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sink or swim...or something else

I had a rather delayed yet I thought pretty decent Easter post planned out for today. I had written it out before hand and everything, even spending a couple of days working on it.

Then, I checked my emails and came across one from this guy that I actually got a few days ago but hadn't opened up until today while I was putting off school work...but I digress. There was a line towards the end of his email that stuck out for me:

"The really hard part isn't stepping off the boat; it's learning how to swim."

When I started this blog last year, it was based on the word faithful and the story of Peter stepping out of the boat on faith, doing it just because Jesus told him, "Come." At the time, I was fully convinced that taking that first step out of the boat was the hard part. 

After all, when you're standing in the boat 
looking out at the waves 
and you know that if you just stay there, 
safe
you won't be in the middle of the storm in quite so dramatic a way--
that's the hard part, right?

So, last year I sucked up what little courage I had and listened to Jesus say, "Come."

I stepped out of the boat, leaving the comfort and safety of the known behind...

And that's when things got harder.

See, when you're on the boat you can see when the waves are going to crash down. You are above the trials and struggles, so there's a little bit of warning before they hit and sometimes you even have time to prepare.

When you're out of the boat, though, you're down in the water and you can't see the waves coming until they are towering over you, ready to crash down. You are suddenly thrust into the midst of things you never imagined and you find yourself struggling to learn how to swim.

The thing is, though, Peter didn't need to swim through the wind and the waves.
He stepped out of the boat--and started sinking.
The important thing, though, is how he reacted to the sinking.
Instead of struggling to swim, watching the waves crash down over him, Peter called out to Jesus.

"Lord, save me!" (Matthew 14:30)

And you know what the amazing thing is?

"Immediately Jesus reached out His hand and caught him." (vs. 31a)

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