Walk on the Water

Bible Verse of the Day:
"...And Peter left the boat and walked on the water to Jesus.

But when Peter saw the wind and the waves,
he became afraid and began to sink..."

Matthew 14:29

When I was in college, my favorite line (and one that I repeated incessantly, to the annoyance of my boyfriend) was: "I'm a woman of the 21st century." With that I was telling him and everyone else that I needed no one. I wasn't going to be the meek, submissive woman of the 40s and 50s; I was strong and independent. I wasn't going to settle for being a simple housewife and having a herd of kids, like the women in my family did during the 70s and 80s. I was going to be educated, fill my walls with degrees, work with a high-powered law firm in New York City, and make tons of mula. I planned to embrace everything about the new, modern age that was open to women: education, money, power. More importantly, I was going to be fiercely independent. I would need no one.

Now, you have to understand. I went to an all women's college called Marymount College, located in a small place called Tarrytown, New York. We were one of the few strictlly all women's colleges left in the country and of course, speeches on being strong and independent were part of our daily bread. I loved going there and met tons of wonderful people and professors. I truly believe that my four years there taught me a lot about tapping into resources within me that I probably wouldn't have known I even had if it hadn't been for Marymount.

By the time I graduated I knew I was stronger, tougher, more determined to get things done. I had no room for drama or emotional roller coasters -- that was nonsense that just got in the way of the more important stuff in life. I had gotten through my four years of college -- the first in my family to do so -- on my own, due to the intelligence of my brain and the strength of my own two hands. I had no hand-outs, no rich Daddy Warbucks to pay my way. I got no breaks from my professors, who pushed us to go the extra mile because, let's face it ladies, in the real world, nobody really wants to hear your sob story.

Before I graduated I had a job lined up as a teacher (which was only a temporary stop until I got into Law School) getting paid $30K a year (which, back in the Stone Age, was good money for a new grad.) I would take a few months and look into law schools and then climb up the next step to what I believed was my professional ladder. According to my "Five Year Plan," after I got my degree I'd work for 5 years, get married, and then maybe (and that was a BIG maybe) have a kid. But only one. Maybe.

So much for that!

You already know my story, so I'm not going to get into that again. The point I'm trying to make is that my quest, my drive for independence, was just that. A mission of mine to never need anyone, no never depend on anyone, to focus on just me and what was best for me. Now granted, I wasn't a Christian at the time and once I became one, things obviously changed. My life was no longer centered around my wants and I very quickly learned that no man (or woman) is an island, no matter how hard they try to believe they are. God worked with me by dishing me out a healthy serving of good ol' fashioned humble pie. (Thanks Erik!)

But even Christians today believe that they can live life the way I did. Independent. Strong-willed. Believing they need no one. And don't get me wrong, folks. These qualities can be good. The world is a tough place and sometimes surviving means you need a good dose of these things. But that's not the way you can live your life when it comes to God.

There's a story in the book of Matthew that talks about the time when Jesus walked on water. The disciples had gone off fishing on the Sea of Galilee while He went off to pray in the hills. A sudden storm breaks out and after some serious rocking to and fro, the disciples see something that scares the sandals off of them. Standing only a few yards away from them, amongst the wind and plummeting rain, was Jesus. He'd come to them by literally walking on the water!

Now Peter, the most head-strong and stubborn, prideful and probably the most arrogant of the disciples, did something crazy. The other disciples thought that what they were seeing was probably a ghost. But good ol' Peter says: "Jesus, if it's really you, then tell me and I'll walk towards you on the water." Can you imagine that? That Peter sure had a lot of guts!

So Jesus gives Peter the okay and Peter jumps over the side of the boat and starts to walk towards Him. He was focused and willing and very, very brave.

He was also independent and strong-willed. He didn't need the other disciples to prod him or encourage him. In fact, they were shaking in their sandals, probably telling him not to go. But Peter needed no one's approval. So he walked. On the water. Talk about power!

What a rush.!

But here's the thing. At some point, Peter turned his eyes from Jesus. Maybe he saw a fish jump out of the water. Maybe a strong wave crashed against his legs. Or maybe he just got wrapped up in the power that surged through his body as he performed this miraculous task of walking on the water. It doesn't really matter because the consequence was the same: Peter started to sink.

Now Peter gets scared. Was he going to drown in this storm? Only a few yards away from the safety of his boat and his friends? Would Jesus let him sink to the bottom? Peter called out to Jesus. He said: "Lord, save me!" And of course, Jesus reached out his hand, lifted him back out of the water's depths and took him back towards the safety of the fishing boat.

So what happened? At first Peter was doing great! But then he got distracted.  Maybe his mind started to race ahead of him, thinking about what a cool story this would make once everyone found out.

Yeah, I walked on the water. Just like Jesus. It was pretty awesome. You should try it sometime.

Or maybe he forgot that he wasn't participating in this miracle on his own, that Jesus was the one orchestrating the whole thing. Just like he needed Jesus' permission to get out of the boat and start his journey, he needed Jesus in order to complete it. The minute he got distracted, the second he got comfortable and thought that he was getting the hang of it independently, he sank.

You see people, no matter how hard or independent or brave we try to be, no matter how many times we tell ourselves that we don't need anyone or anything, the truth is, we do. We need God. We need Jesus. And we don't just need him sometimes -- like at the beginning when things are great or later on, when things get tough. We need him always. All the time. He's not a trophy that you can take off the shelf every once in a while to dust and admire. He's not a commodity whose price is determined by the laws of supply and demand. He's not a part-time God, good only for holidays and special occassions.

And no, he's not optional.

Peter might have been stubborn and independent and strong-willed, but he was also quick to realize when he was wrong. He put his pride in his pocket and called out to the Lord when he began to sink, which was kinda smart since the alternative would've led to him drowning. But sometimes we stubbornly choose the alternative, even though the truth is staring us right in the face. Sometimes we purposely choose to walk down the path that's difficult, filled with drama and trouble and complications, even though we know there's an easier way.

Is it pride? Is it stubborness? Is it because we refuse to bend our will? Is it because we think we know better and that we don't need anything from anyone? Or worse. Is it because we think of God only sometimes because in our minds, we only need Him sometimes.

If that's how you treat Him, then you don't realize what you're missing. Give yourself to God full time and you have someone to help you carry your burdens. You don't need to carry them on your own anymore. Give yourself to God full-time and when the hard times come -- and they will -- He'll bring you comfort. Give yourself the chance to depend on Him, to guide you, and He'll take you by the hand and walk you down the right path, the one that He has planned for you.

Try to do it on your own. Go ahead. Try it. I can tell you right now, you're just going to end up like Peter: sunk. But if you, like Peter, recognize your error, if you realize that it's not all about you, that it's about Him, then He'll reach out His hand.

All you have to do is put your stubborness and independence to the side, take it, and walk on the water with Him.



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Walk on the Water by Britt Nicole
from YouTube.com