If You're Going To Walk On Water, You Have To Get Out Of The Boat

I love water. It could be a small bubbling creek, a peaceful lake, a rushing river or the swell s of the ocean. And I love boating. My boating experience includes a paddleboat, a rubber raft, a canoe, a pontoon, a ski boat & a cruise liner. And I loved all of these experiences. Tonight I want to tell you a story about a recent boating adventure I had. I was riding along in my boat on the river of life and all was well. I was enjoying the boat & the quiet stillness of the water. It was a picture perfect boat ride. But how many times have we seen perfect boat rides go wrong? There was the Titanic that was supposed to be unsinkable, the Steamboat Arabia & the three hour tour on the SS Minnow. (Cue the theme song for Gilligan’s Island) All of the sudden, out of nowhere, a terrible storm was upon me & my boat. I found my boat being tossed in the waves; I saw bright flashes of lightening & heard roaring thunder. I was scared. This storm had appeared so quickly, without warning. But I know what to do when I am facing such a storm, I pray. I ask God to protect me, I ask God to calm the storm, & I ask God to send me help. A friend calls my cell phone & asks if I’m okay. I tell my friend I don’t have time to socialize. I’m so scared & caught up in the storm that I don’t even think of allowing my friend to help me. My husband comes by in a bigger boat & offers to help, but I decline his help because I have faith that God is going to help me. My pastor comes along in a helicopter & offers to assist me, but I’m stubborn & I refuse his help. I’m sure God is going to protect me & if he isn’t going to calm the storm then I’m sure he is going to save me! Fear takes over me & I begin to doubt God. The storm is getting worse, the waves are crashing over the top of the boat & I just spotted a hole in the bottom of the boat. I am feeling desperate. I cry out to God. “Where are you? Why don’t you calm this storm? How long will this storm last? Why did you allow my boat to get a hole? Are you really going to let my boat sink? Are you going to let me drown? Why aren’t you helping me? Where are you God?”
I hear God whisper, “My poor child, you are not listening, you are not paying attention. I sent 3 different people to help you, any of them could have saved you, but you refused their help. How long will you try to do things on your own? “
Oh! Uh-oh!!
“Okay, Lord. I’m sorry. I will listen. I will do what you ask. Send help & I will go with them. I promise I will obey.” You won’t believe what God told me to do next. He told me to get out of the boat. (Cue music from Jaws) “What? I must not have heard you right. Are you crazy? At least the boat offers some safety. If I turn the boat over I can still cling to the top of the boat. But step out of the boat? I don’t know how deep the water is & look at how big the waves are. And don’t forget the lightening. And you want me to get out of this boat?”
I am bewildered. Why does God want me to get out of the boat? I think about the Titanic. Remember how the people clung to the boat as it sunk into the ocean. The boat sucked those people under & they drown. I don’t want to go down with this sinking boat. God is telling me to get out of the boat before it sinks. My chances are better out on the water.
I try to stand up & get out of the boat. But something is weighing me down, pinning me to the bottom of the boat. I look down at my life vest. It appears that is the something that is keeping me down. The life vest is so heavy I can’t stand up. God tells me take off the vest. Doubt is there again, clouding my thinking, making me question what God is telling me. But I promised God I would obey. So I begin unfastening the life vest. Suddenly I see that it is really not a life preserver after all, it is a giant weight called fear. My resolution for this year was not to live my life in fear. I have been studying what the Bible says about fear. Verses that I have memorized come to mind: Isaiah 41:10 “So do not fear for I am with you” & 1 John 4:18 “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear.” Because I know God is with me & he loves me & I love him I am able to strip off the fear. Now I can get out of the boat. I am able to stand up but I can’t get out of the boat. What is holding me in the boat? I’m not afraid. So what is this tied to my foot? Without the deception that fear brings I can see an anchor that I wasn’t able to see before. The anchor is labeled worth. I will have to examine this anchor a little more closely before I can figure out how to untie it & leave it behind. This is something I really struggle with in life. I have been taught that worth comes from formal education, a good upbringing, holding a respectable job, being a loyal wife, raising obedient children. In other words, you must work hard to deserve worthiness. I think that if I step out of the boat, then I have nothing & if I have nothing then I am nothing. And if I have nothing what will others think of me? But God asks me, “Am I not enough, am I not everything?”
I try to be so tough
But I'm just not strong enough
I can't do this alone, God I need You to hold on to me
I try to be good enough
But I'm nothing without Your love
Savior, please keep saving me
God says I am worthy because He created me & He loves me. I am God’ child & I am complete in Christ. I have been established, anointed & sealed by God. He has made me worthy & I don’t need to look for acceptance elsewhere. I don’t need a title, or a specific job, or a distinguished family, or a big house, or a Nobel Peace Prize, I need God. And that is what I will find out there on the water.
I put words to the deception of self-worth. I will never be good enough or tough or anything that really matters on my own. My worth comes from God & I will keep declaring that until I truly believe it w/all of my heart & mind. As I am reaffirming who I am in Christ & the worth that he gives me I see the anchor is shrinking. I am now able to remove the anchor from my feet & throw it overboard. I watch as the anchor sinks to the bottom. I am filled w/such a sense of freedom & love.
