A Rebuke? or Disappointment

Have you ever tried to do something beyond anything you've ever done before, only to fail and be criticized by those who didn't even try?

I've always read the story of Peter stepping out of the boat in Matthew 14:24-33 with that context, struggling with the sharp rebuke Peter drew from Jesus while the other eleven sat comfortably, fearfully actually, in the boat... until this morning.

Reading it afresh this morning, I heard disappointment, no actually encouragement in Jesus' voice:

"You were so close, Peter! You almost had it!!"
"It was in your grasp, but you just took your eyes off the ball at the last second."
“You of little faith, why did you doubt?”

It's not a rebuke. It's the same encouragement we give to a little child trying to walk for the first time. Once they get it, there is no turning back! Peter was on the verge of a breakthrough, one that would have taken him to an entirely new level of living.

I've also always read this story as Jesus calling Peter out. Actually, Peter asked Jesus to invite him out!

“Lord, if it's you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”

As the winds and waves of the economic crisis buffet our boats, are we the terrified ones sitting in the boat? Or, are we willing to step out of that fear and have the Lord call us out to a new level of living?

In John 10:10, Jesus said: "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." Recently I heard it said that God won't do it for us, but will do it through us. For that, we need to ask Him to tell us to get out of the boat.

After Day 3

Some initial reflections from three days in the 1 year Bible reading plan at YouVersion:

Genesis 3:6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

It's easy, with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, to ask: "Eve, what were you thinking?" Lest we be too critical of Eve for trading all she had in the garden for a taste of the forbidden fruit, here's a couple of great questions from the community section of YouVersion to think about as we start 2009:

• What is your all-consuming-gotta-have “it” thing? (Don’t say “nothing.” What is it that is distracting you from fully pursuing God?)
• What has God already provided that you take for granted?

Matthew 4:18-20 As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. "Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” At once they left their nets and followed him.

These verses come right after the 40 days in the desert, where Jesus was tempted by the devil, where He answered every temptation with Scripture. I wonder what it was about Jesus that these fishermen were so willing to lay aside their financial security to follow Him, at once! What did these men see in Jesus that we miss? From there, Jesus went throughout Galilee teaching, preaching and healing every disease! What are we missing out on by holding on to the familiar and the 'secure' rather than risking radically following Jesus?


Genesis 6:5-8 The Lord saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The Lord was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. So the Lord said, “I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth—men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air—for I am grieved that I have made them.” But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

I wonder if the Lord is grieved and filled with pain when He looks at the world today. In the midst of our messed up world, I wonder if I find favor in the eyes of the Lord.

A New Year, and A Fresh Start

One of the beautiful aspects of our cottage is large trees, mostly maple with some oak, birch and walnut mixed in, all reaching 15-20m into the sky! The shade these trees provide is particularly welcome on those hot, steamy summer days.

However, after a strong winter storm like the one that blew through Central Ontario last Sunday, the reports of trees falling and causing widespread power outages can be cause for concern. So today, New Year's Day, given that thousands of people are still without power days after the major winds blew through, we made the trek to Georgian Bay to check on the cottage.

Driving along the 400 and highway 93, it was amazing to see so many trees were snapped in half. Even more astounding was the number of trees lying on the ground with their root balls in the air! One couldn't help but be concerned about what we would find at the cottage. When we arrived, we were relieved to see all of our trees still standing, only some broken branches on the snow.

Wikiopedia, with a great write-up on roots, notes the two major functions of roots are 1.) absorption of water and inorganic nutrients and 2.) anchoring the plant body to the ground. Clearly, for the fallen trees, the roots systems were not up to anchoring the tree through gale force winds. Epic Fail! For others, the root system held, even though the tree itself snapped... painful, but still with the opportunity to sprout new growth in the spring.

As we have now stepped into a new year, it's a good time to pause to consider: what about our root systems? Are they up to anchoring us through the gale force winds blowing through our economy? Large institutions have failed, or are teetering on the brink of falling over. Bad news flies at us like recurring snow storms!

With the start of the new year, I started YouVersion's 1-year plan to read through the Bible. Today's reading included Psalm 1:

1. Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.
2. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.
3. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.

How do we ensure our root system can anchor us through the storm? By delighting in the law of the Lord. Join me for the 1-year journey through the Bible, to develop your root system to withstand the storm. Be ready to be transformed in the process.