The first day of class, my business professor assigned us homework. I sighed as he passed out the worksheet, but when I saw what was written across the top I smiled. It was so simple, and unexpected; I couldn’t help but be excited to do this work. At the top of the page my favorite passage from the Bible was typed.
Matthew 14:25-32
25 Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake.
26 When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.
27 But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
28 “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”
29 “Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.
30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”
31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”
32 And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down.
The homework asked me to find the correlation between business and this passage, I was stumped. I sat on my bed reading and rereading the verses that have gotten me through so much. I couldn’t see it. There was nothing in this passage that defined what a business is, or even related to it. So, I absent mindedly wrote the typical Christian answer; you know the one, it always starts with “Jesus.” I wrote, “Jesus is the boss, and the disciples must listen to their superior,” closed my binder and hoped that the next day in class my professor would reveal what he was thinking. In fact, he did, but what he said surprised me. He said, “When we look at this passage, who are we forgetting?” The class was silent. He went on, “Who is still in the boat?” I realized that the majority of the disciples were still in the boat. I was lost in my own mind. How had I never noticed this? How did I forget about the other eleven men who stayed back, who did not step out when called? My professor’s voice called my mind back to attention, “Don’t settle for being one of the disciples in the boat.”
This one sentence shattered me. In the middle of my Introduction to Business class, the Lord spoke. The Lord asked “What boat are you still standing in?” That’s the thing, we are all standing in some sort of boat. We are all watching as someone else steps out in faith when the Lord calls them. It doesn’t even matter if they fail, they are in the water with Jesus, and isn’t that where we all want to be? What boat are you standing in? What boat is God saying, come out of there, come to me?
The funny thing is, I have read this verse too many times to count, and I never saw this. I saw when Peter cried “Lord save me,” when he took his eyes off Jesus, and when Jesus was there to save, but I never thought of those who were watching Peter. Recently, my supervisor, Julie, introduced the res life staff to something called "The Black Stallion Challenge." Okay, this seems scary. Basically, it is rooted in the fear of rejection and failure. She told us the story about one of her supervisors challenging his staff to find the one person on campus that is "untouchable," the one girl that you cannot stop staring at, or the guy who you can't make eye contact with because you'll blush, and ask them out. He told them that it was required to ask a girl out. Julie, thank goodness, tweaked this for our staff and said that while it's okay if we choose to go the traditional "ask someone out" round, or we could pursue the thing that makes our heart race because we are so terrified of failing. She told my peers and I that we are doing a challenge by choice, that we decide how hard this challenge is. Julie told us that she wants us to find the one thing that terrifies us and run after it. We were challenged to sprint towards the one thing we fear the most, failure. The beauty in this challenge is that if you are not rejected, you get what you want- win win. If not, then you have the chance to cry out, "Lord save me!" The challenge gives us the opportunity to fail, and cry out for salvation. If we run after what we fear the most, if we step out of the boat that is keeping us from doing what God wants, we are only able to succeed. By going after each of our own black stallions, we step out of the boat and find what God really wants for us.Peter stepped out, he distinguished himself from the crowd by showing his faith in Christ. Brennan Manning wrote in his book The Ragamuffin Gospel, “Faith leads to faith.” In this passage, it could never be more true. Peter got out of his boat, in the midst of a storm and had the faith that God would keep him above water. With all his peers watching, he had faith that, even if he failed, the Lord would save him. His peers saw his failure, but you know what? They also saw his salvation. The fact that Peter had the guts to step out is the example that the disciples, and we, needed. How many times has your pastor read this from the pulpit to tell you to have faith? Too many? Well, Peter’s faith led to our pastor giving riveting sermons about our faith. Manning was right, when we see faith, we seek faith. So, I challenge you to step out of your boat. I know that you have people in your life who are Peter, that you have been the disciple in the boat, but don’t you want to be the Peter? If your simple action of stepping out of the boat could help one other person do the same, shouldn’t you do it? Our faith is an example for the world, and will lead to others having the opportunity to cry out, "Lord save me!" I know that I do not want to have a story written about my life, and to be known as the disciple that stayed in the boat. Because even though Peter was the one who took his eyes off Jesus, the others didn’t even take the step of faith, they never had the chance to even keep their eyes locked on Him. I urge you, step out of the boat. You do not know who is watching.
