Out of the Boat

have you ever felt like you were on the verge of something that could possibly be a milestone in your life? one of those moments where in 15-20 years you're going to look back and point to as the moment everything changed? maybe you had to make a difficult or impossible decision, but you knew it was the next step towards that moment?

whenever i find myself in a moment like this i always look back to peter walking on water with Jesus. it's easy for the actual act of walking on water to overshadow the seconds in peter's life he stepped out of the boat. what would have been going through his head? what kind of fears or doubts could he have had? what were those around him thinking? what separated peter from the other disciples? were the other disciples too scared to speak up?

at one point my oldest child would let her fear of the unknown hold her back. to say she refused to try anything adventurous is an understatement. when she placed a stake in the ground that she wasn't doing something - it wasn't happening.  my wife and i refused to be the parents that forced took their screaming child onto a ride or experience.

it wasn't until she was maybe 6 or 7 that she began to understand that often there's only one opportunity to do something. more often than not once we began the ride home she would unload her disappointment how she didn't get to do "insert random activity here" because she was scared. time after time my wife and i would comfort her, but let her know that sometimes we let our fear hold us back from doing something we really want to do.

i am proud to say that last fall when our family went to disneyland for the first time she road space mountain and big thunder mountain. these were two rides that my wife and i thought we would never get to ride with one of our very timid children.

my children have changed my perspective on life in so many ways. to see their sense of imagination, creativity and passion for various things in life helps motivate me to be more child-like. they've helped me to ask why more often and to push boundaries. maybe Jesus was on to something when he said, "truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."

so what about you? what fear is holding you back from that next experience, adventure or risk?