Today’s flash of brilliance is not my own. It comes from my wise, master-teacher sister. I think she talked about it at church months ago, but it came back to me this morning. For some reason, I was thinking about failure and how we let it define us.

Peter, for instance, is often defined as The Disciple Who Tried to Walk on Water and Sank. That is true. Peter did sink after climbing out of the boat and taking a few steps. But Martha pointed out an important truth.

The Bible says Jesus reached out a hand and rescued Peter. It doesn’t say Jesus hefted him up in a fireman’s carry and lugged him back to the boat. It doesn’t say they were miraculously transported  Star Trek-style.

Instead, maybe, Jesus and Peter walked back to the boat together. On the water.

Maybe we should start defining ourselves by those details that come after our rescue. More importantly, maybe we should start defining one another that way.

I think Jesus does.