Jon Ortberg wrote a book called Everybody’s normal ‘til you get to know them. And I wonder: Is there such a thing as normality? The premise of the book is that what we typically describe as normal is in fact only “usual”. It’s what we usually experience; it’s how we usually live. Normality is defined by the kingdom of God not the small world we inhabit in a daily basis. Somehow, as Christians we have to learn to live in these two worlds: The kingdom of God, which is our normality, and the world as it is, our usual-place. So perhaps what we’re really talking about today is faith through usual times, but normality is just an easier way to describe it.
What exactly is normal about trying to live a life that pleases God in a secular world, in a world that often seems to want little to do with faith, with church, with Jesus? Are there normal prayers, is there such a thing as normal worship, normal discipleship? Is our version of normality just another way of saying we’re waiting around for something new to happen, for Jesus to return and make things right? That’s what appears to have begun to happen in Thessalonica.
Of course, if we stick with our sailing metaphor of plain sailing, then normality offers us the chance to do stuff that storms don’t allow. Check the decks, keep house, and reflect on life. But if the old adage is true, that stress and pressure offer the greatest opportunities to grow, what do we do when the pressure is off?
So I thought about normality and decided that the real challenge was finding God in the ordinariness of daily life. To discover the abundant life that Jesus offers right in the middle of the mundane experiences of cleaning the house, of working the night shift, of commuting to the office or working from home. If we are, according to Jesus, abiding in him and he in us, then he is in our ordinariness as much as he is in the extraordinary that might happen around us. And, if we can’t find him in the ordinary, then our Christian lives will be spent waiting for the extraordinary to happen in order to see him.
Paul challenges the Thessalonians to “Make it your ambition to live a quiet life, to mind your own business, work with your hands… so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders” (4:12)
Thessalonica is in north-east Greece, in the region of Macedonia. Rebuilt by one of Alexander the Great’s generals and named after his wife. Under the Romans it became a regional capital. Paul visited Thessalonica during his second great missionary trip with Silas and Timothy. Enthusiasm for the second coming of Christ together with a Greek mindset that saw manual work as suitable only for slaves had lead to idleness and interference. Hence Paul’s’ challenge to live a quiet life i.e. not interfering in the lives of others, and to work with your own hands i.e. not irresponsible or despising when it comes to work. In other words, having given up work to wait for the return of Jesus, some of the Christians had little else to do with their time than to speculate about future events and meddle in the lives of others. Daily life had nothing to offer in the way of walking with God. Paul turns this around and calls them to a lifestyle of daily living that wins the respect of everyone, especially those outside the community of faith.
How do we find God in the daily routine of life?
#1 Unselfishness
We are to please God (v1) and to love each other (9).
Rick Warren talks about making God smile through living out the five purposes of God:
Planned for God’s pleasure; Formed for God’s family; Created to be like Christ; Shaped for serving God; Made for a mission.
Another simple way of expressing a life that pleases God is to live in a way that honours him. What would Jesus do?
John Stott puts it this way:
… we are to develop a spiritual sensitivity towards God, through his Word and Spirit, until in every dilemma it becomes safe and practical to ask ourselves ‘Would it please him?’
Jesus said: Love God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind, love others as you love yourself.
#2 Service
Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. (Gal.6:2)
How do we best express love for one another?
Service. By seeing needs and meeting them, by caring for each other, by taking on the burden of care. But it’s not that easy. It’s not easy to know where the line is between interfering and caring, when it’s time to call and when it’s time not to call. It’s not easy working through that awkward feeling you get when you sit staring at the ‘phone wondering whether to make the call or not. Add the other side of the coin, the side where it’s easier to feel unloved and uncared for, and caring just got ten times more difficult.
Yet our love for one another is meant to be shining example to the world around us of our commitment to Jesus.
So, the next time you sit staring at the ‘phone wondering what you might say, you could always do what I do. Write a card instead!
Just try and find a way of letting someone know that they are loved. In itself it might just open the door to an act of service that you can bring.
# Grow
Paul tells the Christians at Thessalonica that they must grow. He says that they are to love God, more and more, and that they are to love one another more and more, too.
Being a Christian is not something static. We are meant to grow, to develop, to move forward. Peter writes about our need to desire spiritual milk as we begin our journey of faith with Jesus, but Paul and the writer to the Hebrews both warn that staying on milk is a sign of immaturity of a lack of growth. We were meant to grow. In this life we will never finally arrive.
