I joined the team of Epping Forest YFC for their prayer meeting today. It was great to see established people, and meet Louise who is a new member of staff. There is clearly;y a good atmosphere among these people and, although tired, very united in their mission to the young people of the area.

This morning they were kind enough to ask me to lead their prayer meeting. I did so by getting us to look at Matthew 14 where Peter jumps out of the boat. The prayer time this morning was based on a Rob Bell thought. We looked at why he would so such a mad thing. We then looked at what it meant to follow your rabbi; the fact that it meant you actually wanted to be just like your rabbi and do the things he did.

We then looked at the fact that rabbis chose their disciples. They chose the best of the best. When selecting they would ask the question, ‘can this person do what I do?’. In other words – the rabbi believed in his disciple. He chose them because he believed they could do what he did.

WE st and we contemplated that fact, the fact that Jesus chose us because he believes we can do what he did. Peter got it – that’s why he jumped out of the boat! Jesus was walking on water and so he knew he could.

I thought and wondered this morning. I bet the rest of the disciples were gutted that they did not think of that. They must have been peeved that they did not really believe in themselves as much as Peter did. The I wondered would I have taken the leap or would I have sit in the boat and played safe with everyone else?

At the end of the meeting we made paper airplanes. (thanks Sarah for the idea) Inside where they could not be seen (the luggage compartment) we wrote and drew what we WERE like. In the part of the plane you can see only when you let go (where the pilot and passengers would sit) we wrote and drew what we are like now. On the wings, in view of everyone, we wrote and drew what we were going to be.

It was strange sitting in part of London and having such a powerful silence as we contemplated where we had come from, where we were going and focusing on the idea that God believe in us.