Idiocy

Just got word from my team lead that there’ll be a change in my schedule.

Just to give you guys a brief backgrounder, I’m not the type of person that can go to sleep at the drop of a hat. I have what I call Circadian Rhthym Unadjustible Disorder (CRUD). I started out my call center life reporting at 3am in the morning. A sudden, unexpected change in team manager and I found myself clocking it at 1am. A few weeks later I was given the heads up that by 2am I should be in my seat taking calls. Then the inexcusible move to the 12am time slot. My sleep time had reduced to 4 hours a day: 2 hours after shift and 2 hours before… Not the ideal if you ask me.

Now back to the latest change in schedule… I have to be logged in and ready to sooth grieving "valued" customers by 10pm! Talk about "major adjustment necessary"! What’s worse I used to have my day off on Sundays and Mondays… now my rest days are Thursday and Friday.It’s December guys! A brief glance at the calendar and you’ll notice the most important days to spend with your family fall on a Sunday…On the bright side, I’ll be home to celebrate my mom’s birthday on the 15th and my dad’s birthday on the 29th. Personally, I think that’s more than enough of a compensation…

I have wrestled in the darkness of this lonely pilgrim land
Raising strong and mighty fortresses that I alone command
But these castles I’ve constructed by the strength of my own hand
Are just temporary kingdoms on foundations made of sand

In the middle of the battle I believe I’ve finally found
I’ll never know the thrill of victory ’til I’m willing to lay down
All my weapons of defense and earthly strategies of war
So I’m laying down my arms and running helplessly to Yours…

CHO:
I surrender all my silent hopes and dreams
Though the price to follow costs me everything
I surrender all my human soul desires
If sacrifice requires
That all my kingdoms fall
I surrender all
****

If the source of my ambition is the treasure I obtain
If I measure my successes on a scale of earthly gain
If the focus of my vision is the status I attain
My accomplishments are worthless and my efforts are in vain

So I lay aside these trophies to pursue a higher crown
And should You choose somehow to use the life I willingly lay down
I surrender all the triumph for it’s only by Your grace
I relinquish all the glory, I surrender all the praise

CHORUS

****

Bridge:
Everything I am, all I’ve done, and all I’ve known
Now belongs to You, the life I live is not my own
Just as Abraham laid Isaac on the sacrificial fire
If all I have is all that You desire…

CHORUS to end

English Teachers Listing to Port

Found this really amusing, thought I’d share:

Every year, English teachers from across the country can submit their collections of actual analogies and metaphors found in high school essays. These excerpts are published each year to the amusement of teachers across the country. Here are last year’s winners…..

1. Her face was a perfect oval, like a circle that had its two sides gently compressed by a Thigh Master.

2. His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking alliances like underpants in a dryer without Cling Free.

3. He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like a guy who went blind because he looked at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking at high schools about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it.

4. She grew on him like she was a colony of E. Coli, and he was room-temperature Canadian beef.

5. She had a deep, throaty, genuine laugh, like that sound a dog makes just before it throws up.

6. Her vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever.

7. He was as tall as a six-foot, three-inch tree.

8. The revelation that his marriage of 30 years had disintegrated because of his wife’s infidelity came as a rude shock, like a surcharge at a formerly surcharge-free ATM machine.

9. The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn’t.

10. McBride fell 12 stories, hitting the pavement like a Hefty bag filled with vegetable soup.

11. From the attic came an unearthly howl. The whole scene had an eerie, surreal quality, like when you’re on vacation in another city and Jeopardy comes on at 7:00 p.m. instead of 7:30.

12. Her hair glistened in the rain like a nose hair after a sneeze.

13. The hailstones leaped from the pavement, just like maggots when you fry them in hot grease.

14. Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed lovers raced across the grassy field toward each other like two freight trains, one having left Cleveland at 6:36 p.m. traveling at 55 mph, the other from Topeka at 4:19 p.m. at a speed of 35 mph.

15. They lived in a typical suburban neighborhood with picket fences that resembled Nancy Kerrigan’s teeth.

16. John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had also never met.

17. He fell for her like his heart was a mob informant, and she was the East River.

18. Even in his last years, Granddad had a mind like a steel trap, only one that had been left out so long, it had rusted shut.