Being a Christian is about transformation, about becoming. So we should grow, we should expect to grow, and we should expect those around us to grow.
How are you growing?
Sunday, July 16, 2006
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Two interesting quotes
I'm in the debt of another blogger for these two quotes from GK Chesterton. Thanks Jeff (Notes from the Trail).
"Reform implies form. It implies that we are trying to shape the world in a particular image; to make it something that we see already in our minds. Evolution is a metaphor from mere automatic unrolling. Progress is a metaphor from merely walking along a road - very likely the wrong road. But reform is a metaphor for reasonable and determined men; it means that we see a certain thing out of shape and we mean to put it into shape. And we know what shape."
"The modern young man will never change his environment because he will always change his mind."
I find the first quote challenging when it comes to reshaping the church for the purposes of God in our generation. As we sing I want to serve the purpose of God in my generation, we have to ask the question: What shape of church will do this? I remember hearing Nigel Wright talk about the probability that you could you make any model of church work, because the model is not the important thing.
But more challenging is the need to know what it is you're trying to transform or reform the church to be.
The second quote is a challenge to avoid jumping between new ideas or programmes as the solution to the problem. As we are bombarded by an ever increasing amount of analysis about what needs to change and how, we can find ourselves paralysed about what to do. Should we become more seeker sensitive? Should we become Purpose Driven? Should we set goals or not set goals? (Jack Hayford wrote a chapter in a recent book that was reprinted as an article on the Christianity Today website about "Why I don't set goals") Are we looking for a new orthodoxy or an old tradition?
This is why these times of prayer that we have set aside are so important. Not just for addressing the current needs of the church, important as they are, but keeping our focus on what it is that God has called us to be. Let's pray that God will release more than just the finances to get through, but all the resources (finance, people, homes, hearts) that will reform the church into the active Christ-centred community we long to be.
"Reform implies form. It implies that we are trying to shape the world in a particular image; to make it something that we see already in our minds. Evolution is a metaphor from mere automatic unrolling. Progress is a metaphor from merely walking along a road - very likely the wrong road. But reform is a metaphor for reasonable and determined men; it means that we see a certain thing out of shape and we mean to put it into shape. And we know what shape."
"The modern young man will never change his environment because he will always change his mind."
I find the first quote challenging when it comes to reshaping the church for the purposes of God in our generation. As we sing I want to serve the purpose of God in my generation, we have to ask the question: What shape of church will do this? I remember hearing Nigel Wright talk about the probability that you could you make any model of church work, because the model is not the important thing.
But more challenging is the need to know what it is you're trying to transform or reform the church to be.
The second quote is a challenge to avoid jumping between new ideas or programmes as the solution to the problem. As we are bombarded by an ever increasing amount of analysis about what needs to change and how, we can find ourselves paralysed about what to do. Should we become more seeker sensitive? Should we become Purpose Driven? Should we set goals or not set goals? (Jack Hayford wrote a chapter in a recent book that was reprinted as an article on the Christianity Today website about "Why I don't set goals") Are we looking for a new orthodoxy or an old tradition?
This is why these times of prayer that we have set aside are so important. Not just for addressing the current needs of the church, important as they are, but keeping our focus on what it is that God has called us to be. Let's pray that God will release more than just the finances to get through, but all the resources (finance, people, homes, hearts) that will reform the church into the active Christ-centred community we long to be.
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
The call to pray
There are several verses from the Bible that have been of significance for us over the past few years, and I wanted simply to remind ourselves what they are as we commit to this period of prayer together.
Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.
Mal.3:10
Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the LORD, until he comes and showers righteousness on you.
Hos.10:12
He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
Mic.6:8
Jesus gave them this answer: "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.
John 5:19
Over the coming weeks, I believe that God will speak to us as we seek him. The challenge is to follow, to do the simple things he asks us to do.
As we pray, let's ask God what he is doing in our communities and how we can be a part of his work. Let's continue to walk in his ways amongst our friends and neighbours, living out a life lived for God and with God. Let's continue to seek him, not just for a few weeks but until he comes.
Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.
Mal.3:10
Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the LORD, until he comes and showers righteousness on you.
Hos.10:12
He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
Mic.6:8
Jesus gave them this answer: "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.
