We have been counseled by our church leaders to "Stay in the boat" no matter how rough the seas may be. Meaning we should stay in the comfort of the church regardless of the tumultuous times.
But being fond of the four Gospels my first thought is that it was Jesus who reached out His hand and beckoned to Peter to leave the boat and come to Him.
Sometimes like Peter we must leave the comfort in the company of the children of men to find the comfort that can only be found in the Son of God. We must not be like the rich man who was asked to sell all he owned and give it to the poor to follow Christ, that man chose his wealth over discipleship. There is much comfort that must be jettisoned in order to truly follow Christ.
The boat is a instrument of transport it is not the destination. The church is the delivery system of the Gospel not the Gospel itself.
We used to be taught that one must always pray for confirmation and personal revelation when processing the words of anyone, church leader or not. And now it seems as if you find an answer different than others it means something is wrong with you.
But I disagree. I think that each of us is on our own personal journey and our personal revelations reflect different trajectories of our very different and always deeply personal paths. So our answers will naturally be different. Because our courses are different.
But when we find and develop a personal relationship with Christ we must find the faith to leave the comfort of the boat and walk on water as Peter did.
We may find ourselves sinking in doubt but we can always rise to the surface when we find the faith to master the waters. Jesus will be there to reach out and pull us up in the end.
To be His disciple means to walk as He walked, to talk as He talked, to treat and love others as He did, and thinking as He did. That is what is known as Christ-consciousness and that is what makes us truly Christian.
Sometimes one must leave the comfort of the boat to walk on water with Christ.