Inside each of us is a desire for adventure. A yearning for a life story filled with twists and turns, a touch of danger mixed with awe inspiring heights, mastering heroic feats where the unassuming become brave.
No two adventure stories are the same and neither are any two adventurers.
There are those who are bold and daring and those who are meek and timid. There those whose story take an unexpected plot turn and those who start off with what seem to be insurmountable challenges.
Adventurers come in all sorts of different shapes and sizes, from every imaginable background, but they all come looking for the adventure of a lifetime.
Every so often comes along a brazen trailblazer, ready for anything, prepared to go to the ends of the Earth so they can live out a story that will captivate generations to come.
Meet Peter. Peter was the kind of guy who when a seemingly ghostly haze across the lake called him to step out of the boat, onto the water and walk, he did. [Matthew 14:22-29] He was the one jumping head first into the journey Jesus invited him on. So much in fact, that at times, Christ had to ask Peter to dial it back.
When guards came to take Jesus away to his death on the cross, Peter drew his sword and sliced off the ear of one of them. I’m not leading a band of thugs, Jesus cried as he healed the guard’s ear.[John 18:10-11] Later after Jesus’ resurrection, as Peter, John and James sat alone with Jesus on a high peak and watched Christ’s face transfigured. It was a true mountaintop experience of his faith adventure and Peter’s response was, Let’s set up camp here forever. [Luke 9:28-33]
He was an all or nothing kind of guy. Peter was up for whatever pursuit Jesus was taking his crew on. Bold. Daring. All in. Yet faltering.
You see, Peter had fully committed to the journey. He wasn’t, in his mind, wavering at all the obstacles that laid ahead. He was sure he would plow through them as they came. But then he heard a cock-a-doodle doo and found himself backsliding on all the promises he had made and denying knowing Christ. [Matthew 26:69-75] Just proof that even trailblazers lose their way sometimes.
You may be the kind of voyager who has truly taken the plunge into following Jesus.
Ready to go, wherever He may ask. Always on the lookout for the next big adventure He has for you. And then suddenly, you find yourself backed in a corner you never expected to be in.
Perhaps circumstances have caused you to veer off the path or maybe, fear has started to well up inside you as the fingers of the crowd surrounding point out you are one of them, one of those Christ followers.
Jesus knew Peter was going to hesitate when the adventure got scary and He knows when you’re knees are going to quake too. But Jesus didn’t dwell on how bad Peter was going to fail. Instead, He was more concerned in telling Peter who Jesus was making him into in spite of all his weakness.
When Jesus arrived in the villages of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “What are people saying about who the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some think he is John the Baptizer, some say Elijah, some Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.” He pressed them, “And how about you? Who do you say I am?”
Simon Peter said, “You’re the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
Jesus came back, “God bless you, Simon, son of Jonah! You didn’t get that answer out of books or from teachers. My Father in heaven, God himself, let you in on this secret of who I really am. And now I’m going to tell you who you are, really are. You are Peter, a rock. This is the rock on which I will put together my church, a church so expansive with energy that not even the gates of hell will be able to keep it out. And that’s not all. You will have complete and free access to God’s kingdom, keys to open any and every door: no more barriers between heaven and earth, earth and heaven. A yes on earth is yes in heaven. A no on earth is no in heaven.” [Matthew 16:13-20 The Message]
If you can say with certainty like Peter who Jesus is, then He will without a doubt tell you exactly who you are, not based on how you might trip along the way, but on His plans for you.
If you’ve said yes to this adventure of following Christ, He is ready to use your life as one of the many rocks in the building of His church.
A rock. Strong. Hard. Immovable. That is how Jesus describes those bold trailblazers who may at times get lost along the way, but that shamelessly join him on an adventure of a lifetime.
Here's something to think on: Are you a bold and brazen trailblazer like Peter? When have you found yourself faltering under pressure or circumstances?
Take time today, to pray this: God, make me bold on this adventure. Give me a desire to be all in like Peter and help me to follow you when this journey gets hard. Amen.
~Catherine Fitzgerald