Sufficient Faith to Leave Your Boat

     For the last several weeks in my personal scripture study, I have been studying the life of our Lord an Savior, Jesus Christ.  While Christ is and always will be our greatest example in life, I have recently gained a greater appreciation for the example of the apostle Peter. 

     Peter was called to be an apostle while he was fishing.  Upon hearing the Lord's promise to make him a "fisher of men," he "forsook all," the load of fish they had just brought in, his boat, his business, and his house, to follow Christ.

     Later, when Peter saw Jesus walking on the water towards their boat, Peter called to Christ saying, "Lord...bid me to come unto thee on the water."  Peter left the boat relying only on his faith in Christ.

     My favorite example given by Peter is one that I recently encountered in John 21:7.  Peter, upon recognizing the resurrected Savior walking on the shore, leapt from his boat and swam to shore.

     In all three of these instances, we see a willing and faithful disciple leave his boat in order to be closer to the Savior.  While this analogy can be applied to numerous situations, I'd like to compare it to missionary work.  How often are we, as members of the church, content to sit in our "boats" while many of the people around us are in the water struggling to stay afloat?  We need to not only have the faith, but also be willing and eager as was Peter, to leave our comfort zones and insignificant worries in order to help those who are spiritually drowning.  That doesn't mean we will be fearless or even that we will succeed.  Again we look to Peter.  He didn't have the faith to walk on water, but because he exercised the faith that he did have and trusted in the Lord, he was okay, and as a result, his own faith was strengthened.  When questioned by the Savior if he loved Him, Peter answered saying, "Yea Lord, thou knowest that I love thee."  In reply, Christ declared, "Feed my sheep."  What better way to care for lost sheep than to bring them to the Good Shepherd himself?  If we can exercise our faith by leaving our "boats," our faith will be strengthened, and "if it so be that you ... bring save it be one soul unto [Christ], how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of [God]."