Change In The Weather

John 13:36
Simon Peter said to Him, "Lord, where are You going?" Jesus answered him, "Where I am going you cannot follow Me now, but you shall follow Me afterward."

Do you think Peter was confused?
Do you think Peter was thinking, "Hey..what gives here?"
After all, Peter had left everything when Jesus spoke to him and said, "Follow me!"
Peter had done just that.
Followed.
Oh it wasn't always pretty and it wasn't always godly.
Peter was a passionate man who sometimes spoke out of turn, but Jesus (I believe) had a special love and place in his heart for this fisherman.
But now Jesus was telling Peter you cannot follow me at this time. Jesus was moving toward Jerusalem and the cross. This was for him alone.
Peter would follow toward his own cross years later.
He would embrace it at the end of his life.
Perhaps on the day Peter was crucified he remembered the words that Jesus spoke...."You shall follow me afterward."
Peter would realize that God's favor had followed him all the years of his life.
Perhaps Peter heard God say, "Well done my good and faithful servant."

What does this have to do with us today?
The path that each of us walk in our daily life is orchestrated by God.
Somewhere out there in the future is the end as our days are counted off.
Jesus knows that the time spent here and now will determine how we face that end.
I don't mean for this to be a morbid or sad message, it should be a message of hope.
That nothing will overtake us that will catch God off guard.
No event shall shake us if we are found in Christ.
If we are saved.......
If we have the salvation of God, then our path, our life leads to one ending....to stand in the presence of all that we have claimed to believe in. To be with God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost.

I had someone ask me, "What are you going to do if at the end of your life you find out all this "Jesus" stuff you claim to believe in is false? That there isn't a heaven, that when you die that is the end of everything. There is no after life."
I thought for a moment and then told him, "IF my faith is false and everything I have believed turns out to be fake, I'm o.k. with that. I have had a good life. I have a wonderful family. I have met and made some really incredible friends. I have had the opportunity to play with some great musicians and make some good music. IF that is all there is to this life, then I'm o.k. with it."

I then asked my friend, "What will you do when at the end of your life you find out that it is true?"
He had no answer.

The words of the hymn best explain how to finish this thing called life.

My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness
I dare not trust the sweetest frain but wholly lean on Jesus name
On Christ the solid rock I stand
All other ground is sinking sand
All other ground is sinking sand.

Stand firm in Christ.
Be hidden today in His word and His presence.
God on you..........
mb