#409 Mentoring Moment: Messy Middle

Welcome to Kingdom Writers, where we help equip and empower Christian writers of all genres to share your unique gifts with the world. We're your hosts, C.J. and Shelley Hitz.

This podcast is filled with spiritual encouragement as well as prayers to help you overcome the resistance you face as a writer. Your story matters.

Well, today's theme is Messy middle. Messy middle. And I want to start off with a quick story. Some of you may have read the book by John Steinbeck called Cannery Row. In this book, there's a character named Henry, and Henry's a shipbuilder who tears up his boats just before finishing.

Some think he's actually crazy, but one recognizes that Henry is actually afraid of the water.

He likes boats, but he's afraid of going out on the water. He tears up his boats so he doesn't actually need to launch the boat. And I thought that was a good story for us as writers, because a good question for us to ponder is, what are you and I afraid of as writers? Have you ever been in a position like that where you're getting close to finishing something, but at the last second, you just scrap it? You tear it up, you throw it in the can, you delete it, whatever it might be, and you say, you know, this. This just isn't going to work. And what might be behind that? Could it be a fear of. Of launching that book or that blog post or whatever it might be? I think you and I do carry a fear in us that can really dictate some things that we do. And I want to actually read a story from Matthew 14. Our main scripture today is going to be Matthew 14, 22, 33. And this is one of the three renditions of Jesus walking on the water and meeting the disciples out on the Sea of Galilee. So let me just start here. In Matthew 14, verse 22, it says immediately after this, and just to set the context real quickly, Jesus and his disciples have just been a part of that feeding of the 5,000 on the other side of the lake. And Jesus had wanted to cross the lake and go up and spend time on a mountain and. And pray with his father, and most likely grieving his cousin John the Baptist, death at the hands of Herod. But as they get over there, these huge crowds find out Jesus is in town. And before long, the disciples are wanting to send Jesus, send the crowds away. And yet Jesus says, no, we. Let's go ahead and feed them here. And of course, they're wondering, with what? How are we going to feed 5,000, perhaps even 10,000 people when you count women and children.

And by the end of that story, Jesus has fed 5,000 or more people with those couple loaves and in five fish. And so now Jesus is ready to send the crowds home and he's sending the disciples back across the lake as well, without him, so that he can actually go up onto the mountain and pray like he had intended to do, spend time with his father. So it says, immediately after this, Jesus insisted that his disciples get back into the boat and cross to the other side of the lake while he sent the people home. Now you need to understand that the word that Jesus used there is, is a strong word in terms of sending them back into the boat. It was as if he was saying, I'm, I'm not just insisting, I'm, I'm actually telling you to go back across. You're, you're going to go back across in this boat without me. And, and so it's a strong word that, that we see here.

And in verse 20, 23, it says, after sending them home, 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. Now, some of your translations might say that they were straining at the oars, like these were experienced fishermen, many of which in the boat. Some weren't experienced fishermen. Matthew himself was probably freaking out because he's a tax collector in the boat on these troubled waters. And if you know anything about the Sea of Galilee, it's 13 miles long, 8 miles wide, and it's nothing for storms to hit that body of water and stir up 5, 10, 15 foot waves at nothing. It's like a little body water. It's like a bowl that gets stirred up. And so Jesus has insisted that these disciples get in the boat, cross the lake, and they encounter this storm. It's like, oh, thanks a lot, Jesus. And so they're, they're straining at the oars. But it says here, about 3:00 in the morning.

Jesus came toward them, walking on water. Now what I want to tell you is you and I with this whole writing thing. We may have heard Jesus say, okay, I want you to plop your rear end in the chair and you're going to spend time writing for my glory. You're going to write words that outlive you. You're going to write a book. You may not think that you're going to finish this book, but you're going to write a Book that glorifies the name of Jesus lifts up my Father and the Holy Spirit. And Jesus has insisted, just like he insisted that the disciples get in the boat. He's insisting that we write these words that we're called to write. And so we're out there. Pretty soon we find ourselves straining at the oars, so to speak. Straining with that pen or pencil or the, the keyboard. We're straining. We're in this storm. We feel like we're going to capsize. And we're wondering, man, where's Jesus when we need him? What's going on here? We're gonna, we're gonna die. And they were freaking out. No doubt they had freaked out a couple chapters earlier when they had faced that storm with Jesus actually in the boat. But he calmed that storm. And now Jesus chooses a different method in order to teach his. His disciples. He's walking out on the water and he chooses. What we would know is the fourth watch. Now the fourth watch is that 3:00 clock a.m. and to 6:00am so he's actually been up in the mountain for, for several hours. And the disciples would have no doubt been struggling against this storm for several hours. And so they're probably, they're, they're weary, they're ready to give up. And here's the thing, they're only about halfway across the lake. Mark's version actually says that they were about halfway.

