The title on the bookshop shelf caught my eye - ‘If You Want to Walk on the Water You Have Got to Get out of the Boat’ [1] - not the usual short and snappy title but one that intrigued me and so I picked it up to read.

This edition of the magazine, like many before challenges us to do just that. To get out of the boat, out of our comfort zone. Christians are known for the fact that they speak the truth (even though they don't always act upon it). We so often say that we believe in a God to whom nothing is impossible but I wonder what we have done this week that has put that statement to the test. Have we been out of the boat, out on the water, where we have nothing else to rely on but God's strength and His promises?

We, like Peter in the New Testament story[2], should only get out of the boat if we hear and recognise the voice of the one calling us to do so but that necessitates a relationship with the caller; that we can recognise God's voice (as He promised we would[3]). when He speaks to us; that we know we can trust Him to support us out there in the scary unknown and that we know He will never fail us or forsake us. It implies a love relationship which appreciated that we will only be secure and fulfilled in the place where He is - which at this point in our lives may well be out there on the water and not in the boat.

So, what keeps us in the boat? It's usually either that we are more comfortable there or too afraid to move. Change is always scary and out there on the water it looks distinctly uncomfortable and very scary, but Jesus came to disturb the comfortable and to comfort the disturbed and He wants to do the latter through us. God also repeatedly tells us in His word to ‘Fear not’ (366 times the mathematicians tell me – that’s once for each day of the year, including Leap years!).

As the writer of the book states in his preface, ‘there is a consistent pattern in Scripture of what happens in a life that God wants to use’. There is always a call; there is always fear (often of the unknown, of inadequacy or of failure); there is always the reassurance of God's presence; there is always a decision to make and there is always a changed life. Unfortunately, for those who chose to stay in the boat, they too are changed. ‘They become a little harder, a little more resistant to God’s calling and more likely to say no next time’.

It is our prayer that as you read this edition of the magazine you will hear God speaking to you, that you will be challenged to get out of the boat and walk on the water with Him. Perhaps you know that He has been calling you for some time, well could this be the day to take the first step, to get up and step over the side? He will be there to take your hand and lead you on. God has work for you to do and you won't find fulfilment until you respond to His call and do it. Good reading and God bless you.

Peter Armon