John 5:19
Over the coming weeks, I believe that God will speak to us as we seek him. The challenge is to follow, to do the simple things he asks us to do.
As we pray, let's ask God what he is doing in our communities and how we can be a part of his work. Let's continue to walk in his ways amongst our friends and neighbours, living out a life lived for God and with God. Let's continue to seek him, not just for a few weeks but until he comes.
Sunday, July 9, 2006
Stories from the boat
Jesus did a lot with boats.
He travelled by boat forwards and backwards across lake Galilee. He slept in a boat on at least one occasion. He calmed a storm from a boat, and walked out to a boat across the water. He escaped the crowds by boat, although not always successfully, and he may even have gone fishing with Peter at least once. And on at least one occasion he told stories and taught the crowds while sitting in a boat. This is one of those stories.
The Parable of the Sower
This isn’t really a parable about the sower, it’s more about the soil. Hard ground, that isn’t really soil at all because it’s so hard. So hard that the seed can’t penetrate the earth and germinate and grow at all. Shallow soil that doesn’t provide enough depth of soil, or retain enough water or have enough nutrients to help a seed grow into a healthy plant. Unprepared soil that is so full of weeds that the new seed, the good seed doesn’t stand a chance as it competes for food and water. And finally good soil. Soil that’s ready for the seed. Soil that’s gives the seed every chance to grow and produce a crop.
The soil of life
How’s the soil of your life? Is it good soil, well prepared for the seed? Perhaps it’s a little neglected in some areas. It’s become a little overgrown. There are reasons. Busyness of life has overtaken you and you just haven’t paid enough attention to the daily job of clearing the weeds.
Perhaps you’ve become so busy that although there aren’t many weeds, you haven’t really dug the ground over recently. You’ve scratched the surface to remove the weeds, but the soil has become shallow and anything that does grow doesn’t seem to last.
It’s possible of course that your life is weed free but that’s because the ground is so hard that not even the weeds can grow there. It’s simply a dry barren place. It’s desperately in need of water and hard, backbreaking work to get the stones out and the soil turned.
Soil, left to it’s own devices will become hard, or shallow or overgrown. It takes effort to keep the weeds at bay and the soil prepared. I know, just have a wander through the orchard and look at what used to be my vegetable garden.
But here’s the good news.
Just below the surface of the old vegetable garden is good soil. I know it’s there, I’ve seen it, I’ve grown things in it. With a little effort the weeds can be cut back, the soil turned over and crops grow. It’s been done before and it will be done again.
Your life is just the same. There’s good soil just below the surface. It’s been neglected, but it’s there and with a little effort it can be made ready again. With God’s help, your life can be a fruitful life for the kingdom of God. It doesn’t have to stay covered in weeds, undug, and unused. But you will have to work at it. There are no easy fixes to nurturing a good garden, no easy fixes to nurturing a fruitful life.
Will you pick up the fork and spade and start to dig? Or are just going to watch the weeds grow?
He travelled by boat forwards and backwards across lake Galilee. He slept in a boat on at least one occasion. He calmed a storm from a boat, and walked out to a boat across the water. He escaped the crowds by boat, although not always successfully, and he may even have gone fishing with Peter at least once. And on at least one occasion he told stories and taught the crowds while sitting in a boat. This is one of those stories.
The Parable of the Sower
This isn’t really a parable about the sower, it’s more about the soil. Hard ground, that isn’t really soil at all because it’s so hard. So hard that the seed can’t penetrate the earth and germinate and grow at all. Shallow soil that doesn’t provide enough depth of soil, or retain enough water or have enough nutrients to help a seed grow into a healthy plant. Unprepared soil that is so full of weeds that the new seed, the good seed doesn’t stand a chance as it competes for food and water. And finally good soil. Soil that’s ready for the seed. Soil that’s gives the seed every chance to grow and produce a crop.
The soil of life
How’s the soil of your life? Is it good soil, well prepared for the seed? Perhaps it’s a little neglected in some areas. It’s become a little overgrown. There are reasons. Busyness of life has overtaken you and you just haven’t paid enough attention to the daily job of clearing the weeds.
Perhaps you’ve become so busy that although there aren’t many weeds, you haven’t really dug the ground over recently. You’ve scratched the surface to remove the weeds, but the soil has become shallow and anything that does grow doesn’t seem to last.