19. Shots rang out, as shots are wont to do.

20. The plan was simple, like my brother-in-law Phil. But unlike Phil, this plan just might work.

21. The young fighter had a hungry look, the kind you get from not eating for a while.

22. He was as lame as a duck. Not the metaphorical lame duck, either, but a real duck that was actually lame, maybe from stepping on a land mine or something.

23. The ballerina rose gracefully en Pointe and extended one slender leg behind her, like a dog at a fire hydrant.

24. It was an American tradition, like fathers chasing kids around with power tools.

25. He was deeply in love. When she spoke, he thought he heard bells, as if she were a garbage truck backing up.

Some might find the phrase tantalizing, some might not give a hoot. It all depends on who posts it and who reads it. This piece of informative bunkum may require kindergarten-level comprehension, but there are those out there who haven’t stepped out of nursery…

I don’t feel the rush, I don’t feel the proclivity to compose witless hogwash, I don’t feel… I’m in a state of being obliviously aloof, like giving meat a whack with a tenderizer and not feeling sorry for the meat… have you EVER felt sorry for the meat?… have you ever used a tenderizer?

Man, it’s a pain when your creative juices have simmered away on the hotplate of insensitivity…

Wait a minute, I haven’t had lunch yet… figures…

Alexander Martin Remollino

Like rats they scampered,

scampered for a few months’ lease on life –

and scores were stopped by death on the tracks.

In the rush for a few months’ worth of human life,

scores were trampled like mice.

They faced the death they sought to defy.

And this is how things have become

in this country of our afflictions:

to simply last the day through has become

a death-bringing ordeal,

and in the quest to flee this death

and taste the life of men

there are not a few who would face even

the danger of dying like mice.

In memory of those who, in the hopes of getting tickets to qualify as
contestants in the "Pera o Bayong" contest of the ABS-CBN game show
Wowowee, perished in a Feb. 3, 2006 stampede at the ULTRA

Man, the past few days have been special occasion after special occasion. Worthy for either catering or take-out food.

Let’s see, there was Dec. 25 Christmas Day, Dec. 29 Younger Bros Wedding Day (don’t ask me how much he paid me…)/Dad’s B-day, Dec.31/Jan. 1 New Years Eve/Day, and finally Jan. 4 my b-day. Most of these occasions involved engorging fastfood. Has anyone watched the movie "Supersize Me"? I can just imagine the liver getting mildly cirrhotic.

I thank God for allowing me to complete another 365 days. If He’d decided it was time for me to go, I wouldn’t be sitting here in the wee hours of the morning typing away…

Happy New year to y’all!

Ello there!

.
You might probably be wondering whatever happened to the poor guy involuntarily gesticulating on the matted floor, well you’re going to have to keep wondering a little more! Hahahahahah! (hysterical facial expression insert here)…

.
Well seems like it’s been a while since I last visited this here neck of the woods. So It’d be good to stick some words in hereabouts, ey?

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Lets see, lately I’ve been thinking about my adventures on the open highway. Well specifically my extremely offensive driving. Where I come from, a majority of the vehicles on the roads I plod never see the other side of 30 (kph that is), so when you’re in a vehicle with a respectable amount of horsepower you wouldn’t want to mirror everyone else’s progress, or lack thereof, would you? Ok, so it’s all relative. See if I were on the autobahn, then the definition of ‘offensive driving’ would be in another dimension entirely. Ahhh, but then notice I placed ‘extremely’ as a qualifier!

.
So let’s get to the adventures, specifically ones of the life-endangering kind.

.
Scenario A: Imagine a two-lane concrete road barely 20 feet across with run-offs on both sides. This road is elevated relative to the surrounding terrain by 3-5 feet. This is an example of a "highway" around these here parts. Now imagine travelling down this highway at no less than 180kph. The vehicle is occupied by 5 souls, one of whom is a tad overweight. He is seated on the right side of the back seat, you hear a high-pitched humming sound, an indication of increased airflow and/or wind resistance from that side as the air passes in between the right-rear tire and the chassis due to the imbalance in payload weight. At any moment a wandering carabao (water buffalo) can do a little hop onto the "highway" to get to the greener patch of grass on the other side…cool.

