Best Friends

Peter lost his best friend. Has that happened to you? It's not a good feeling. In fact it's downright depressing. Peter saw his best friend, Jesus, mocked and spit upon, beaten and crucified. Peter remembered the days Jesus healed the sick and fed the hungry, cast out demons and restored life to Lazarus and Jairus' daughter. He remembered being on the mountain with Jesus when Moses and Elijah showed up, but he didn't remember what Jesus said about the coming days when He would suffer and die and rise to life again. Peter believed his best Friend would live forever, yet His body lay in a tomb.

Do you know what he did? He and his buddies did what they spent a lifetime doing before they ever met Jesus. They went fishing, and they fished all night. Back then they didn't fish with rods and reels and fish finders. They fished with nets. Exhausted from working the nets all night, they didn't catch any fish.

A voice came from shore early in the morning. "Friends, have you caught any fish?"

"No," they answered.

"Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you'll find some." Can you imagine what they thought? Yet, when they cast their net to the right, they caught so many fish, they couldn't pull the net into the boat.

John said to Peter, "It is the Lord." Peter jumped into the water and swam to shore to meet Jesus. His friends followed in the boat, towing the net of fish. They found their Friend on the beach cooking a breakfast of fish and bread over burning coals. Just as He told them before He suffered, He rose from the grave.

"Bring some of the fish you caught," Jesus smiled.

Peter climbed back into the boat. He and his friends counted 153 big fish, but amazingly the net did not break.

Did you catch it? Peter and his friends went back to the life they knew before Jesus, but He was right there with them. He promised them when He walked with them that He would always be with them. Even after Peter denied Him! Jesus forgave him. It is the same for you and me. Once we experience God's amazing love, we cannot escape it. He is always with us whether in good times or bad. Like the best Friend Jesus was for Peter, He is that for you and me. We never have to go through sorrow or suffering, disappointments or pain without our Best Friend. He will never leave us alone. He will always be with us. He promised, and He keeps His promises.

Thank you, Jesus, for always being with us. Be our joy and strength today and forever so that others might be inspired to love you too. Amen.

Living Water

While driving along the Feather River in Northern California, I thought about the River of Life in Revelation 22. It must be beautiful with the Tree of Life rising on each side which bears twelve different kinds of fruit. Hard for me to imagine.

After a winter of heavy rain and snow, the Feather is fuller, faster and more captivating. White water rushers over boulders and descends into glorious waterfalls. The rushing water seems to be alive and I questioned, "Is this what living water is like?"

Jesus said to the Samaritan woman at the well outside of Sychar, that He had living water, water that would spring up into eternal life. She said, "I want some of your water," because she didn't want to have to keep coming to the well several times a day for water to clean her house and cook her food. She didn't want to have to come for water to bathe her family.

But Jesus wasn't talking about physical water. He talked about nourishment for her soul. She understood when she realized Jesus knew all about her sinful life but showed her love. She tasted the living water but couldn't keep it to herself. Like the water in the rushing Feather River, the living water bubbled up inside her and she had to run and tell others in town about the man who knew all about her, yet, loved her.

That's how God's love is. Once we experience it, we can't keep it to oursleves. We have to love God and love others. That's how God's kingdom grows and grows. Do you know God's lavishing love? If you do, you know what I mean. If not, my prayer is for you today, that you will call on Jesus' name. That's all you have to do. He is waiting to show you His love just as He did the woman at the well.