Sometimes you eat sushi in Chile and love every second of it.. At least in the moment you do. Then, after the moment you might get gastroenteritis and have to sleep for almost two days straight. Worth it? Probably not. But sometimes you have to take big risks to see great things. And no, I’m definitely not talking about sushi anymore.
“And Peter answered him, ‘Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.'”
If you know the rest of the story you know that Peter ended up getting distracted from Jesus and started to sink. I can easily read this story and shake my head at Peter. “C’mon Pete, you’ve seen Jesus work all these miracles firsthand and you still don’t get it.” However, who was the only disciple that walked on water? That’s right. The only one that asked Jesus to call him out beyond where he was. And yes, he was also the only disciple that started sinking after Jesus allowed him to walk on water.
There’s so much truth in this story!
If I want to experience greater things, I have to ask Jesus to call me out of the “boat”. None of the other disciples had the faith to ask Jesus to call them out onto the water. And because of that, none of them experienced the miracle of walking on water. I can go through life in the safety of my own ‘boat’ and miss out on amazing things. In preparation for the World Race, I thought America was my boat (and in some ways it was). But I’ve come to realize that I can find a boat just about anywhere I am.
As I experience greater things, there will be greater distractions and barriers. When Peter was walking on the water, the wind and waves were a bigger distraction than when he was in the boat. When I chose to leave the comfort of America, I was saying, “Yes” to the possibility of a lot of hard things, including getting sick.
The distractions and hardships will come, but Jesus will always be in sight. In order to keep walking on water, I need to keep my eyes fixed on Jesus. Perspective is everything and I choose where I look. As I was laying in bed with barely enough energy to get up and shower, my mind was being attacked as well. Thoughts like, “I’m missing out on ministry” or “Am I even making a difference” or “Am I missing out on a miracle today” were flooding my mind. My perspective was on my circumstances and not my Savior. He reminded me, after the fact, that He was in plain sight as I was in my bed. Instead, I chose to fix my eyes on other things. Afterwards, He reminded me that He’s performed many miracles while people are laying in their beds with a sickness! I love that! I was worried about missing a miracle and He was right beside me waiting for my eyes to turn to Him.
Even the disciples in the boat experienced a miracle in their situation. Jesus still calmed the wind and waves as well as the disciples fears. Even the disciples who didn’t ask Jesus to call them out of the boat experienced Him do something amazing. And on the third day of my sickness, I was able to go back to ministry and witnessed God do a miracle. During the times of teaching in the religion classes, I had enough energy to teach. But right after that I needed to sit down because I felt like my energy was drained.
Overall, it was a tough few days of ministry. But, it was amazing to see God work through it and teach me some invaluable lessons.
* Disclaimer: we prepared the sushi ourselves and took all the safety precautions we were taught.
