[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"\u002Farticles\u002Fthat-sinking-feeling":3,"\u002Farticles\u002Fthat-sinking-feeling-surround":72},{"id":4,"title":5,"author":6,"bibleBooks":8,"body":11,"columnName":55,"date":56,"description":17,"extension":57,"image":58,"meta":59,"minRead":60,"navigation":61,"path":62,"postType":63,"publication":64,"publicationUrl":58,"seo":65,"stem":66,"topics":67,"__hash__":71},"blog\u002Farticles\u002Fthat-sinking-feeling.md","That Sinking Feeling",{"name":7},"Dave Faust",[9,10],"Psalms","Matthew",{"type":12,"value":13,"toc":51},"minimark",[14,18,21,24,27,30,33,36,39,42,45,48],[15,16,17],"p",{},"\"Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in the miry depths, where there is no foothold. I have come into the deep waters; the floods engulf me\" (Psalm 69:1, 2).",[15,19,20],{},"What could be worse than this feeling described so poetically in the Psalms? Maybe today you're up to your neck in troubles, the floodwaters of stress keep rising, and you can't feel any solid ground beneath your feet.",[15,22,23],{},"Sometimes that sinking feeling comes unexpectedly. You're cruising comfortably through your day until your conscience jerks to attention with the painful awareness that you have said or done something seriously wrong.",[15,25,26],{},"A student arrives in class to discover she has forgotten to prepare for an important test. A writer accidentally deletes—and can't recover—an important document on his computer. You awake in the morning and look at the clock, and your heart sinks because you have overslept and you're late for an important appointment. Your heart flip-flops when a police car abruptly appears in your rearview mirror with lights flashing—even if you're driving under the speed limit.",[15,28,29],{},"David experienced that sinking feeling when the prophet Nathan confronted him. No more denials, no more clever cover-ups. The king was pierced to the heart as Nathan boldly told him, \"You are the man!\" By sleeping with Bathsheba and arranging for her husband's death, David had broken about every law in the book, from coveting to adultery, from lying to murder. His smugness melted away as the fact of his guilt sank in.",[15,31,32],{},"Peter experienced that sinking feeling when he heard the rooster crow and realized he had fulfilled Jesus' prediction, \"This very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times\" (Matthew 26:34). Peter had brashly declared that he would never disown Jesus even if it meant dying with him. But when the pressure was on, Peter sank like a rock. Realizing what he had done, he went out and wept bitterly, sinking in disappointment on the night of his denials.",[15,34,35],{},"Yet, even on the night of his denials, perhaps Peter recalled through his tears another time when he and the other disciples were in a boat on the Sea of Galilee. Did he remember how Jesus came calling them, walking on the water?",[15,37,38],{},"\"Lord, if it's you,\" Peter invited him to come, \"tell me to come to you on the water.\"",[15,40,41],{},"\"Come,\" Jesus said.",[15,43,44],{},"So Peter got out of the boat and stepped out onto the water. Surely he never forgot how he felt—the thrashing sea, the hand reaching down to hold him up. A few glorious steps toward Jesus, doing the impossible, literally walking by faith . . . and then, terrified by the wind and the waves, Peter began to sink.",[15,46,47],{},"\"Lord, save me!\" That night, Jesus reached out his hand and rescued Peter from drowning. Then months later, over breakfast by the shore, the risen Christ again reached out to restore his flawed but faithful fisherman. \"Do you love me, Peter? Then feed my sheep. I've lifted you out of the stormy sea; now help me do the same for others. People are drowning in sin. Some of them are hard to reach. Extend your hand anyway. Lift them up. Bring them to me.\"",[15,49,50],{},"Sometimes, in our fear, we act like a drowning man who fights against the extended hand of the lifeguard who is trying to rescue him. When the Savior extends his hand, take it! Then extend his love to others who are drowning too. If you really want to live by faith, the deep water is exactly where you need to be.",{"title":52,"searchDepth":53,"depth":53,"links":54},"",2,[],"From the Editor's Desk","2001-02-25","md",null,{},4,true,"\u002Farticles\u002Fthat-sinking-feeling","column","The Lookout",{"title":5,"description":17},"articles\u002Fthat-sinking-feeling",[68,69,70],"Biblical Theology","Holy Week and Resurrection","Spiritual Formation","oe1Rw5BMDpbFyi8-8qKYeYNReN3Q6nal8ZeTRsmwmZM",[73,78],{"title":74,"path":75,"stem":76,"description":77,"children":-1},"That Little Extra","\u002Farticles\u002Fthat-little-extra","articles\u002Fthat-little-extra","When I hired a woodworker to lay a hardwood floor in my house and install a new mantle over the fireplace, I was amazed by his skill and dedication. He explained that every time he builds a mantle, he shapes and inserts a one-of-a-kind decorative piece of wood into the center. No two of his creations are exactly the same.",{"title":79,"path":80,"stem":81,"description":82,"children":-1},"The 2006 Unity Efforts—Three Years Later","\u002Farticles\u002Fthe-2006-unity-efforts-three-years-later","articles\u002Fthe-2006-unity-efforts-three-years-later","Three years ago I had the privilege of serving as president of the 2006 North American Christian Convention in Louisville, Kentucky. Our convention theme, “Together in Christ,” highlighted the prayer of Jesus in John 17 where he asked the Father to bring unity to his disciples. We preached the great unity texts found in Ephesians chapter 4. We sang—with and without instrumental accompaniment—and worshiped the Lord. We noted the historic significance of the year 2006, 100 years after the U. S. Census Bureau first listed the a cappella Churches of Christ as a separate body distinct from the Christian Churches."]