Session 1: What's Water Walking?
(Don't be a "boat potato")

The six-session series, If You Want To Walk On Water, You've Got To Get Out Of The Boat, focuses on Matthew 14:22-33 - a series of events that took place during a stormy night on the sea of Galilee.  It includes the disciples' struggling all night to sail through a fierce storm, Jesus' walking on the water to meet his disciples, and Peter's acceptance of Jesus' invitation to step out of the boat and walk on water with Him. 

Peter's walk on the water is a picture of many of the aspects of following Christ:
- Having the wisdom to discern when Jesus is present and how He's calling
- Having the courage to "get out of the boat"
- The euphoria of walking on the water
- The fear/panic of failure/sinking
- The sense of relief that Jesus is strong enough to save
- The wonder and adoration that follows  
During the next 6 weeks, we will focus on learning the skills essential to "water-walking" - including: discerning God's call, transcending fear, risking faith, managing failure, and trusting God.

John Ortberg makes a life-analogy in the story about his hot-air balloon ride, that "every day we try to convince ourselves that things will be ok if we can just develop a positive mental attitude, but the real question is, 'Is somebody piloting this thing and are his character and competence such that I can with confidence put my life in his hands?'"  Today, just as it was for Jesus' disciples, it is often easier to trust in things, people, or circumstances rather than God.  We try to create security in such comfortable "boats" as money, success, relationships, and addictions.  Our boats can appear to be safe, secure, and comfortable compared with the risks outside them.  Yet apart from God, even our best-built boats cannot protect us. 

Comfort vs Risk/Growth
Walking on the water is a picture of doing something together with God as He gives you the power to do what you could never do on your own.  The decision to grow spiritually always involves a choice between risk and comfort - risking stepping out of the safety of the boat and entering the waves.  However, the term "couch potato" may best describe many people in our culture today, as we are increasingly devoted to comfort.  While it's ok to be comfortable - in order to truly follow Jesus, we must renounce comfort as the ultimate value in our lives.  Ortberg refers to the other disciples as "boat potatoes."  They wanted to be around Jesus, but didn't want to take the risk of following Him all the way out of the boat.  They were very much aware of the cost of potential failure, embarrassment, criticism, or loss of life that might result.  What they were not so aware of was another price - the cost of staying in the boat.  Choosing to stay in the boat means not walking on water and experiencing what occurs by stepping out. 

There's many reasons to take the risk and "get out of the boat," including:
- It's the only way to real growth.  Facing challenges and risks is the only way we're going to learn;
-  When we give in to comfort, our lives are pretty stagnant and boring;
- Jesus is out on the water... It's only when we're willing to take the risk of obeying God and "getting out of the boat" that we meet Jesus;

Defining Failure
In the DVD, Ortberg states that failure is not so much an event as the way we think about an event.  He gave the example of Jonas Salk who took over 200 tries at making the polio vaccination before succeeding.  When someone asked him how it felt failing so much, Salk replied something along the line that he didn't fail 200 times - he simply learned 200 ways not to cure polio. 

Peter accepts Jesus' invitation and for a while he's walking on the water.  But then he does what a lot of us do... he takes his eyes off of Jesus.  He notices the wind, storm, high waves, and dark night - says to himself "What was I thinking?" - and start to sink.  the question we're left with is "Was Peter a failure?"

Maybe to some extent - but Ortberg points out that there were 11 bigger failures sitting inside the boat.  He says "No one ever criticizes [the other disciples] failure.  Their failure goes unnoticed, unobserved, and uncritiqued.  Only Peter knew the embarrassment and humiliation of public failure.  But there were two other things Peter knew: the glory of what it is to walk on the water and that when he failed and fell, Jesus was strong enough to reach down, pick him up, and save him." 

Jesus used the events of that night to teach His disciples that He could be trusted - and that they needed to get out of the boat and walk with Him.  Today, Jesus is still looking for someone who trusts Him enough to "get out of the boat" and walk with Him.  If we do, we will face storms and have to take risks.  But as with Peter, we can trust Jesus to be there to reach out and help us.