It’s possible of course that your life is weed free but that’s because the ground is so hard that not even the weeds can grow there. It’s simply a dry barren place. It’s desperately in need of water and hard, backbreaking work to get the stones out and the soil turned.
Soil, left to it’s own devices will become hard, or shallow or overgrown. It takes effort to keep the weeds at bay and the soil prepared. I know, just have a wander through the orchard and look at what used to be my vegetable garden.
But here’s the good news.
Just below the surface of the old vegetable garden is good soil. I know it’s there, I’ve seen it, I’ve grown things in it. With a little effort the weeds can be cut back, the soil turned over and crops grow. It’s been done before and it will be done again.
Your life is just the same. There’s good soil just below the surface. It’s been neglected, but it’s there and with a little effort it can be made ready again. With God’s help, your life can be a fruitful life for the kingdom of God. It doesn’t have to stay covered in weeds, undug, and unused. But you will have to work at it. There are no easy fixes to nurturing a good garden, no easy fixes to nurturing a fruitful life.
Will you pick up the fork and spade and start to dig? Or are just going to watch the weeds grow?
Sunday, July 2, 2006
If you want to walk on water...
If you have a really good memory you might remember that we’ve been this way before. March last year to be precise. Just after we’d done the floor and bought the chairs. I said then and I’ll say it again now, “It can’t stop here.”
It can’t stop here because there is much yet to do. Not just the buildings, but the ministry and mission of the church. It can’t stop here, because there are people in our communities that are far from God, and they need our help to find their way into his arms. It can’t stop here, because God isn’t finished yet.
Paul reminds us that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion.
It’s not finished yet.
Walking on the water
We’re back in the boat again and we’re back in a storm. Maybe not as fierce as the earlier storm, but this time Jesus is not on the boat. This time, he’s on the mountainside praying. According to Mark he sees what is happening and the compassion of Jesus seems to get the better of him and he walks across the lake to pass them by.
It’s Matthew who tells us about Peter and his step of faith. It’s Matthew who tells us about the worship and the exclamation, “Truly you are the Son of God.”
Peter’s question
Is it you Lord?
They all thought they’d seen a ghost, so it seems quite reasonable to check it out. You’d expect Peter to ask, “Is it you Lord?” But actually he doesn’t. He doesn’t actually ask a question. What Peter actually says is: “If it’s you, call me to come to you on the water.”
Jesus called his disciples and trained them to carry on the work he began. When Peter says call me out, it’s because he wants to be like Jesus. If the master walks on water, then the disciple must be willing to follow. The point is not the walking on the water, it’s the willingness to follow.
Water-Walking and being like Jesus
If the point is not walking on water but the willingness to follow, what’s the connection with being a disciple?
Clearly the first connection is a willing heart and a willing mind. Peter could have sat in the boat and said, “My heart is willing Lord, I’ll come to you on the water if you really want me to, but I know it’s my heart that’s really important. He could add, “And I know in my head that’s it’s possible too.” But is that enough? Is it okay simply to believe but not act on those beliefs? To be a disciple means to be a follower, which means we have to get up and go.
You can’t follow Jesus from an armchair.
For Peter, getting out of the boat was an act of a true disciple wanting to become more like his master.
Walter-walking and faith
It takes faith to get out of the boat.
But what kind of faith? How much faith? Perhaps the key to Peter’s faith, and to his failing faith, is that Jesus calls him to follow, to become like him, to walk on the water because that’s what he’s supposed to do. Perhaps the issue isn’t Peter’s lack of faith in Jesus but his lack of faith in Jesus transforming him into a whole-hearted follower. You will do greater things than this, Jesus once told them. The point is not walking on water.
Am I more like Jesus now that I was a year ago, two years ago? Am I more able to do what Jesus wants me to do? Am I ready to step out of the boat and follow him wherever that might take me? I am probably more ready for this than I realise.
Options
#1 Stay in the boat
Of course you could stay in the boat. Declare yourself “not ready” to take this step. But Jesus believes in you. If you listen carefully you might hear him whisper, “You’re ready for this.”
If there had been the proverbial English disciple in the boat that night, they would have come up with at least half a dozen reasons for not getting out of the boat, and another half dozen when they saw Peter begin to sink. “See, I told you that would happen, we were never meant to walk on water, it’s impossible”, would have been their contribution. Eleven disciples thought that way too. Peter risked everything, they risked Peter.
