes part of you.

Chapter 9 - Learning to Wait
Matthew shows Jesus to be the Lord of urgent action.  3 times he uses the word "immediately" - always of Jesus - Jesus made the disciples get into a boat and go on ahead of him immediately.  When the disciples thought they were seeing a ghost and cried out in fear, Jesus answered them "immediately".  When Peter began to sink and cried out for help, Jesus "immediately" reached out his hand and caught him.  Jesus` actions are swift, discerning and decisive.
Matthew tells us that Jesus comes to the disciples "during the fourth watch of the night".  The Romans divided the night into 4 shifts - 6 - 9, 9 - midnight, midnight - 3 and 3 to 6.  So Jesus came to the disciples sometime after 3.  But they had been in the boat since before sundown the previous day - why the long delay?
Matthew wanted his readers to learn to wait.  Another moment of waiting involves Peter` decision to leave the boat.  He cannot do this on the strength of his own impulse; he must ask Jesus` permission first, then wait for an answer.
It was not until the whole episode was over that the disciples got what they wanted - "the wind died down."  Jesus felt they would gain something by waiting.
Let`s say you decide to get out of the boat.  You trust God.    What happens next?
Well, maybe you will experience a tremendous, nonstop rush of excitement.  Maybe there will be an immediate confirmation of your decision - circumstances will click, every risk will pay off, your efforts will be crowned with success, your spiritual life will thrive, your faith will double, and your friends will marvel, all in the space of a second.
Waiting may be the hardest single thing we are called to do.  So it is frustrating when we turn to the Bible and find that God himself, who is all powerful and all wise keeps saying to his people "wait".
God comes to Abraham when he is 75 and tells him he is going to be a father - how long before that promise was fulfilled - 24 years.  Abraham had to wait.
God told Moses he woud lead the people to the Promised Land - but they had to wait 40 years in the wilderness.
In the Bible, waiting is so closely associated with faith that sometimes the 2 words are used interchangeably.  The great promise of the OT was that a Messiah would come.  But Israel had to wait - generation after generation, century after century.  And when the Messiah came, he was recognised only by those who had their eyes fixed on his coming - like Simeon.  He was an old man who "was righteous and devout.  He was waiting for the consolation of Israel and the Holy Spirit was upon him."
But even the arrival of Jesus did not mean that the waiting was over.  Jesus lived, taught, was crucified, was resurrected, and was about to ascend when his friends asked him, "Lord will you restore the kingdom now?"  That is, "can we stop waiting?"
And Jesus had one more command, "Do not leave Jerusalem but wait for the gift my Father promised."  And the Holy Spirit came - but that still did not mean that the time of waiting was over.  Paul wrote "we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.  For in hope we were saved.  Now hope that is seen is not hope.  For who hopes for what is seen?  But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience."
43 times in the OT the people are commanded "wait, wait on the Lord."
The last words in the bible are about waiting "the one who testifies to these things says, surely I am coming soon."  "Amen, Come Lord Jesus!"  Why does God make us wait?  If he can do anything, why doesn`t he bring us relief and help and answers now? What God does in us while we wait is as important as what it is we are waiting for.
Paul says that while we are waiting for God to set everything right, we suffer.  But suffering produces endurance, endurance, character and character, hope.  God is is producing these qualities in us as we wait.  Waiting is not just something we have to do while we get what we want.  It is part of the process of becoming what God wants us to be.
What does it mean to wait on the Lord?  It is not a passive waiting around for something to happen that will allow you to escape your trouble.  Biblical waiting is not passive; it is not a way to evade unpleasant reality.
Waiting on the Lord is a confident, disciplined, expectant, active and sometimes painful clinging to God.  Waiting on the Lord is the continual, daily decision to say "I will trust you and I will obey you.  Even though the circumstances of my life are not turning out the way I want them to and may never turn out the way I would choose, I am betting everything on you."
Waiting on the Lord requires patient trust.  Will I trust that God has good reasons for saying "wait".  Peter wrote, "But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day.  The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance."