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Scenario B: It’s almost 11pm. It’s pitch dark, since our highways don’t have halogen street lamps out there in the middle of nowhere. I see 480km on the odometer which I reset that morning before setting out, yet I’m still 2 hours away from home. I’m travelling at a good 100kph clip playing chicken with the unseen beyond the reach of my headlights at high beam. Some folks around here, mind you, don’t realize the importance of functioning headlights. There I am singing my heart out to some rad christian pop when I notice the dim headlight of an oncoming pedicab (motorized-tricycle) on the opposing lane. I give it no second thought as I prepare my vocal chords for the tenor-pitched chorus (like I had a chance to reach that friggin note)… that’s when sudden terror grips me as I notice the concrete road on my side suddenly drop down to a 10-foot pile of rocks (why are our roads perpetually under friggin repair??!!! And there’s not even a hint of a warning sign!!!). This is where the singing turns to screaming (hey, I CAN reach that note!) That pedicab (probably doing all of 30kph) is blocking the only way to preventing CFIT (controlled flight into terrain). I slam on the brakes and at the last second just before I go over, the pedicab clears the good part of the road and I swerve hard (roll-over warning… hey, I still woulda died anyway) to get on that patch of good road, I swear the outer half of my right-side tires had nothing to work on for traction. Okay hold the singing for when I get home…

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Scenario C: Going home from the north. Again it’s the middle of the night and it’s pitch dark on our "highway". My headlights are on low beam. I strike up a conversation with my passenger, and we start laughing our heads off. In the distance a lone headlight. Looks like it’s running on a pair of AA batteries. Hey the road’s a bit wider, that motorcyle in the distance looks like its hugging the opposite side of the road anyway. No problem if I drive down the centerline then (offensive driving of the worst kind), right? Wrong. Two seconds before my ride and the motorcycle pass each other, I do a cautionary flick to engage high-beam. That motorcycle has instantly transformed into a 10-ton dump truck with a busted headlight on one side, and I’m heading right for it. I clear the friggin truck by 2 feet. Heck, if you can afford a truck, you can at least scrounge up enough to buy a light bulb!

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Scenario D: It’s raining frogs and I’m headed north on another business trip. I’m taking the AUV for this trip. It’s the open road and I’ve crossed into another province with more respectably sized highways, so my foot becomes a lead weight. Hmm, what’s that on my rearview mirror, woah there nelly, a sedan overtakes me. My foot triples in weight. Here begins the chase… I stick to his/her? butt for the next 10 miles, on the long stretches I slowly catch up but when we get to the twisty bits, the lower profile bugger ooozes away. I smirk, ey mate, if I had your ride I’d put it to good use. Pick up the pace kid! We’re now on a slope heading down the curve to a bridge, the road’s wet, so many frogs I can’t see more than 200 meters ahead. The sedan has pulled away again, it gets through the curve (ga-curbada’g shen) and over the bridge no problem. I enter the curve, when suddenly my rear tires lose it. Induced oversteer! I’m now headed for the bridge rails…(so this is how it looks before you go over…), inspiration from heaven - i get the presence of mind to take my foot off the gas, a slight twitch of the wheel to the left, another correction to the right… I’m through the bridge on the highway centerline. If there had been anyone on the opposing lane…satiate your imagination.

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Scenario E: Ok heading south in the sedan. EBD, ABS, stiff suspension, SRS airbag, seatbelt fastened. I’m invincible. I admire the green sugar fields on both sides of the road. Traffic is light. I turn right onto a stretch of highway at least 1 mile long and it’s deserted. Let’s see what this baby can do. Lead foot engaged. Into fourth and I’m about to hit 170. Oh yeah there’s a descending curve up ahead. Foot off the gas…ooops hit the curve a bit hot. I overshoot the apex and head straight onto the wrong side of the road at the bottom of the slope. I overshoot the opposing lane and hit the gravel with my left-rear tire as I try to recover. The tire kicks up a lot of dirt, and my rear tires lose traction. I swerve right to get the car on the correct side of the road just missing a truck on the opposing lane. But darn it there’s a line of 30kph pedicabs on my lane! I swerve onto the opposing lane once again just missing the butt-end of the truck. But the manuever threatens to spin the car, so I turn hard right, only to see I haven’t passed all the pedicabs yet, to the left I go, uurk! the gravel…to the right it is! Thank God there isn’t any more opposing traffic as I do a slalom course like in a competition from hell on the opposing lane, i probably woulda won Gold…

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Well that’s just the tip of the iceberg from my ten years of plying the "highways" of the province. Happy driving!!!

