Matthew 14:22-33
Who are your Christian role-models? Are they people who simply talk about following Jesus, or people who actually get out there and do it? In this passage, we see that Peter was not a man for mere talk. Peter was a man who wanted in on the action. Peter was a water-walker! I’m reminded of a famous quote by Theodore Roosevelt:
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
As you follow Jesus, you may make some mistakes. Peter did. But remember, the only way we can truly fail is to stay in the boat, content to be critics when we could have been water-walkers.