Waiting on the Lord also requires confident humility.  The prophet said "the effect of righteousness will be peace, and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever."  The result of righteousness will be 2 character qualities.  The first is confidence.  And this is not so much confidence in myself as confidence in the One who sustains me.  It is the assurance that God is able.  It entails a fearless orientation toward the future.  The second quality is quietness, the opposite of arrogance and boasting, a humble recognition of my limits.
Waiting is, by its nature, something that only the humble can do with grace.  When we wait for something we recognise that we are not in control.
Prayer allows us to wait without worry.  God`s voice is never frantic.  When you hear desperate thoughts, you can know it is not God speaking.  You can wait in confident humility.
Paul wrote "For in hope we were saved.  Now hope that is seen is not hope.  For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.  In the Bible there is a wonderful promise attached to this waiting - "Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint."
Isaiah says that for those who wait on the Lord, times will come when they soar.  Sometimes in your life you will be in an era of spiritual soaring.  Borne up by God`s power.  You are out of the boat.  God is answering prayer with extravagant generosity, using you in ways that leave you astonished, giving you power to rise above temptation and sin, making you surprisingly productive in your life`s work and flooding you with strength and wisdom beyond your ability.
Sometimes we are not soaring, but we are able to run and not grow weary.  If this is where you are, your life isn`t feeling effortless.  You do not see a lot of miracles.  You have to do some flapping.  But with persistence and determination you know you are running a race.  You feel frustration, but you also feel God`s pleasure in your obedience.  You need to keep running - faithfully obeying, serving, giving and praying.  Your time will come - just keep running.
The third condition Isaiah describes.  Sometimes we will not be soaring and we cannot run - because of doubt or pain or fatigue or failure.  In those times all we can do is walk and not faint.  All we can do is say "God I`ll hang on.  I don`t seem too fruitful or productive and I don`t feel very triumphant.  But I won`t let go.  I will obey you.  I`ll just keep walking.
In Jesus` life as when he was on the Mount of Transfiguration or when he called his friend Lazarus out of the tomb, Jesus soared.  At other times as when he wept over the defiance of Jerusalem, when he was frustrated with the slowness of his disciples, when he faced the opposition of religious leaders - life was tougher.  Yet he kept running.
But when it came time to take the road to Calvary, he wasn`t soaring.  When the cross was placed on his bruised and bleeding back, he wasn`t running.  He walked.  He was a young man, but he stumbled and fell that day.  All he could do was get back up and walk some more.
Sometimes walking is all we can do.  But in those times, walking is enough.  Maybe it is when life is the hardest, when we want so badly to quit but we can say to God, "I won`t quit, I`ll keep putting one foot in front of the other.  I`ll take up my cross.  I`ll follow Jesus even on this road."  Maybe God prizes our walking even more than our soaring and our running.
In any case, at a cost that none of us will ever fully understand, Jesus walked to Calvary.  He took upon himself, on the cross, all the brokenness of the human race.  And all the suffering of all the sin and pain of every day of the history of the human beings since the Fall.
After the Sabbath day, before Jesus` friends went to care for his body, the stone was dislocated, moved.  In one sense nothing had changed.  Pilate and the chief priests were still in charge.  Caesar still reigned and didn`t even know the name of this obscure Messiah in a remote country.
Nobody knew at first except a couple of women.  Now there was an opening.
Every time you engage in battle, every time you resist sin, every time you proclaim the gospel, every time you give a portion of your resources for the spread of the kingdom, every time you offer a cup of cold water in Jesus` name, every time you "wait on the Lord", every time that opening gets a little larger.  The darkness gets pushed back a little more.  The light gets a little stronger.
And one day liberation will come.  There will still be a lot of fighting, a lot of suffering, a lot of dying.  At the end of that one day, everything had changed.  So you keep walking because what we wait for is not more important than what happens to us while we are waiting.  Now it is just a matter of time.

Chapter 10 - How Big is Your God?
Matthew uses the Greek version of the great, mysterious, self-revealed name of God: "I AM WHO I AM"; "I AM has sent me to you."