Let’s say you are the President of your class.

There are 20 people in your class. They all earn some money from
cutting grass, washing cars, etc. They all contribute half of their
earnings to a common class fund.

You all want to use the class fund for a graduation party, for
decorating your classroom, for buying some computer games that everyone
in the class can use. You also want to use the class fund to buy some
basketballs and maybe a shotgun or two, for "defense".

But then some of your classmates don’t work, or are too lazy to
work. They can’t contribute to the class fund any more. Some of them
don’t even have lunch money. You have to get some money from the class
fund to buy them their lunch, every day, because as President you are
responsible for their well-being.

But this uses up the class fund. And you know what, sometimes you
sneak some money out of the class fund to buy beer for you and your
friends.

On top of this, your lazy classmates keep bringing their dogs and cats to school.  You have to feed those, too.

Now the class fund is depleted. Some of your classmates are still
contributing, but many are getting away with no contributions. They
don’t see any point in paying for lunch for lazy classmates, or beer
for the Class President and his friends.

Now the class fund is no longer being replenished. So you go to the
next classroom, talk to the President there, and borrow some money. He
lends you $100. You then go back to your class and buy people some more
lunch. And you also buy a beer for yourself.

Soon even the $100 is used up. The classroom has not been
decorated. You have not had a party. You never did buy those
basketballs and computer games. And forget all about buying that
shotgun.

You have to borrow some more money from the next class.  But you have not paid your first debt.  So now they refuse.

Then some of your classmates get disillusioned with your class, and
they transfer to other classes. Those who work hard and are intelligent
are accepted into the other classes. Those who are ignorant and lazy
are left in your class.

What now?

It’s pretty simple. Gross Domestic Product, or GDP, is the sum
total of all your classmates earnings from their jobs and chores.

The Budget is the class fund. You are using up your budget for feeding
people who can’t or won’t feed themselves, and for feeding dogs and
cats who don’t contribute anything to the class, and for a bit of beer
(corruption) on the side.

You wanted to buy some computer games that you could have rented out to
other classes (exports), to earn more money (increase the class GDP).
But that never got off the ground.

You wanted some shiny shotguns for your "defense" (Air Force), but you are totally broke.

Now your classmates are pissed at you for mismanaging the entire
thing. The class chairs are broken, the airconditioning doesn’t work,
everybody who used to work hard has left.

Only the idiots, the ignorant and the lazy remain.

Then they decide to beat you up and throw you out of their class,
so that they can elect a new President. Then the new President buys
more beer with what is left of the class fund. The cycle continues.

The GDP of the Philippines is growing 4%.  Every year, the population who work earns 4% more money than the last year.

But the population (the cats and dogs you have to feed) grows by
2.5% every year. You need to feed all of them from the GDP — because
the GDP is all the money a country will ever get.

And the cost of school lunch is going up 5% a year.  The price of lunch for your classmates is 5% more expensive than last year.

So, your income is growing 4%. But your population is growing 2.5%,
and inflation is 5%. The growth in income is not enough to feed the
additional cats and dogs, and to pay for the more expensive lunch food
every year.

You are in a downward spiral.

Do you see the problem?  Do you see the solutions?

We walk up the stone
steps visibly eroded from years of exposure to the elements. As we
round the corner we are greeted by an agitated dog, barking for all
it’s worth. It might have been imposing if it were two feet taller,
but as it is, a diminutive askal (street dog, mixed breed), we don’t
give it a second glance. Another turn brings us to a weed-ridden
dusty path. Ahead of us not 10 meters away a group of painters give
some meaning to a plain and faceless facade. It’s hot today; probably
in the low 40s (centigrade), though not particularly humid. Finally
we meet a fence encircling our destination. The home of a friend’s
friend.