Right in the middle of the lake, essentially. They probably had four or five miles to go at at the least, and maybe a few more to fight this storm. And for every stroke they were taking, they were probably losing a couple. So they just weren't making any headway. And how, how many of you know that sometimes Jesus allows us to strain at the oars for a while? Sometimes it seems like, when are you going to come and rescue Lord? When are you going to show up? Have you really called me to this thing called writing? Why am I straining so much? Why has this storm popped up? And I want to say that there's a real enemy out there that loves to stir up storms in our lives. And there's an enemy that wants to keep us from getting to the other side, so to speak, of the lake in order to have us finish our books. And so Jesus has chosen this fourth watch. This, this, this really graveyard shift. And I want to say this. Another thing that I, I think when I think of this, this fourth watch, this 3 to 6am is you would think, you know, everybody else is asleep out there when we're straining at the Oars. When we're struggling, we're. When we're in that messy middle, am I even really going to finish? Am I going to get across? Does anybody care? I want to say that it's then that Jesus shows up when everyone else is asleep, when you can hear crickets at that 3 to 6am Nobody's stirring. We're fighting. Does anybody hear us? Jesus makes his appearance. He's awake. He's the great watchman, and he shows up there. And so it says here, when the disciples saw him walking on the water, they were terrified in their fear. They cried out, it's a ghost. And they literally probably thought they were seeing a phantom of some kind. Now.

Bodies of water were just sort of. There was a superstition around bodies of water. It was almost viewed as sort of a. The abyss or evil, a place where things like this could arise. A phantom or a ghost. And so there. There was just a superstition regarding water and its depths and its power. And so here Jesus comes along, but they think he's a ghost. But Jesus spoke to them at once, don't be afraid. Take courage. I am here.

And then Peter called to him, lord, if. And I think that's such a powerful word, if it's really you, then tell me to come to you walking on the water, if it's you. How many of us have gotten out in the middle of that lake? We're in the middle of our books. We're in that messy middle, and we actually start to doubt. We start to wonder if you've called me to write this book, if you've called me to be a part of this project, then I'm going to need to see something from you, Lord. I'm going to need some help in a very specific way. We might even ask the Lord, could you please give me some kind of sign? I'm struggling here. I'm about ready to drown, be capsized here.

And I love that Jesus says, yes, come. Jesus said. So Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus.

But when he saw the strong wind and the waves, he was terrified and began to sink. And he cried out, save me, Lord. He shouted, let me just pause right there for a second. I think this, as Peter is, is taking that bold step of faith, going over to the side of the boat in the midst of a raging storm. And he. He sets foot on that water and he begins to make. Make his way toward Jesus. But then he starts noticing the waves. He starts noticing, oh, my goodness, what's going on here? What have I got myself into?

And I think it's in these moments that we also can relate to Peter. We begin to sink, partially because we do take our eyes off Jesus. But I think Peter beginning to sink also represents us trying to do things in our own strength. We may think, hey, I. I've got this walking on water thing down. Yeah, I can handle this. I'm good from here, Jesus. And it's during those times, if we're not careful, we begin to sink. And we realize, okay, maybe I'm not a professional water walker like Jesus. And so what I want to challenge us to do is to lean into Jesus all the more as we're out there in that messy middle to keep our eyes fixed on him. We can't do this in our own strength. We can't write words that are going to impact people eternally unless we keep our eyes on the Eternal One.

And so Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed him. You have so little faith. Jesus said, why did you doubt me?

