In the passage for this week Peter loses his nerve while walking across the water towards Jesus in a violent storm at the dead of night - 3am in the morning (Matthew 14:22-33). The disciples were struggling to prevent the boat from capsizing. Peter began to sink and was pulled to safety by Jesus. Peter's courage in trying to walk on the water gave him the chance to experience what I call the freedom of 'failure'. It is not 'failure' that shapes us but the way we chose to respond. 'Failure' gives us the opportunity to experiment with different ways of trying something. It is a chance to learn and to draw strength from other people. When Thomas Edison was branded a 'failure' in his attempt to create a light bulb, he is alleged to have said "I have not failed. I've just found 1,000 ways that don't work". Before James Dyson invented his perfect vacuum cleaner, he went through 5,127 prototypes. For us, the emotional logic of forgiveness is that we never 'fail' but have extra opportunities to get things right.

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