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Facing Failure

/ pastorpete51 / 5 Comments 
But Peter boasted. “No way Lord! Even if everyone fails, You can count on me!” 
Luke 22:33 MNVIT (My not very inspired translation) 

The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: “Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times.” And he went outside and wept bitterly. 
Luke 22:61-62 NIV

When in the middle of the temptations and stresses of daily life, it feels impossible to have the kind of faith that I read about with Daniel spending the night with lions, David facing Goliath and Moses the Red Sea. But when I come to the story of a disciple named Peter, I have hope. Now Peter certainly had his days of great faith, such as when he walked on water and or when he boldly confessed that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Yet when we come to the night of Jesus’ arrest in the garden of Gethsemane, something unexpected happened. At first, Peter seemed brave as he pulled out a sword and hacked off the ear of one of the guys coming for Jesus.  But when Jesus put a stop to his tactics, Peter ran away. Then from a safe distance he sneaked into the courtyard where Jesus was being held. We can’t be sure what Peter had in mind, but maybe he was hoping to find any way to free Jesus. But instead of helping Jesus to escape, Peter ended up denying Him three times.

Sadly, just like Peter, there are times when, despite our good intentions, we utterly fail. Circumstances that we hoped to change, spin completely out of our control and we are left as helpless observers. The things we thought we would never say, we blurt out and the things we never promised not to do; we do. After all our boasting about our faith, we end up falling flat on our faces. But at that moment, while we weep bitterly about our failure, remember what Peter did. He remembered what Jesus said. When three days later, Jesus rose from the dead and showed Himself to the disciples He came for Peter also. But this was a Peter who was a changed person. He had discovered that the strength of His faith did not lie in his determination, strength or ability, but on the love, power and forgiveness of Jesus Christ. He found, just as we can, that our faith does not grow from our successes, but from remembering God’s word in our failures.

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No More Cat-Scans!

/ pastorpete51 / 16 Comments 
I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. 
Psalm 34:1 KJV

Our appointment last week was almost exactly six years to the day since Nancy’s cancer surgery. The prognosis back then for stage three ovarian cancer was not great, and as her chemo treatments began the following month, we knew we were sailing in uncharted waters. But day by day, as we walked together through the long years of changes and challenges God has been with us. That afternoon as we sat in the doctor’s office, we were hopeful but still nervous as we waited for his report. What would those numbers from the latest blood work be? What would he say? Then the door opened, the doctor walked in exchanged pleasantries, and then asked. “So how are you feeling? Any pain here? Any changes since our last visit?” He poked, prodded and listened to Nancy’s heartbeat and breathing with his stethoscope, then sitting down and pulling up the results of her tests on his computer, he spun it around for us to see. “You see, you have been staying in the normal range all this time (five years), he said pointing to a graph. “Sometimes they are a little up, sometimes down. Your Cat-scan back in December looked normal. You’re doing great!” Then he gave Nancy a reassuring smile, and we both breathed a giant sigh of relief. Though he had told us the very words we had prayed for and longed to hear, it was still so unreal.

Then I asked, “So when will she have to come back for the next Cat-scan?”

Looking back at me as if I hadn’t understood, the doctor shook his head, still smiling. “No – no more Cat-scans. Why should she get all that radiation over and over again when everything is normal. We’ll just keep an eye on the blood work and take it from there.” Now, six years since her surgery, after five months of chemotherapy, dozens of tests, images of all sorts it all came down to one phrase: “No more Cat-scans!” We both held back tears that afternoon as we walked out of the office, thankful for the goodness of God that has carried us through. Then as we stopped to check out at the desk, I saw that the lady at the checkout had put up a little sign that said, “Stressed spelled backwards is desserts!” After six years of stress, that has drawn us both closer to Jesus and closer to one another, we certainly were ready for desserts and understood a little of what David meant when he said, “I will bless the Lord at all times.” Some of our times had been good, some bad and a few, even downright terrifying. But through every moment, God has been with us. Of course, not every journey ends with the earthly results we hope for, and not every prognosis is rosy, but we have learned through every situation, that we can trust the Lord. He is faithful and kind, and our lives are in His hands. He knows what is to come and we trust Him because of all He has brought us through. “His praise shall continually be in my mouth!”

What is the Name of Your Storm?

/ pastorpete51 / 6 Comments 
And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” 
Mark 4:37-38 ESV

It is interesting that in generations past no one thought much about what to call a particular storm.  But in 1953, the National Hurricane Center figured out that naming a storm got people’s attention. Since the point of their forecasting was to help folks prepare, they decided that naming was a pretty important thing! The same is true for our spiritual storms. One thing I have learned as I have gotten older is that we rarely face the same storm twice. Circumstances I faced as a twenty-five-year-old with toddlers running around our apartment were certainly different from waiting up late nights waiting for them to come home when they were teenagers. Today our children have children of their own who are teenagers and we lay awake some nights praying for them. Someone once said, “The more things change, the more they remain the same.” But the real truth of the matter is that our storms really do change both in kind as well as ferocity and the only thing that remains the same is Jesus. Even though it may seem that He is asleep while we are going through life threatening circumstances, the truth is that He knows what we are going through and He is ready to come and help when we cry out to Him. No matter what our storm is named today, we are never forgotten, or abandoned. Jesus gave His life on the cross as the sky darkened and the earth shook beneath His feet. But as the blood flowed down the timbers, from the nails that pierced His hands and feet, Jesus cried out, “It is finished!” The cross has finished everything we need to deliver us from our storm, to still our seas and to calm the trouble around us. No matter what our storm’s name we can know that He loves us, He cares about our problems He is showing us new ways to trust Him, no matter what name of the hurricane that lies ahead!

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