Maybe Jesus is calling you to do something that’s never been done before? It’s risky, it will mean getting your feet wet. But will you listen to his voice and step out of the boat?
He believes in you.
O you of little faith may not have anything to do with whether you believe enough in Jesus, it might have more to say about whether you believe in his call to you to do the things he did.
#2 Get out of the boat
Easier said than done. And once you’re out you get a better view of the storm. In the boat you can feel the waves moving the boat around, now it’s directly in contact with your feet. You and thousands of gallons of shifting water. And then there’s the wind and the rain. So hard, you can hardly see a thing. On the boat you’re preoccupied with looking after the boat, stopping it facing the wrong way on the waves, looking out for rocks, pulling on oars and sails. Working with the team. Out on the water all you can see is the storm.
It’s hard on the boat, it’s even harder on the water.
It takes courage to get out of the boat.
Without courage you’ll stay in the boat. Fear will keep you there. Fear of the storm, fear of the unknown, fear of the apparently impossible. Courage doesn’t take away fear, it overcomes it. Courage tells fear that it cannot set the agenda. Courage isn’t the absence of fear; it’s moving ahead in spite of your fear.
Every time I get the opportunity to share something of my faith with others I can feel my tongue trying to twist itself into some version of knot. You’d think it had just decided to join the boy scouts and is desperate to get its knot-tying badge.
I worry about what words I will use, what I will say. How come all the people I ever talk with ask all the awkward questions and none of the easy ones for which I practised answers? I’d rather stay in my boat, but I know that Jesus wants me out there on the water.
So out I get.
What’s your boat?
Whatever you’re particular boat looks like I know one thing about it. It’s safe. Relatively safe anyway.
Caught up in a storm you know about your boat, you know how it handles, you know how to steer it. You don’t know about water-walking. Your boat is the safest place you know in a storm, but Jesus calls you to get out of your boat, even in the storm and walk on the water.
Do you want to walk on water?
Imagine the scene. You’re sitting around a fire having shared a meal with your friends. Some of those friends are the people who spent three whole years in close company with Jesus. “Tell us a story about the Lord”, someone asks, and one of the disciples obliges and begins to describe the night when they got caught in a storm on the lake. They talk about the fierceness of the storm, they talk about the struggle to stay in control of the boat. They describe the waves and their first thoughts when they see a figure coming towards the boat appearing to be walking on the churning water.
They mimic Peter’s voice as he calls out, “Lord, if it’s you call me to come to you.” And they talk about the scene as Peter steps out of the boat and all that happens.
At then end of the story someone asks, “What’s it like to walk on water?” And out of the eleven people who were in the boat that night, only one knows the answer.
I don’t want to stay in the boat.
I want to get out and walk on the water.
I want to know the answer.
I want to know what it feels like to walk on water.
It can’t stop here because there is much yet to do. Not just the buildings, but the ministry and mission of the church. It can’t stop here, because there are people in our communities that are far from God, and they need our help to find their way into his arms. It can’t stop here, because God isn’t finished yet.
Paul reminds us that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion.
It’s not finished yet.
Walking on the water
We’re back in the boat again and we’re back in a storm. Maybe not as fierce as the earlier storm, but this time Jesus is not on the boat. This time, he’s on the mountainside praying. According to Mark he sees what is happening and the compassion of Jesus seems to get the better of him and he walks across the lake to pass them by.
It’s Matthew who tells us about Peter and his step of faith. It’s Matthew who tells us about the worship and the exclamation, “Truly you are the Son of God.”
Peter’s question
Is it you Lord?
They all thought they’d seen a ghost, so it seems quite reasonable to check it out. You’d expect Peter to ask, “Is it you Lord?” But actually he doesn’t. He doesn’t actually ask a question. What Peter actually says is: “If it’s you, call me to come to you on the water.”
Jesus called his disciples and trained them to carry on the work he began. When Peter says call me out, it’s because he wants to be like Jesus. If the master walks on water, then the disciple must be willing to follow. The point is not the walking on the water, it’s the willingness to follow.
Water-Walking and being like Jesus
If the point is not walking on water but the willingness to follow, what’s the connection with being a disciple?
