Focus or Failure?

I always liked the Apostle Peter. It has been opined that he was a brash, impulsive, act-before-you-think type guy, and he probably was. One of my favorite stories about him is found in Matthew 14: 22-33. I'll let you read it at your own convenience, but  it is the story of Peter walking on water.
Now a couple of things to point out before examining the story itself: First, the writer Matthew was one of the original twelve disciples so he would have been an eye-witness to this account- indeed Matthew was in the boat! It is also very probable that he recorded this account after the Gospel of Mark was written to flesh out the account previously recorded- much of John Mark's gospel is thought to have come from Peter, who may have chosen to disclude his role in the account for personal reasons. Now, to summarize the story:
Jesus had been teaching all day and towards the evening he sent his disciples on ahead of him to row to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. They left, he dismissed the crowds and went up the mountain to pray. Meanwhile, a storm arose, and the disciples are fighting wind and waves trying to get across. About 3 a.m. Jesus heads out to join them- and the disciples think they're seeing a ghost, for Jesus is walking out to them on the water! And yes, they're terrified, that gut-wrenching fear that leads some to immobility and others to flee. Even after Jesus calls to them that it is indeed he they're still terrified. Peter, being the brash-acting one, does show he's learned his lessons. The first thing he does is "tests the spirit", or ghost, as he thought it was. Both Jesus' words and examples taught them to challenge the spirits. So Peter does. He says, "If it's really you Lord call me out there with you". And Jesus does. And Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water.
Now this wasn't some little row boat that Peter jumped out of. This was a fishing boat, a large vessel capable of withstanding wind and storm out on the big waters. There were a dozen in the boat and room for more. It was safety, security in the face of the storm. And Peter climbed out. The story says Peter walked toward Jesus. Initially his focus is on his Lord. But the further out he got the more aware of his surroundings he became- and he looked round and started to fear the wind and waves. And he started sinking. Now the story is clear- he's too far from the boat for help, indeed, he cries out to Jesus to "save me!" and Jesus reaches out and lifts him up. Just plucks this burly muscular fisherman out of the brink like it was nothing.
Jesus says to him then, "You of little faith, why did you doubt?" His question is intriguing, for Peter was clearly within reach of his goal when he lost his focus and started looking around. I think there's several good learning points here that answer the question. First, it seems that the human condition, one of sin, allows Satan to prey upon us when we're most vulnerable. And we're most vulnerable when we lean solely on Jesus. The closer we get to Him the harder Satan tries to distract us, to attack our faith. Second, we tend to waver in our faith when we lose our focus and allow ourselves to take our eyes off Jesus.
But I must come to Peter's defense here, for there were twelve in the boat and only one questioned, only one acted- Peter. Perhaps a better question would have been, "Oh you of NO faith, wwhy didn't you join us?" Peter wasn't a failure for losing focus and sinking- Peter got out of the boat and WALKED ON WATER! That my friends is faith in action. A little faith, plus a little focus, equals miracles! As my cousin John Ortberg so aptly named one of his books, "If You Want To Walk on Water You've Got to Get Out of the Boat".
Food for thought...