Then the Lord turned and looked at Peter. So Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said to him, “Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.” And he went outside and wept bitterly.

Luke 22:61-62 (CSB)

When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.”

John 21:15 (ESV)

𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨

𝘐 𝘏𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘉𝘦𝘦𝘯 (𝘗𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘳)

I have been brash.
I’ve jumped into storms and sunk under waves,
Cast myself often into the grip of Your grace,
Spoken too soon and thought too late.
I have failed You.

I have been weak.
I’ve faltered and flailed like a fish in the net, like a boat set at sail,
Closed my eyes and slept when You asked me to pray,
Turned back and fled when You longed for me to stay.
I have abandoned You.

I have been dull.
I’ve failed to understand Your eternal, perfect plan,
Thought I knew better, though I am but a man,
Came out fighting with a sword, taking matters in my hands.
I have questioned You.

I have been untrue.
I’ve said I would follow You to prison and death,
Would always stay beside You till my very last breath,
But I failed beside the fire, said I never knew You, and wept.
I have denied You.

But who I’ve been can never change
Who You will always be.

You were the rock when I was a pebble,
Tossed by the waves and thrown into the sea.
You were the builder when I was the rubble,
Bruised and broken and battered for me.

You were the strong one when I was so weak,
Praying and pleading that my faith would not fail.
You were the true one when my faith turned so bleak,
Watching and waiting for love to prevail.

When I was harsh, You were so tender,
Looking at me with grace in Your eyes.
When I had fallen, You were the mender,
Lifting me up and telling me to rise.

You asked me to follow You when I begged You to depart,
Knowing that You had greater plans for me.
You saw through the walls right into my heart,
Calling me to break into my destiny.

You never stopped loving me all the way through,
Even when I turned to run.
Your love is so deep, so strong, and so true—
For though I have been all of this and then some,
Still You call me Your son
And bid me to
Come.

For in the hands of Your grace,
What I’ve been can never change
Who You call me to be.

𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘶𝘱𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴

There's not much to tell here. One thing about being a writer (at least being a writer who wants their work to get published) is that there's often a lengthy gap—lasting anywhere from weeks to months—between writing something and seeing it in print or pixels. The path from the first step (the original spark of an idea) to the last step (putting it in a form to share) is long, and it takes patience to persevere along the way. (I'm sure this is true in other professions too; I'm just speaking from my own experience.) So while I have been writing a lot lately and have several pieces in the works, you won't be able to read most of what I've been working on for a little while yet.

However, I can tell you that the seeds I've been planting (or the bread I've been casting on the waters, to use an image from Ecclesiastes) have been bearing fruit. I've had something published every month so far this year, and it looks like that will continue for the next couple of months at least, because I have a couple of pieces getting published in print: one later this month and one in June. I'll be sure to update you on those in my next newsletter.

𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘱𝘪𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘴

I was honored that a writer friend of mine, Sarah E. Hamilton, invited me to write a guest post for her blog on a topic that's close to my heart. I've never written about this topic publicly before, so I was excited to have the opportunity to do so. You can find that post here:
"The Music of a Movement."

𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 (𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴)

To seek fullness to our holiness is to live with humility. There are pivotal moments in our spiritual journey when we remember we are not as good as we thought we were, and important moments when we learn we can be worse than we feared … But knowing and accepting our raggedy selves and souls doesn’t mean we are being down on ourselves, necessarily. It means we have seen ourselves clearly in a mirror, and not dimly, because it is ourselves we are looking at. We are faced fully with ourselves, and the upside is that we can experience even more the tender and fierce love Jesus has for us.

Karen Stiller

ⓡⓔⓐⓓⓔⓡ ⓡⓔⓢⓟⓞⓝⓢⓔ

Who is a Bible character that you relate to, and why?