And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.
—Matthew 14:29

Peter is one of my favorites. He's a risk taker and has a temper. He's a street fighter and cuts off ears. He's rough on the edges, and Jesus never tries to polish him up. I like it that God surrounds Himself with every type of personality. It says that God wants to use us just the way we are.

Peter was also a water walker, which you need to read about in Matthew 14:22–33. When he saw Jesus walking on the water, he said, "I'm going for it." He didn't wait to take Water Walking 101 to step out of the boat by faith when Jesus said, "Come."

When you start walking on water—walking in the realm called faith—it's going to feel funny because your senses report to your flesh, which will be screaming its alarms. And the next thing that happens is, the people sitting in the boat, whether they're saying it or not, you can feel their criticism, because they have to now justify why they're still sitting in the boat while you're walking on water.

I don't know if the other disciples verbally criticized Peter, but I can imagine their body language and everything else. What else would have caused Peter to take his eyes off of Jesus? He had the tenacity and enough faith to get out of the boat, so I think the boys in the boat caused a distraction. How else could they justify sitting in the boat? In actuality, they were probably pretty happy when Peter started sinking.

Here's the principle. Falling down is not failure; staying down is failure. So when you fail, you miss it and sink. But you got out of the boat and took some steps. Jesus is standing nearby to give His rescuing hand. Next time you might take some leaps. The key is to keep getting out and keep walking. Does it feel funny to your flesh? Yes, and that's because you're moving in a different realm. Faith is a spiritual realm. Are you going to have Water Walking 101? No. Jesus gave one instruction: "Come." He didn't say, put your right foot in front of your left, go three inches. And that's why people are sitting in the boat—they're waiting for God to tell them every detail.

Remember: what causes your faith to sink is broken focus. So let your eyes look straight forward lest you sink. It might be lonely on the water, but keeping walking. Your destiny awaits!