You have probably figured out that my story is not about a real boat ride. That is just a metaphor that I am using. We all have boats & we all have anchors that keep us in the boat. For me, the boat was a church. And the anchor was a job w/a title. A job that I loved, a job that I feel called to do. God told me it was time to get out of that boat, but I didn’t’ want to let go of that anchor. My pride and my need to feel worthy convince me to hold tight to that anchor. The thing is that I had asked God to release me from that boat & He was doing just that, but I wasn’t willing to obey Him. I struggled with giving up that anchor & the sense of security that it gave me.
We all have boats that we are riding in that God doesn’t want us in. We all have anchors that we cling to that will drag us to the bottom if we don’t release them. What is your boat? What anchors are keeping you in the boat? I’m going to give you a few minutes to write down what your anchor is. While you listen to this song, think about how heavy that anchor is, think about how it keeps you from doing the things God wants you to do, think about how it could drag you down, and then think about what it would be like to release that anchor & watch it sink to the bottom of the ocean floor.
So, now I am out here walking on the water. I don’t know where I am going; maybe I’m not going anywhere in particular. Maybe the point of this exercise is for me to just enjoy being out here on the water, walking w/Jesus. It reminds me of when I took my lifeguard certification test at the age of 15. The hardest part for me wasn’t having to swim a mile in a certain amount of time or having to rescue a dummy from the bottom of the pool and drag it out & perform CPR, the hardest part for me was having to tread water for 20 minutes. We weren’t allowed to swim laps. We simply had to tread water and stay in one place, very hard for me to do. I want to go somewhere when I swim, even if it is just to the other side of the pool. I mean, who wants to swim in place? That’s a lot like walking on a treadmill. What’s the point? When you’ve finished walking a mile, you are still in the same place. I am a task oriented person, I need a beginning and an end & I need to get something accomplished. If I am walking, I want to go somewhere; a treadmill doesn’t offer that, neither does treading water. I feel like that is where I am w/this walking on water experience. I am walking but I’m not going anywhere. So I am trying to concentrate on Jesus & what is going on while we are walking. I don’t think this experience is about the destination, it is about the adventure itself. You’ve heard the saying “1/2 the fun is getting there.” I’ve never understood that phrase but I’m trying to. I am at peace out here walking on the water. I feel very close to God.

Let me share a time with you when I got out of the boat & walked on water. Zac’s story. Mark & I had been parents for 2 ½ years & we decided (with much prodding from me) that we were ready to adopt another child. Mark agreed as long as we could adopt a boy & we wanted a baby this time. We talked to DFS & had them place us on the adoption waiting list. We knew that it could be a long wait, especially since we were asking for a baby boy. At the very same time that we were having our names added to the waiting list, a baby boy named Zakaria was born in Oklahoma City. His parents were very young, very immature, unemployed & homeless. The mother had not received prenatal care & had not taken very good care of herself or her unborn baby. She had also used various drugs during the pregnancy. This baby entered the world under dire circumstances. He had to be resuscitated at birth & put on a respirator. A priest was called in on 4 occasions to pray for the baby, but this little boy was a fighter. He began to grow stronger & was able to come off of the respirator. The doctors ran batteries of tests & could find nothing wrong with the baby. The nurses & doctors tried to arrange assistance for the parents, someone to help them find housing & jobs & money for food & baby necessities. But the parents refused the help. And at the end of the week the hospital had no choice but to release the baby to the parents. For 2 months the parents struggled with jobs, money, physical & emotional abuse, taking care of a newborn. The mother ran from her husband & ended up in a shelter for abused women in Independence, Missouri. The baby was taken from her & placed in protective custody due to neglect. One July afternoon, I received a call from DFS asking me to take in a 2 ½ month old baby boy who needed a foster home. I explained to the caseworker that I would have to call my husband & discuss it w/him & then one of us would get back w/her. I remember calling Mark at work & telling him the news. I was excited, scared, anxious & uncertain. The only thing we knew for sure was that this 2 month old baby boy needed a home immediately. We didn’t know the background on this baby. We didn’t know why he was being placed in a foster home. We didn’t know much. The caseworker had made it sound like the baby would probably be returned to his mother’s custody w/in 10 days but nothing would be decided until the court hearing on that 10th day. And we knew we had to make a decision quickly. If we weren’t going to take the baby then the caseworker needed to continue making calls until she found someone that would take the baby. Mark & I prayed & felt God wanted us to give this baby a home, our home. So, Mark called the caseworker & told her that we would be foster parents for the baby. He also told her that when the time came for the baby to be adopted we were to be at the top of the list for the adoption. The caseworker was taken aback by that comment. She explained to my husband that this was temporary custody & that the baby would probably go back to the mother in 10 days. Mark said he understood what she was saying but he felt God had different plans for that baby. The next day, the caseworker brought Zac to our home & he has been a part of our family ever since. Over the next year there were several court hearings and lots of paperwork but we were finally able to adopt Zacharia & make him an official part of our family. We learned a lot about the parents & Zac’s rough beginning over the course of that year. Today, I look at this healthy & happy boy & I am so thankful that Mark & I were able to step out of that boat & walk on water that day in July of 2002 & agree to take Zac into our home. We didn’t let the anchors of fear or uncertainties keep us in the boat.
If you’re going to walk on water, you have to get out of the boat. And I have to tell you the water is fine, so step out of the boat & come on in!