This weekend we looked at the story of Peter walking on the water.

Caught in a boat in a storm, Jesus comes walking on the water, about to pass his friends on the way to shore. They think Jesus is a ghost. He calls out, “Don’t be afraid it’s me.” Peter calls back, “Jesus if it’s really you, tell me to come out to you on the water.”

I love it. Peter had a bias for action. He could’ve said, “Hey Jesus, if it’s really you tell me what we had for lunch yesterday.” But he wasn’t looking for information. He was looking for action, an invitation to do something. So Peter got out of the boat. He took a risk. He got out of his comfort-zone and took a risk.

Frank Lauden, a philosopher of science has spent the last decade studying risk-management. He summarizes all the literature on risk-management in 19 principles… You know what the first one is? Everything is risky.

In other words, you’re comfort-zone is not as risk-free as you think. You can stay home in bed but that might make you one of the 1/2 million people who annually get treated in the emergency room for injuries sustained…falling out of bed. Everything is risky. Nothing is guaranteed. You take risks everyday.

Here’s what I want to encourage you to do… take a risk for God. Jesus did it all the time. He took the risk of confronting people with the truth. He took the risk of gaining a reputation as a partier and an immorally correct person by hanging out with people that society pushed to the margins. He continually followed God and led his followers into missions that were doomed to fail unless God showed up. I want to challenge you to decide now that the next time God prompts you to risk by…
– giving a gift larger than you ever imagined considering…
– hanging out with someone at work who is career suicide…
– sharing your God-story with someone who might reject you…
– setting out on a journey to a place you can’t see…

Do it… I dare you to trust God. Buuuut… If you do…I can guarantee that there will be times when you fall… times when your risk-taking seems to have led to the sinking sensation of failure. That’s okay. God is bigger than your failures. To be honest He doesn’t need our success to accomplish His dreams…through us.

Step… out of failure with your hand held high. And let it be an opportunity for growth. Before Jonas Salk developed a vaccine for polio that finally worked, he tried two hundred unsuccessful ones. Someone once asked him how it felt to fail 200 times. “I never failed 200 times,” Salk replied. “I was taught not to use the word failure. I never failed 200 times in my life. I just discovered 200 ways how not to vaccinate for polio.”

Did Peter fail? Some would say yes. I say no. Sure he started to sink — but for a moment he walked on water. For the rest of his life, he would have this moment of grace to remember the storm-walking faithfulness of Jesus. What about the other disciples? The 11 who stayed in the boat. Did they fail? Well they didn’t sink…but they didn’t walk either.

I’ll take Peter’s failure over their success any day.