Jesus and Peter.jpg

A Glory Seed Devotional
Jesus, Simon Peter and You…

Life from beginning to end is a journey, yet each day holds its own set of unique journeys. Life cannot be seen as the sum of one journey but must be seen as the sum of all journeys’ whether those journeys are through light or dark, storm or calm, anger or love. To view life as the sum of one journey is like stepping out your door and snapping a picture and saying here is a picture of the whole world.

Today you will journey into a storm, you may not want to but you will. You may be able to see it coming or it may surprise you. It may be a self induced (sometimes we do that to ourselves). It may be set in motion by another (they do that to us from time to time), it may be from a combination of both or it may come from circumstances beyond our control. Perhaps you will think of yourself as a failure, or you will be burdened with guilt, maybe a temptation will overpower you. You may run into personality conflicts. It may be that someone will disappoint you, or make you angry. Perhaps a friend will let you down. Maybe there will be disturbing news concerning your health, or financial burdens will become too heavy.

Whatever the reason whatever the way -- the storm will come. At first, it will appear as a tiny white cloud against the blue sky accompanied by a gentle breeze and gentle rolling waves. Then without warning hurricane force winds blow, lightning flashes, thunder rolls, and the waves will beat on you. Soon you are in danger of sinking, and you want to stop fighting and give up. But just before the raging sea pulls you under for the last time, suddenly lightning flashes again but this time against the blackness of the raging storm you see a man walking toward you. Without thinking you automatically cry out, “Help!”

Above the howling wind, above the sound of the roaring sea and the thunder you hear a voice call out, a voice you don’t recognize, “Hold on do not give up I am Simon Peter and I am coming to save you. I too walked into a raging storm, I too was pulled under and was awaiting my fate when the hand of Jesus reached down into the swirling water and pulled me up.” Suddenly you feel the strong hand of a fisherman touching yours; you can feel the roughness of his skin gained from the weather and the sea. You can feel calluses from handling huge fishnets; you can feel strength and compassion. In less than a heartbeat, you feel the power of gravity and the storm give way to the power of the fisherman. Standing on the water with waves swirling all around, and storm raging out of control it is then you notice the other man standing at Peters other side. The man moves his hand toward you as you watch it coming you notice scars on his wrists as your hands touch the storm is suddenly gone, the raging sea once again becomes calm, the sun warms your wet clothes, and a warm gentle breeze fills your nostrils with fresh air.

The Journey of Simon Peter is not a journey of an irresponsible, impetuous, hasty man it is the journey of a man of faith. The Journey of Simon Peter is the journey of a man who knew his own limited power was no match for the unlimited power of his Master. It is the journey of a man who knew the power of the storm but also knew the power of Jesus was greater. As Jesus and Peter stood in the safety of the boat that fateful night so long ago Jesus spoke to him in a soft voice, “Go on the sea of life and pull all you can from their watery grave.” The Journey of Simon Peter now becomes your journey.

Grace and PEACE!
Gary

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come?
My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.”
(Psalms 121:1-2)

Note: Should you want to go back and review this Glory Seed or others you can do so by clicking on this link: http://gloryseeds.wordpress.com/.

Scripture quotations marked ESV "Are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved."