Today’s exhortation – take risks
After a long and brutal battle, the great French general, Napoleon, had finally conquered a highly prized Mediterranean island. He and his generals were savoring the victory, when a young officer came up and approached Napoleon. When the general asked the man what he wanted, he looked straight at Napoleon and said, “Give me this island!” All the generals began to laugh and mock the young man, until that is, Napoleon asked one of them for a pen and paper. To their utter amazement, he wrote out a deed to the island, signed it, and handed it to the bold, but lowly soldier. “How could you do that?” one of his generals asked, “What made him worthy to receive this great island?” “I gave him this island,” Napoleon replied, “because he honoured me by the magnitude of his request.”
The lowly soldier took a risk and it paid off! We’re told in the bible that Peter walked on water and even though he nearly drowned when he took his eyes off Jesus, the fact remains that he’s the only other person besides Jesus to have ever walked on water. We can stay in the boat like everyone else or step out and walk on water. If we want to see people healed, then we’ve to take risks and pray for the sick. If we want to see things we’ve never seen before, then we’ve to do things we’ve never done before!
Francis Hans-Jorie