This weekend the 2024 Summer Olympics will begin in Paris, France. I love watching the opening ceremony as the parade of athletes from all over the world enter the arena. This year will be a little different as they will float down the Seine River in boats, but still, it marks the beginning of two weeks that mark the culmination of four years (or more) of training and discipline! Spectators will watch the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat, as not everyone will take home a medal.
Still, they will gather. With high hopes and dreams of bringing back the gold. In my estimation, all of these athletes are already winners because they showed up. They got in the boat. Which reminds me of a passage of Scripture – you knew it was coming – when the disciple Peter had his own boat experience of Herculean proportions!
28 Peter answered Him [Jesus], “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” 29 He said, “Come.” So, Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus.
Matthew 14:28-29
That’s right, folks! Peter walked on water! Never before or after has any other human being done so. Can you imagine how that must have felt to Peter? And what about the other disciples in the boat? Maybe they were hoping to get a turn, too. But before that could happen, something happened to Peter.
30 But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and, beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” 31 Jesus immediately reached out His hand and caught him, saying to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”
Matthew 14:30-31
Something caused Peter to doubt whether or not he could complete the task, and he began to sink. Jesus called that thing “doubt.” Doubt is something that we have all experienced at one time or another. In fact, we’ve made a phrase out of it – “I doubt that” or “I doubt it.”
When Simone Biles experienced the “twisties” in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, she pulled out of competition. She could no longer compete safely because she was “getting lost in her skills” and doubting herself. As she spoke with her therapist, she discovered that she was suffering from the trauma of repressed feelings about the previous abuse she had experienced from one of the team doctors. We’ve heard other top-of-their game athletes such as Michael Phelps, also speak of the need to prioritize their mental well-being, as it can affect their performance.
The circumstances of life, the wind blowing, can cause any of us to get lost and before we know it, doubt has set in. And sometimes when you doubt, people will say that you didn’t have faith. But notice that Jesus described Peter as still having faith, although it was little. So, a lack of faith may lead to doubt, but they are not one and the same. So, how are they connected? And if doubt isn’t a lack of faith, then what is it?
Let’s talk about it on Sunday in the new sermon series just in time for the Olympics, GT 2024: Winning the Race Over Doubt! This is a race you can win because you are not helpless or hopeless. And there’s no doubt about that!
The Well is our new ministry that developed from the Children’s Defense Fund initiative! We are looking for middle and high school age young people who want to have fun through recreation and socialization, and in the process come out with more joy and hope for their future. We’re also recruiting adults to serve as coaches, life-skills teachers, and snack distributors! If you have a skill that you could teach, such as cooking, banking, car maintenance, or how to run your own lemonade stand, please contact any of the CDF team: Amanda Hughes, Deb Crowder, Jei Evans, or myself. Also, CDF was gracious enough to provide us with a $15,000 grant to help cover costs, but it is a matching grant. So, if you would like to sow into this ministry you can mark CDF match on your envelope or let our business manager know your interest in doing so. We truly need the village to help with this one!
See you on Sunday - this time I’ll be the one in the pulpit!
Vision for 2024:
A House United:
Strong Faith, Strong Families, Strong Future!
Blessings,
Pastor Linda
Comments