The way we live is a consequence of the size of our God.  The problem many of us have is that our God is too small.  We are not convinced that we are absolutely safe in the hands of a fully competent, all-knowing, ever-present God.  What we wake up in the morning what happens if we live with a small God?  We live in a constant state of fear and anxiety because everything depends on us.  Our mood will be governed by our circumstances.  We will live in a universe that leaves us deeply vulnerable.  When human beings shrink God, the offer prayer without faith, work without passion, service without joy, suffering without hope.  It results in fear, retreat, loss of vision and failure to persevere.
We are to worship God, not because his ego needs it, but because without worship, our experience and enjoyment of God are not complete.  We worship God not so much because he needs it, but because we do.
It is not an accident that the story of Peter walking on the water ends the way it does.  "When they got into the boat, the wind ceased.  And those in the boat worshipped him saying, "Truly you are the Son of God."  There is a pattern at work here that recurs repeatedly in Scripture and that needs to become part of my life as well: God reveals himself.  So we reflect on what God has done and respond in worship.  And our understanding of God grows.
Jesus "passes by".  This passing by may show itself in a highly dramatic way - a burning bush, a pillar of fire, a walk on the water.  But often it happens in ways that are easily missed - in a still small voice, through a baby in an obscure manger.
Then sometimes it will be in the act of getting out of the boat that I see Jesus passing by and I see a God who is bigger than I had imagined.  Every time someone gets out of the boat, their God gets a little bigger.
Mark`s version of the water-walking story says the disciples were amazed "because their hearts were hardened".  They did not yet have eyes to see that in Jesus, God had revealed himself.
Responding in worship means more than just attending worship services on a regular basis.  I suspect that when the Israelites gathered for worship, they trembled and shook along with the mountain because they had risked everything on this God - left home, food and shelter.  And he wanted to pass by.
The bible says "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom."  What does it mean to fear the Lord?  We have no need to be afraid that God will do mean or destructive things.  We do not need to be afraid that God`s love is not fully trustworthy.
This fear involves reverence and awe, a healthy recognition of who God is.  It also involves a recognition of our fallenness.  Fear is designed to call attention to danger so we can set things right.
But worship also reminds me that the day will come when our fallenness will be utterly healed.  In that day we will fully realise the truth of the saying that "perfect love casts out fear".  When we worship we look forward to the day when fear will be as defeated and destroyed as sin, guilt and death.  Worship, therefore, in reminding us of this powerful God who is for us, becomes one of the great weapons against fear.
In worship I use every tool at my disposal - memory, imagination, music, Scripture, images, pictures and dance - to magnify God in my life.  In worship I declare that God is real.    In worship my perception of reality is changed and sharpened.  In worship I remember that reality is more than what I can see and touch.  In worship I acknowledge that I look at a shrunken God on a regular basis, looking at him through the wrong end of the telescope.  In worship at its heart, we magnify God.  Mary cries out "My soul magnifies the Lord."  worship enlarges my capacity to experience and understand God.
That is why the story of Peter walking on the water must end in worship.  Worship, in a sense, closes the loop on the whole story.  Worship consolidates and expresses the disciples` new understanding of who Jesus is.
Jesus get into the boat, the wind dies down, the storm runs away to wherever it is storms go when God sends them off, and suddenly the disciples have a deeper understanding of who is in the boat with them.  "Truly you are the Son of God."
So it always is when somebody gets out of the boat.  When human beings get out of the boat they are never quite the same.  Their worship is never quite the same.  Their world is never quite the same.  Whatever the results, whether they sink or swim, something will have changed.
From this point on, for the rest of your life, every time you walk on the water, each time you trust God and seek to discern and obey his calling on your life, your God will get bigger and your worship will grow deeper, richer and stronger.  This is because Jesus is not finished yet.  He is still looking for people who will dare to trust him.  He is still looking for people who will refuse to allow fear to have the final word.  He is still looking for people who refuse to be deterred by failure.  He is still passing by.  And this is your one and only opportunity to answer his call.  This is your chance of a lifetime.
If you want to walk on water, you`ve got to get out of the boat!