The house is a wooden
two-story affair, painted a sorry lime green topped with a roof of
corrugated sheets. The general area smells of swine; that glorious
stink that is never absent while their kind is around. We climb up
the decrepit wooden stairs on the northern side of the house leading
directly into the room of the subject of this visit. Even as our feet
leave the ground to occupy the steps of the staircase, another smell
invades our senses. That of a horrid state of abysmal personal
hygiene. We enter the room, minds clouded as strong waves of
putridity rack our consciousness. The corrugated roof contributes to
this dismal state by magnifying the already unbearable heat.

What are we doing here?
Why subject ourselves to this sordid reality? Well, in a way, we’re
on a mercy mission. We are meeting someone who was once a strong,
proud, visibly large man. A person who has contributed blood and
sweat to the betterment of a significant part of his existence. I’m
not going to name names or specifics but let me put it this way: He
has given the majority of his life to give others a chance at a
better tomorrow. A tomorrow that is now the present.

He has done his bit.
Today his writhing, malnourished body lies on a mat covering the
wooden flooring of his shack. He is barrel-chested. It would’ve been
impressive if not for the seeming absence of a stomach. His limbs
contort as he opens his eyes, unnaturally wide.

He examines us with rapt
attention and begins to move towards us. A sort of shimmy, but on his
back. The pain is obvious, it is expressly evidenced on his face with
every fruitless exertion. We tell him to relax and that there is no
need to move. We will go to him. He still moves. I move closer and
place my shoe on the side of his right hip to belay his movement. He
continues his dance. That’s when we realize it is an involuntary
motion.

As I continue to absorb
the situation before me, the questions come…

Okay folks get ready for one of those 30min posts. What’s that you say? Well if you plan to read this to the end expect to spend the next 30 minutes…

You have been forewarned.

Just thought I’d write a little Bible study. So you all go ahead and take out your Bibles now. You don’t have one? Well read on anyway.

And so we begin, set that timer for thirty minutes…and….GO!

Matthew
14:22-32

********************************

Right
after Jesus healed the sick among the multitudes, (v.14) and fed 5000
men not counting the women and children who were also fed (vv.
15-21). He commanded the disciples to go on a boat and cross the Sea
of Galilee while he dismissed the multitude and eventually went up
the mountain to pray. (vv. 22-23).

Why
would he tell the disciples to go ahead of Him?

• Maybe
  because he needed time to pray to his Father alone

• Probably
  because he was setting them up for the miracle he was about to show
  them.

Literally
he was sending the disciples out alone in a boat, giving them the
task to row it to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. A sea that later on becomes
difficult to cross due to the winds and waves growing in strength. (v. 24)

(v.24
– the boat was buffeted by waves going against it. {NIV})

(Mark
6:48 – the disciples were straining at the oars because the wind
was against them)

They
were working really hard to cross the stormy Sea of Galilee. They
were probably rowing for their lives.

Plainly
reading the text, it is Jesus sending his people to cross a stormy
sea alone. I’d like to propose it as being analogous to the church
being sent into a world full of opposition to what the Lord commands
and teaches – like temptation to sin, the general disbelief in
Christ’s teachings, and the work of the enemy – to struggle, to face it
seemingly alone and apart from His protection.

Many
times, especially in the midst of trouble and worry, that’s how we in
our small faith perceive it…”Where is God. Has he left us to
fend for ourselves?”. With our tiny faith we sometimes fall
temporarily into the trap of thinking that things are happening
around us apart from God’s will. (This would also depend on how much
a person trusts in God. The lesser a person trusts in God the lesser
a person would consider the significance of the impact of God’s will
in his/her life.) 

I
feel that a Christian struggling in this day and age should be the
norm. It is better to be struggling against things that prevent us
from following the Lord’s will rather than just surrendering to the
tide and going with the flow. Catch my drift? “Living a Christian
life is tough. All my friends are enjoying themselves with all the
nightclubbing and binge-drinking till the wee hours…”

Here
the disciples were struggling against the stormy sea to do as their
Lord bid them, and that was to cross the sea to the other side.

5. 25
   – the fourth watch of the night, very early morning (3am-6am). A few
   hours after the disciples had set off, we find them somewhere in the
   middle of the sea. A mere 3 to 3 1/2 miles, based on Jn. 6:19, from
   where they had started. You can just imagine how bad the storm was.
   Here we also have Jesus walking out to them.

