The night Jesus was arrested, Simon Peter turned away, hid and denied three times that he knew him. Peter was the very one who had blustered out his prideful devotion shortly before. I know in part how Peter’s flight and denials feel. At 27, I ran from him too. I was living on a remote island in Alaska. I filled a backpack with food, waited for low tide, and hiked miles down a deserted rocky beach to a derelict cabin. I wanted to give up on everything, even on Jesus. I had chosen to follow him as a teenager, but life seemed to have gotten harder rather than easier. Maybe life would be better without him.

Who hasn’t “unfollowed” Jesus at some point? We’ve all distrusted him, even betrayed him, in ways large and small. We’ve all been like Peter at one time or another. Yet when his best friends abandoned him, Jesus wasn’t shocked or even angry. Instead, after his resurrection, he showed up with bread and fish on a beach and served them breakfast.

Jesus came after them. 

This is the truth about following Christ: When Jesus said, “Come, follow after me,” it also meant that he would come after us. 

We tend to think it’s our responsibility to walk perfectly, to always know our way, but we don’t. We stumble, we faint, we take the wrong turn, and still he comes after us. He will walk on water to find us. He comes after us through storms, through doubt, through whatever seas we are sailing. He finds us, even on remote Alaskan beaches. I returned to my family soon after my escape. I discovered, as Peter did, that even when I fail to follow Jesus, He’ll never fail to follow after me. 

Prayer

Lord Jesus, I confess that I have betrayed and run from you, like Peter. But you are not like me. You go after the 100th sheep. You pursue me. You rescue me time and time again. Thank you for your immeasurable mercies! And strengthen my faith and love that I may follow you more closely every day. Amen.