If You Want to Walk on Water....

...Get out of the boat.  There have been many references to the story in the bible about Jesus walking on the water to his disciples on the stormy sea of Galilee and then inviting Peter to join him. Mathew 14:22-33.  It is a lesson in courage, not being afraid and having faith. 

Jesus walks on water, by Ivan Aivazovsky (1888)

John Ortberg has a great book called, "If you want to walk on water get out of the boat."  There is also a current series at North Point with a recent message by Joel Thomas called Choose to Lose.  I won't explain the concept of Choose to Lose as you can certainly watch it.  In message 2 Joel talks about, metaphorically, what you must do to walk on water, to have faith and courage, to not be afraid, for Jesus will be there for you in your life.  What is holding you back?  Where is your comfort zone (the boat) and what takes you out of your comfort zone where you must have courage and faith (walking on the water)?

Simplified, and certainly not life critical, lets look at this in the context of running.  Is there a distance that you want to try but have been worried about?  Are you scared to start running at all?  Is there a race that worries you?  Is there a surface that you want to try, a technical trail for instance?  Put faith in yourself and in God to help you conquer your fears.  More importantly, apply this to your life.  Get out of the boat.

I've applied this to running this year, running for Durham Rescue Mission and donating to their cause, running some very difficult races like Bataan soon approaching, and today I signed up for a 24 hour race in South Carolina.  I have a 70 runner marathon in Alaska in a place that you can only get to by boat or air, and a marathon in Grand Teton National Park, Jackson Hole, Wyoming.  I pray for more courage in my life, but one has to start somewhere and since running is a metaphor for life, I'm sure I will get there.  So, if you want to walk on the water, get out of the boat; trust, have faith, be courageous.

Today Day 69: 4 miles: 2014: 375 miles