And I want to pause there. You know, at first glance, it might seem like Jesus is giving Peter a bit of a rebuke, but if you look at the word that Jesus uses there, and some of your translations might even say, you know, you have. Have little faith. It's kind of like, you know, some of you have had kids or grandkids or nieces or nephews that when they're. When they're learning how to walk or maybe. Maybe they're a couple years old and they run and they trip and they fall and they be. They begin to cry. And you, you gently go over and say, oh, you know, go ahead. You're. You're okay. You can get back up. Go ahead and walking. Continue running. It's like we dust them off, and it's like we look down and say, hey, what's going on? Little faith? You know, you're. You can do this. That's the tone that Jesus is using here. Why did you doubt me? Little faith. It's almost as if he's got this boat full of. Of toddlers as disciples, toddlers in the faith. And he's working with them. He's working with Peter here, and he's sharing these, these, these touching words. Why did you doubt me? You know who I am, Peter. You even saw the storm that I calmed a few chapters back while I was in your boat. You can trust me now. And it says when they climbed back into the boat, the wind stopped. And then the disciples worshiped him. You really are the son of God. They exclaimed. And John's version, I thought it was interesting. In John's version and in Mark's version, we don't read about Peter walking on the water, we just read about Jesus walking on the water. But in John's version it says that when Jesus got into the boat after, you know, calming their fear, it says in John's that they instantly were on the other side of the lake. It's as if Jesus teleported them in the boat. Just like that, the wind and the wave stopped, but they were there just like that. I thought that was an interesting detail. Sometimes Jesus may allow us with our books to finish things much faster than we ever anticipated is what I can take away from that in terms of an action point. But let me just close by saying that there's a couple Old Testament references that I wanted to mention regarding God and water and storms. Job 9, 8. He alone has spread out the heavens and marches on the waves of the sea. He alone. Who? God alone. And then in Psalm 89,9, you rule the oceans, you subdue their storm tossed waves. Who does that? God alone. And yet in this story we see that Jesus does something that only God is said to do. We need to see Jesus for who he really is. He's the Son of God. He's one of the, the three in the Godhead, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, all working in tangent together.

In tight communication with one another.

And I want to say that Jesus does what the scriptures say only God does numerous times, not just in calming storms, but he calms the chaos. In this instance, he calmed the chaos with his toes. Think about that. He calmed those waters with his toes dancing across the water on that, that Sea of Galilee. And I want to say that Jesus will get us across the stormy seas that arise in our writing journeys. You started this journey when Jesus, you felt Jesus calling you to this, this writing assignment, whatever it may be, he's calling you to perhaps finish that book, to hit publish and to begin marketing it, begin allowing that book to get into the right hands at the right time. Right now you feel like you're in the messy middle. But I'm telling you, Jesus will get you to the other side. He'll come sometimes. He'll let us struggle. He'll let us be out there. One wondering, are we going to capsize? Is it over? Is it really gonna, is it really gonna happen? But Jesus shows up just in time. And many times he's the only one that shows up when nobody else really cares. No, nobody cares like Jesus does. If Jesus called you to this, then he's certainly going to get you to the other side, just like he did with the disciples. And so I want to encourage you all, whether you're in your messy middle, whether you're just a. A mile from the shoreline, you're. You're almost finished. I want to say that Jesus not only wants to calm your storm, he wants to get back into the boat with you and. And give you the strength and the power to get to the other side and cross that finish line again. Your messy middle is where God's handiwork.

Is done. Some of his best work is done in our messy middle. So let me pray with you, Father. I just thank you so much for each one of these Kingdom writers. I thank you, Lord, for the calling that they have upon their lives, that you have indeed pushed them off the shore and told them to. To. To struggle and labor at the oars in the boat with a pen at the keyboard in order to get to the other side. And I want to pray, Lord, that anyone who's been frustrated or discouraged, I want to pray that you would just show up in that fourth watch, that you would be the watchman in their lives, that you would come just in time. And, Lord, that you give them strength, give them energy, give them a new vision, a fresh vision. Help them see the finish line and imagine that. And I just ask, Lord, that each person here, whether they're watching this recording, watching replays, whatever it might be, I ask that you would just rejuvenate them and that they would just feel a new breeze behind their sails as. As you empower them. And we just ask this in Jesus name. Amen.

God bless you all.

Thank you for listening to this episode of Kingdom Writers. We believe that you, as a Christian writer, have a specific role to play in the Kingdom of heaven to impact lives for eternity.

And because of this, we choose to pour out our lives into encouraging writers like you to not only tell your stories, but to take the courageous step of self publishing your stories in books that will outlive you and leave behind a powerful legacy. This podcast is sponsored by Christian Book Academy, where we help you give birth to your books. We invite you to join our community of Kingdom writers.