5. 26
   – They were terrified and cried out in fear because they thought
   they were seeing a ghost. To put that into perspective, the Jews had
   a superstitious belief that the appearance of spirits at night
   brought disaster. They thought they saw a sea spirit… “Oh my,
   what a night!” Probably with resignation that’s what some of the
   disciples were thinking. They were in the middle of the sea, still
   halfway to go, were tired and sleepy from all the effort, and now
   here comes a sign of impending disaster! Most of all, Jesus wasn’t
   with them. They were probably recalling the time when Jesus calmed
   the sea in a similar situation (Matt. 8:23-27) only a few months
   before. But this time he wasn’t with them. “Are we going to sink?”

5. 27
   – Immediately Jesus, understanding why they were in that state,
   calms their fears and reassures them that he is not some ghost
   bringing with it even more danger.

5. 28
   – Here we see the headstrong, impulsive Peter, forsaking all
   logic, being a man moved by emotion and known for making spur of the
   moment decisions, ask Jesus to allow him to do the impossible. I
   would characterize Peter as both childish and childlike. Childish in
   his impulsiveness, yet childlike in his trust in Jesus. He was so
   certain in his heart at that very moment that if it indeed was
   Jesus, he can do anything. There was a condition, Peter wasn’t just
   going to jump into the water. He said, “Lord, if it is you…”
   There was a childlike dependence on the Lord for his safety and that
   his God was capable of anything.

Whenever
it comes to matters of the spirit and God asking us to do His will,
that’s the kind of trust  He wants from us. We have to lay aside our
learnedness, our college, masteral, or doctorate degrees (yep sometimes even our high school diplomas), all logic
and with utter dependence upon God take that leap into the sea, into
uncertainty.

Peter
wanted confirmation:

• First,
  that it was indeed the Lord

• Second,
  if it was His will that he leave the boat (the “comfort zone” he
  was in along with the others)

5. 29
   – The Lord answers Peter. And commands him to come and do the
   impossible.

5. 30
   – Here we see a problem. When Peter left that boat behind, he was
   using his spiritual eyes focused entirely on Christ and doing what
   he knew the Lord wanted him to do. But the moment he started using
   his physical eyes was when things started to fall apart. He doubted.
   He started to doubt because he started to see the big waves and the
   strong wind. His eyes left the Lord Jesus. He allowed his unbelief
   (in how it should be physically impossible for him to do what he was
   doing) to divert his attention from the task at hand and allow
   uncertainty and doubt to enter his mind. At that moment he started
   to doubt the Lord’s ability to safely bring him to His side and
   finish what what he had set out to do. He allowed human tendencies
   to get the better of him. And another thing to take note of was he
   was almost there. He was just about to reach Jesus when he started
   to sink.

Sometimes
we come to a point in church life when we start being complacent
about how things are going. We get so used to doing “church” that
we start relying on our own abilities. We start to relax and say,
“We’ve accomplished so much…” This is right about when our
childlike faith becomes a supposedly mature faith, where we assume we
know everything there is to know about God, and stop hungering and
thirsting for more of Him. It is also at this point that doubts start
to creep in and we slowly lose our focus on Christ and start focusing
on human nature, no longer concentrating on our perfect God but
allowing ourselves to consider our fellowmen’s imperfections.

I
believe that when Jesus’ followers started meeting regularly millenia
ago, they were faced with a God-sized task. To regularly fellowship
and eventually grow and be a light in their community. A light that
would draw people to God. A fellowship that would – with total
dependence upon God – go into the world and preach the Good news of
Christ’s love. Those who became the early church were only following
God’s command. And I’m sure they had a childlike faith that if it was
indeed His will, then it was as good as done. As the years went on,
Christ’s disciples faced trials and strong opposing currents making
it difficult to move in the direction it was supposed to go. Newer
generations of members and leaders set out to do the task that was
passed down to them. And Satan has been stalking them every step of
the way.

