Getting out of the boat

I shared with you a fishing story the other day, and well, this story today has nothing to do with fishing. It has everything to do with life and where you are in your walk with Christ.
As a young boy I was brought up in a Christian home and taught to trust in God. My parents had taken me to church from the time I was old enough to go.I don't ever remember a time in my life when we weren't in church. I grew and then felt called into the ministry as a teenager and began to pursue God in a whole new way. I started understanding my favorite verse Psalm 37:4 in a whole new way. I also started focusing on what God wanted for my life and what He was doing in my life.
But it hasn't always been that way. There have been times where I was working so hard, and doing so much(so I thought) that I was forgetting to pursue God. Sure I was working for the church, sure I was reaching out to teenagers and sharing the Gospel with teens, but I wasn't pursuing God first and formost.
I found myself in slumps from time to time. Yes, just as a baseball player goes through a slump, Pastors and especially Youth Pastors can go through the same slumps. For the athlete it is usually either in their mind, or they have picked up some type of bad habits. For me, I had lost my focus. I was so overwhelmed by the atmosphere, and so trying to overcome the negatives, and so wrapped up in ministry that I wasn't focused on God. I wasn't keeping my eyes on him.
Matthew 14:29-30 "Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, 'Lord, save me!'"
And when those slumps came, just like Peter I would look around, feel the storm and get scared. I would cry out to God to help me, to get me out when in reality all I needed to do was refocus on Him. If I had never lost my focus, then I would have never realized all the things that were going on in my life. If I had remained focused on Christ, and my relationship with Him, and serving Him, I would not have even noticed if I was sinking or soaring.
So, remember to focus on God, let Him power your days and all of your endeavors and the waters will feel still, and the storms won't phase you at all.
Thanks for reading and have an awesome weekend!