Dwelling in the Word

I just published the following on my blog, but it fits on this forum as well so I'm just sharing it here too. 

This is what I've been dwelling on lately...

  "Immediately after this, Jesus made his disciples get back into the boat and cross to the other side of the lake while he sent the people home. Afterward he went up into the hills by himself to pray. Night fell while he was there alone. 

  Meanwhile, the disciples were in trouble far away from land, for a strong wind had risen, and they were fighting heavy waves. 

  About three o'clock in the morning Jesus came to them, walking on the water. When the disciples saw him, they screamed in terror, thinking he was a ghost. But Jesus spoke to them at once. "It's all right," he said. "I am here! Don't be afraid."

  Then Peter called to him, "Lord, if it's really you, tell me to come to you by walking on water." 

  "All right, come," Jesus said.

  So Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. But when he looked around at the high waves, he was terrified and began to sink. "Save me, Lord!" he shouted.

  Instantly Jesus reached out his hand and grabbed him. "You don't have much faith," Jesus said, "Why did you doubt me?" And when they climbed back into the boat the wind stopped. 

   Then the disciples worshiped him. "You really are the Son of God!" they exclaimed.

A few thoughts and questions that have been going through my mind about this...

-Do you think Jesus walked on water to prove his sovereignty over it or out of convenience? He'd had a hard few days: he was rejected in his home town, his cousin was beheaded, he'd just finished feeding thousands of people and then went and prayed all night... Do you think maybe he was tired?

-Jesus' response to Peter was "instant" but Peter never answered Jesus' question.

-I have had some "get out of the boat and trust me" events in the past year. I desire so deeply to be able to keep my eyes on Jesus and not notice the waves.

Hypocrite

1"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

 3"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. (Matthew 7)

So Ted Haggard is back in the news again, he was on Oprah on Wednesday and has a documentary about him airing on HBO tonight.  The short version is that Ted was a very influential pastor who was discovered to have had a homosexual affair with a prostitute.  He lost his job, but his wife stayed with him and he entered into intense therapy.  Now he is telling his story.

I know that the teachings of Jesus above apply to this situation, but these harsh words seem too much to level against a man who was sexually abused as a child.  Yet, I imagine that Jesus did not say these words to be easy.  Ted very publicly spoke out against secret sin and homosexuality.  Plank-eye.

Hypocrisy is probably one of the biggest problems that unchurched people have with Christianity.  Yet, the ability to forgive and heal from even such hypocrisy is one of the best things about being a follower of Christ.  Is the journey of Ted all that different from the journey of Saul/Paul?