I’m
sure many of us know that God allows storms to arise once in a while
in our Christian walk to test our faith. We go through a refining
process that is only for our own good (Rom. 8:28 - “And we know
that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who
have been called according to His purpose.”) We just need to be
reminded and to remind others in the midst of all this to do
what Peter did in the last part of verse 30…

He
cried out… Three simple words… Basically, he uttered a prayer; in a
moment of desperation, I might add. Peter, being who he is, didn’t
fully prepare himself for what he eventually found himself in. It
would probably have been better if he’d asked Christ to protect him
before he’d set out. But he didn’t. Even so, though Peter was late in
praying, he wasn’t TOO late. Many times we only go to God as a last
resort. Being full of ourselves we set out to do things "for His glory". Yes it may
clearly be God’s will, but we do it without fervency in prayer. We
eventually find ourselves in a place where we become uncomfortable
and even fearful. Many aspects of our lives are lived with God
playing a limited, second-string role. And it is only when we get
ourselves into a difficult situation that we go and ask help from
God.

5. 31
   – But even then, God will respond. As He immediately did to
   Peter’s call. Without delay he gave his hand to Peter. This speaks
   of God’s mercy, patience, understanding, and promptness in
   responding to a desperate plea.

Paul
writes in I Timothy 1:15,16 - “Here is a trustworthy saying that
deserves full acceptance. Christ Jesus came into the world to save
sinners – of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was
shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might
display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would
believe on him and receive eternal life.”

In
that moment of desperation, Peter was being completely honest about
his condition:

• He
  knew he was helpless without God and would fail without God’s help

• And
  there was instantly no doubt in his mind that Jesus had the power to
  help him.

We
should also take note of how simple and short Peter’s prayer was.
Three simple words, yet words spoken with conviction and without
doubt. What I mean is our prayers don’t have to be uttered with
perfect diction, or impeccable grammar. Neither is God concerned
about the length of our prayers. What gets His attention is the
strength by which they were uttered. I don’t mean you have to scream
till you choke from exasperation… A prayer is strong if it is said
with total belief that God will grant it according to His will. A
prayer becomes weak if it is riddled with doubt, and/or spoken in
pride not in a state of need, helplessness and abject humility.

When
asked to pray in public, many of us shy away, “Not me, I wouldn’t
know what to say…” That doesn’t have to be the case when all the
Lord wants to hear is a prayer that is simple, straight to the point,
and sincere. Of course a problem arises if we can’t find the
sincerity within us…

5. 32
   – Eventually Jesus and Peter join the others on the boat and the
   storm ceases. Most probably Jesus once again uses His power over the
   elements to calm the storm. Which at the same time calms the
   disciples and relieves them of their fear and weariness. Now that
   Jesus is with them, it is smooth sailing all the way. In John 6:21
   it even says they immediately reached the shore where they were
   headed, a major constrast to the hours the disciples struggled to
   get barely half-way.

In
summary:

• Just
  like the disciples sent to cross the sea and finding themselves in a
  storm, God will send us into trials every now and then, as we do His
  will to:

  - test
  our faith
  - keep
  us from complacency
  - for
  our own good to prepare us for our future not only on this earth
  but also
       for our future in eternity with Him.

• Just
  as Peter left the safety of the boat, we need to be in a state of
  utter dependence upon Christ, without any doubt that what we are
  about to do is in accordance with His will. And be ready to take
  that leap of faith and do things we wouldn’t believe possible when
  He calls on us to come and do what He reveals as His will. We need
  to learn to trust Him in the midst of uncertainty. Or we may fail to
  accomplish the goals we set out to do as individuals and
  as part of His body of believers.

• Unlike
  Peter who started to sink, we must learn to keep our focus on
  Christ, trusting that He will see us through. 2 Cor. 5:7 - “For we
  live by faith, not by sight.” When we start to lose our focus on
  Christ, and start looking at circumstances through our physical eyes
  (i.e. with our limited perception), our attention will start going
  elsewhere. We will start focusing on people’s imperfections,
  nitpicking on non-essentials, and slowing any progress in God’s
  ministry.

• Just
  as Peter called upon Christ as his faith failed him and he almost
  drowned, as long as we live in this earth, it is never too late to
  call upon God for help. He will not delay in extending His helping
  hand. He is only a simple, earnest prayer away. A prayer spoken in
  utter dependence and without doubt in God’s ability to answer it.

.
.
Okay stop the clock!!!

Have a nice day folks!