Maybe I don't need a bigger boat -- Enjoy the rant.

The old saying, "When it rains, it pours" seems to be holding true. A few weeks ago, our church began the prayer "How much?" in preparation of our gifts for our upcoming Jubilee celebration. When the Church built the new campus, they incurred some debt which needs to be dealt with. We are all asking for guidance on how much we are to give. Since we began that prayer, I have incurred several unforeseeable debts: new propane tank, propane, hot water tank, sump pump, back door and gutters (that storm really did a doozy on my house!) This week, I found out that I have to have a root canal on Monday. No dental insurance. Ack!

It's like I just got my boat all packed for the trip, and then I was told, by the way you need to take this person and that thing and that whole pile over there... What??!! Sometimes it seems impossible to cram anything else into my overloaded (but extremely organized) boat. I often forget that I have the power to not only pray about the situation, but rearrange and shuffle and find a place for everything.

It reminds me of my favorite boat story in the bible...you know the one. Everyone's out on the boat, scared to death because they think they are seeing a ghost instead of Jesus walking on the water. Then Peter calls out to the Lord -- if it's You, tell me to come. Can you imagine all the whispers that were happening on that boat as Peter climbed over the edge?

Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!" Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?" Matthew 14 29-31

I remember coming back to that story as an adult and found that it wasn't the way I remembered. I never it caught it as a kid -- Peter didn't lose faith in Jesus, he lost faith in himself.
Sometimes, when it seems like my boat isn't big enough because the rain is pouring so hard, I have to go back and read this story...and have faith in myself.