Day One       I Know You

I can often look at my children and know what is going on, or at least know that something is going on or about to take place.  They can pick up an item in a perfectly innocent fashion and something in me will automatically begin to question their intentions and plans.  This is not because I do not trust my children; it is because I know my children.  I know my children first of all because there is a lot of me in each of them.  And, if it is not me I see in them then I find Andrea or even my own siblings.  All of these other relationships have helped me to second guess what is going on in the mind of my children.  Secondly, I know my children because I have known them since before they were born.  Even as each child was in the womb, Andrea and I began to be able to discern certain characteristics about them.  Thirdly, I know my children because of our relationship.  I have watched them grow and have come to know their personalities and tendencies. Now this knowledge is a good thing and a bad thing.  It is good because it allows me to watch and expect, it is bad because it causes me to watch and expect.  Nonetheless, I know my children.   I know that as they grow, my knowledge may diminish somewhat but I will always know them to a certain extent.

 

In Jeremiah 1:5, God is speaking with a hesitant Jeremiah, and God informs him that He knows him.  Even as Jeremiah attempts to convince God that he is not the right choice for a prophet, God assures him that He knows him and that he is the right man.  God knows us just as well.  Imagine yourself in the shoes of Jeremiah and God was calling you to service, what would your excuses be for explaining why you could not be used by God?

 

If God were to respond to you by saying that He knows you and that he prepared you for service, what strengths would he point out in you?

 

What keeps you from trusting that God can use you?

 

Day Two      Thoughtless Reacting

Growing up, my dad’s family would move frequently.  This would often mean having to go to a new school and make new friends, or enemies.  He was sharing a story of moving to one town and quickly making one such enemy.  He shares that as he sat in class at a new school this new enemy came to the classroom window and signaled to dad that he would be fighting him after school.  Resigned to this fact, Dad handed off his books to a friend as he headed down the hall saying, “Well, I guess I am going to be fighting this guy, could you hold my books.”  The guy was rather big and dad figured he could at least save his books.  As dad headed down the hall he saw the guy standing outside the door looking very threatening.  Dad had already decided that the fight would take place so he headed down the hall determined to do his best.  He must have had a look on his face because as this enemy saw him coming, he quickly turned around and headed to the parking lot.  Dad, seeing him take off decided not to leave better off alone and he took off running after the guy.

 

Dad got away with this one.  The guy jumped in his car and was never a threat again.  But, dad is quick to point out that he does not know what he would have done had the guy turned around and really fought.

 

Sometimes quick and rash actions work out but usually they don’t.  Usually they end up hurting us.

 

Peter was a man who acted, or reacted, quickly.  We see that in the way he lived, the way he responded to Christ, and the way he responded to others.  Look at how he reacted to the threat against Jesus in Matthew 26:51.

 

How was this reactive action a move out of compassion yet still an unwise move?

 

Look at another rash reaction of Peter’s, in Mark 14:66-72.  What does Peter do when placed on the spot in regard to his relationship with Christ?

 

How do both of these rash reactions hurt Peter?

 

In what situations are you a reactor?

 

Day Three    Taking Me Where I Am

When I began work at my first church out of seminary I was single and very prone to believe the things young ladies would tell me.  One such tidbit was when a young lady, that had been cutting my hair, convinced me that I would look good with a perm.  This was the beginning of my education into truth and lies.  Because I was quick to believe, I allowed her to give me a perm.  As I sat under the hairdryer with all the other gray haired ladies I knew something was not quite right but I kept reminding myself that I would look good with a perm.  As she finished with my hair I had to admit it didn’t look as scary as I had expected.  That lasted until I attempted to fix it myself the next day.  The next thing I became educated in regard to was hair products that can make your hair look straight again.  I also learned that too much, even if needed, of these products can make your hair frightenly stiff and sharp.  The final outcome was that the young people that I worked with took great delight for years to come in reminiscing about the great perm fiasco of 1987.

 

Sometimes we have to be honest with who we are and what we are.  I found out that I am not a perm guy.  I probably should have known that earlier.

 

Peter was a fisherman, Jesus knew this.  Much of the teaching that Jesus did with Peter involved fishing because Jesus knew that this was a point of identification with Peter.  Jesus knew Peter and worked within who Peter was.  In Matthew 17:24-27, Jesus used fishing to teach Peter a lesson.  Why do you think Jesus had Peter “catch the coins” to pay the tax?

 

What lessons do you think were learned by Peter in this story?

 

What do you think Peter learned about Christ in this incident?

 

What does it mean to you that Christ worked within Peter’s world, his frame of reference (fishing), to teach Peter?

 

How do you think Christ works within your world (your frame of reference) to teach you?

 

Day Four      Let’s Just Stay Here

My children love their week of camp they attend each summer.  One daughter especially is enthralled at the prospect of going to camp.  On the reverse side of this they all experience a letdown when it is time to come home.  This one daughter especially goes through a major withdrawal time that often lasts for weeks following camp.  A couple of years ago I threatened to not sign up the kids for camp the next summer if she could not get her grief under control.  She does not want to let go of this fantastic experience.

 

That is usually our first response to a positive experience; we want it to go on forever.  It is hard to say goodbye when we have to leave loved ones, tough to return home from enjoyable vacations, impossible to give up freedom when it is time to end summer.  We want to hold on to the good times forever.

 

Read Matthew 17:1-4 and describe how Peter wanted to hold on to a life changing experience?

 

Why did he want to remain on the mountain?

 

Why did he fear leaving the mountain, even though Christ would be going with him?

 

What do you think would have been the outcome of staying on the mountain?

 

How do you see Christians today attempting to build altars on the mountain and not come down?

 

What experience do you hold on to that keeps you on the mountain?

 

Day Five       Still Fishing

The first movie that I ever took Caleb to see was “Space Jam” which was a real people mixed with the Looney Toons.  Caleb was entranced by the idea of such a big television but also by the stars and the movie.  The star of the movie, alongside Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, was Michael Jordan.  The movie took some jabs at the fact that Jordan had left basketball for baseball.  Jordan was a legendary player in the NBA, but his baseball career never quite lived up to his status with the basketball.  The truth was that Jordan was a basketball player, it was in his blood, and in the end he returned to the sport that not only defined him but that he played so well.

 

There are certain things that make up who we are, and in the end we are somehow swayed to return to those things.  We may return to these truths about ourselves in a different fashion but we do return.

 

Peter had always been a fisherman.  That was his career, that was his personality.  He was always out to “catch” something.  In the end he was still a fisherman.

 

Read Acts 3:11-26, for what was Peter now fishing for?

 

What we his lure to the people, what was he using to connect to them?

 

Why was this effective?

 

There are two reasons that Peter connected with the people he was “fishing” for, first he was sincere in what he was saying.  Peter, although a frequent reactionary, truly believed what he said.  He not only believed it but he also lived it.  Second, Peter was truly compassionate about the message he was communicating.  He wanted those listening to be positively impacted.  He truly desired that all would come to know the Jesus Christ he himself had known personally.

 

What are you fishing for?