Peter

 As each Easter comes around, there always seems to be a new theme emerge for me. There is always something new or a different angle of the story that gets brought to the forefront.

This Easter season, because of a random podcast I listed to and a devotional that I happen to read around the same time as the podcast (probably not a coincidence), I've been thinking about Peter - the man who denied Christ in his time of need, and who was also the first among the disciples and became the leader of the early church.

 From God Calling...

"My servant Peter was not changed in a flash from a simple fisherman to a great leader and teacher, but through the very time of faithlessness - through the very time of denial - I was yet making him all that he should be. Impetuous spokesman as he always was, ready to lead the other disciples, Peter could never have been the after power he was, had he not learned his weaknesses. No man can save, unless he understand the sinner.

The Kingdom of Heaven can only be preached by those who have learned to prize the authority of its Kindom."

My times of denial and faithlessness - nothing makes me feel lower.  Doesn't it just kill you to think of how Peter must have felt hearing that rooster crow? I take so much courage to know that God allows everything in our lives and it's all part of the refining process for a true believer.

"Peter could never have been the after power he was, had he not learned his weaknesses."

 And here's the podcast by, who other than, Mark Driscoll...