ARMOR UP

Coming back into a routine after something so different, whether a missions trip or a vacation, can be bumpy.

It was refreshing to jump back into the ARMORED series. As I prepped the study, I wondered why we keep coming back to this topic over and over.

Why do we not learn our lesson on fear? Why does this command pop up over and over again?

Peter saw the wind (or maybe evidence of it... whatever exactly he saw) when he stepped onto the water and grew afraid, even when Jesus was right there. And then his faith, which was enough for him to walk on the water himself, was shaken. Our strength may fail, but our Father calls us onward.

C.S. Lewis wrote in The Screwtape Letters regarding distraction and to distract the Christian. I wondered about that after how much we pondered that and the more I consider it, I really think that's a large piece of it. Peter was misdirected, and it was nearly his undoing to the point of his very life in one of those sudden Galilean tempests.

In contrast, I admired last night how, even as the busy-ness and noise reaches deafening levels in spring, these guys have remained focused and keep coming (even if they can't be there for the entire thing) for the fellowship, the chance to study together, and to pray for the study and for one another. They've remained focused. As one of them later mentioned, he expected to not have gotten anything out of the evening, but: he did anyway and was reminded that there remained the opportunity to dig in to the study at home and study this stuff on his own.

Absolutely. I love these gatherings, but the alone time with Him is just as important. We need to seek God, to know and follow Him not only with our comrades, but also on our own time.