I'm so thrilled to have Rachel Hauck as a friend. She is one of the most incredible people I've ever known and I appreciate that she is gracing my blog with one of her insightful and led-by-God posts. RACHEL: Thanks Tracey for letting me stop by your place for the Lost In NashVegas blog tour. For those of you who don't know, Tracey and I have been friends for awhile, served on the ACFW Board together and genuinely cheer each other on in the biz of writing. She's a treasure to know, really.
But let's talk about walking on water. I've blogged bits about this before here and there, but I have several blogging venues so perhaps I can get away with a repeat.
We're all familiar with the story of Peter walking on the water, right? He's out fishing with his friends and co-disciples of Jesus when they Jesus walking toward them.
Peter, being a wholehearted, devoted kind of guy, and for the moment a man of faith, hollers out, "Lord call me out on the water to meet you."
Hit the pause button. Peter, dude, amazing faith. I like it. Half the time in today's Christiandom we're cowering in the back whispering, "Don't call on me Jesus, don't call on me. I'm allergic to Zimbabwe."
Hit play. Jesus beckons Peter to come out of the boat.
Hit pause again. Here's an amazing lesson. Jesus did what Peter asked. First of all, this speaks of Peter's confidence and friendship with Jesus. A confidence and friendship we should all have. It didn't matter to Peter that maybe he'd cussed a blue streak over a torn net fifteen minutes before. When he saw Jesus, his heart responded.
Second lesson for us humanoids is to remember we don't have to wait for Jesus to bid us come. We can go to Him with an idea or a plan and go, "Will you call me out? Can I do it?"
Hit Play. Peter hops out of the boat and is cruising across the water. His eyes are fixed on Jesus until ... I don't know if he got cocky or what, but he started looking around and immediately his faith moved from Jesus to the situation. The waves were crashing, the clouds were thundering and Pete probably thought, "Oh *bleep* what am I doing out here?"
Pause again. How many times do we do this? We step out in faith with our hearts and minds fixed on Jesus, our hearts resonnating with joy and hope and the first sign of trouble, we move our faith from Him to the circumstance.
My friends, there is going to be trouble! Especially if you are stepping out in faith for Jesus. Do Not look at the circumstances. Keep looking at Him.
Play button, please. Pete starts to sink. He calls out, "Lord save me." Jesus, being the overwhelmed with love kind of God He is, reaches down and pulls Pete out of the water.
Most preachers preach how create it was Pete called out to Jesus in his time of need, in his weakness. And well, they have a point. But listen to what Jesus said to him, "Bro, where's your faith?"
He rebuked him and the poor man almost drowned.
Hit pause. Two lessons here. When we screw up and call on Jesus, He's faithful to answer. But the main lesson is keep your eyes on Jesus. I honestly believe if Peter had fixed his eyes on Jesus again, and let his heart believe like he did in the beginning, he would've risen from the water without Jesus having to physically rescue him.
If you're starting to sink, fix your heart and mind on Jesus and believe in your heart you will rise above the circumstances. Greater is He that is in you than He that is in the world!
My book, Lost In NashVegas, delves into this topic. Robin Rae McAfee heads to Nashville to become a songwriter, but life in Music City is more difficult than it seems. And while she's learning about how to make it on Music Row, she's learning secrets of her families past.
Fear threatens to drown Robin, but she fixes her heart on Jesus, not on her circumstances. She messes up, but rises to the top again.
What do you think? Ready to do a little walking on water? I am!
BIO
Rachel Hauck is a multi-published author who lives in central Florida with her husband and two ornery pets. She started writing ten years ago, but actively pursued the craft in 2000. Rachel loves sports, especially Ohio State football and asks for a moment of silence for this Saturday's Ohio State vs Michigan game.
Here's a link to Lost In NashVegas on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Lost-NashVegas-Rachel-Hauck/dp/159554190X/sr=11-1/qid=1163629848/ref=sr_11_1/103-5749559-0821461***