Clearly the first connection is a willing heart and a willing mind. Peter could have sat in the boat and said, “My heart is willing Lord, I’ll come to you on the water if you really want me to, but I know it’s my heart that’s really important. He could add, “And I know in my head that’s it’s possible too.” But is that enough? Is it okay simply to believe but not act on those beliefs? To be a disciple means to be a follower, which means we have to get up and go.
You can’t follow Jesus from an armchair.
For Peter, getting out of the boat was an act of a true disciple wanting to become more like his master.
Walter-walking and faith
It takes faith to get out of the boat.
But what kind of faith? How much faith? Perhaps the key to Peter’s faith, and to his failing faith, is that Jesus calls him to follow, to become like him, to walk on the water because that’s what he’s supposed to do. Perhaps the issue isn’t Peter’s lack of faith in Jesus but his lack of faith in Jesus transforming him into a whole-hearted follower. You will do greater things than this, Jesus once told them. The point is not walking on water.
Am I more like Jesus now that I was a year ago, two years ago? Am I more able to do what Jesus wants me to do? Am I ready to step out of the boat and follow him wherever that might take me? I am probably more ready for this than I realise.
Options
#1 Stay in the boat
Of course you could stay in the boat. Declare yourself “not ready” to take this step. But Jesus believes in you. If you listen carefully you might hear him whisper, “You’re ready for this.”
If there had been the proverbial English disciple in the boat that night, they would have come up with at least half a dozen reasons for not getting out of the boat, and another half dozen when they saw Peter begin to sink. “See, I told you that would happen, we were never meant to walk on water, it’s impossible”, would have been their contribution. Eleven disciples thought that way too. Peter risked everything, they risked Peter.
Maybe Jesus is calling you to do something that’s never been done before? It’s risky, it will mean getting your feet wet. But will you listen to his voice and step out of the boat?
He believes in you.
O you of little faith may not have anything to do with whether you believe enough in Jesus, it might have more to say about whether you believe in his call to you to do the things he did.
#2 Get out of the boat
Easier said than done. And once you’re out you get a better view of the storm. In the boat you can feel the waves moving the boat around, now it’s directly in contact with your feet. You and thousands of gallons of shifting water. And then there’s the wind and the rain. So hard, you can hardly see a thing. On the boat you’re preoccupied with looking after the boat, stopping it facing the wrong way on the waves, looking out for rocks, pulling on oars and sails. Working with the team. Out on the water all you can see is the storm.
It’s hard on the boat, it’s even harder on the water.
It takes courage to get out of the boat.
Without courage you’ll stay in the boat. Fear will keep you there. Fear of the storm, fear of the unknown, fear of the apparently impossible. Courage doesn’t take away fear, it overcomes it. Courage tells fear that it cannot set the agenda. Courage isn’t the absence of fear; it’s moving ahead in spite of your fear.
Every time I get the opportunity to share something of my faith with others I can feel my tongue trying to twist itself into some version of knot. You’d think it had just decided to join the boy scouts and is desperate to get its knot-tying badge.
I worry about what words I will use, what I will say. How come all the people I ever talk with ask all the awkward questions and none of the easy ones for which I practised answers? I’d rather stay in my boat, but I know that Jesus wants me out there on the water.
So out I get.
What’s your boat?
Whatever you’re particular boat looks like I know one thing about it. It’s safe. Relatively safe anyway.
Caught up in a storm you know about your boat, you know how it handles, you know how to steer it. You don’t know about water-walking. Your boat is the safest place you know in a storm, but Jesus calls you to get out of your boat, even in the storm and walk on the water.
Do you want to walk on water?
Imagine the scene. You’re sitting around a fire having shared a meal with your friends. Some of those friends are the people who spent three whole years in close company with Jesus. “Tell us a story about the Lord”, someone asks, and one of the disciples obliges and begins to describe the night when they got caught in a storm on the lake. They talk about the fierceness of the storm, they talk about the struggle to stay in control of the boat. They describe the waves and their first thoughts when they see a figure coming towards the boat appearing to be walking on the churning water.
They mimic Peter’s voice as he calls out, “Lord, if it’s you call me to come to you.” And they talk about the scene as Peter steps out of the boat and all that happens.
At then end of the story someone asks, “What’s it like to walk on water?” And out of the eleven people who were in the boat that night, only one knows the answer.
I don’t want to stay in the boat.
I want to get out and walk on the water.
I want to know the answer.
I want to know what it feels like to walk on water.
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