The Rest of the Story

I was meditating on the story of Peter walking on the water yesterday and it occurred to me that Peter's story is a direct reflection of the common experience of a church planter. Peter responded to the call of Christ to step out of the boat and into the danger. He was full of faith and confidence that Jesus would see him through. Then he started to see the reality of how impossible the situation was around him. He took his eyes off the Lord of Everything and all he could see was that he was standing in a place he should not be able to stand. He had the sense to look to Jesus and grab his hand. If you've ever planted a church you know how true to life that story is to your experience. If you are planting a church it won't be long before this story will make total sense to you!

However, there is more to the story than just this surface application. Think about this...Once Peter got back in the boat, he must have felt totally exhilarated! A few days later when he was telling his friends about the experience, it would have been tempting to edit the story down to "I walked on water" instead of telling the rest of the story (the sinking part). Too often, when we read the stories of church planters, we just hear the edited version that leaves out all the humanity..."we started with 300 people the first day and never looked back", "we saw 100 people saved at our first Easter celebration", etc. We don't often hear about the fear, the doubt, the personal family challenges, etc. We just get the sanitized part that is meant to inspire us to do great things. Am I saying we shouldn't celebrate the greatness of God? Of course not! But I guarantee you that every time you hear a victory story, there is a rest of the story. So don't be discouraged if you are living in the "rest of the story" right now. It's part of the journey. Keep reaching out to Jesus when you start to sink. He will help you walk on water!