During the course of my nearly half-century Christian pilgrimage, I have suffered countless, “rapid unscheduled disassembly” events in my Christian walk.

My life used to fall apart with maddening regularity, accompanied by temporary departures from God and episodes of treasonous fraternizing with the Enemy.

When I would come to my senses, I usually suffered terrifying remorse and silently wondered if “this time” I had exceeded even God’s tolerance level.

Surely that must have been how the Apostle Peter felt after he “blew it” by denying Christ blatantly, even in the face of Christ’s advance warning that he would betray his Savior publicly three times, as explained in Mark 14:66-72.

Can you imagine how Peter reacted when reports arrived that Jesus had risen from the dead and was on His way to meet up with His followers?

Gulp! Would it be like when The Terminator announced, “I’m baaaack,” or was Peter to be spared Judas’ fate?

As Mark 16:2-7 recounts: “And very early on the first day of the week, they (three women followers) came to the tomb when the sun had risen … And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting at the right, wearing a white robe … he said to them, ‘Do not be amazed; you are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who has been crucified. He has risen; He is not here; see, here is the place where they laid Him. But go, tell His disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see Him, just as He told you.’”

Note, the answer for Peter came quickly, the Angel said, “go, tell His disciples and Peter.” Whew! It’s hard to read that with dry eyes.

Bible commentator Bill MacDonald wrote, “Notice that Peter, the disciple who had denied his Lord, was singled out for special mention. The risen Redeemer had not disowned him, but still loved him and longed to see him again.”

Peter’s touching reunion with his Savior was described in Luke 24:33-34:

“And they got up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem and found the 11 gathered together and those who were with them, saying, ‘The Lord has really risen and has (already) appeared to Simon!’”

In one of those cryptic, matter-of-fact instances in scripture, we are told that before Jesus appeared to the other 10 disciples, He had arranged a personal visit with Simon Peter — How touching and thoughtful of our Savior. 

We are not told what transpired, but it must have been a tearful reunion in view of Peter’s denials just days before.

How could Peter forgive himself? How could he face His Lord? So, Jesus took the initiative and tenderly restored His straying sheep one-on-one, assuring Peter that His eternal relationship with His Master was never in question.

Jesus was effectively saying, “Peter was faithful once and he’ll be faithful again.”

But there needed to be a little housekeeping first: Peter needed to confess and repent. He needed to be broken and surrendered before his Lord.

As MacDonald commented, “A special work of restoration needed to be done. The wandering sheep must be brought back into fellowship with the Shepherd. The backslider must return to the Father’s house”

A few days later, Jesus’ disciples returned to Galilee to wait for the risen Jesus to arrive. One day they went fishing and after catching nothing, saw a figure on the beach Who told them to fish off the right side of their boat and they hit a bonanza.

Sound familiar? See Luke 5:5-7 for more.

And then we read in John 21:7:

“Therefore, that disciple whom Jesus loved (John) said to Peter, ‘It is the Lord!’ So, when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment (for he was stripped for work), and threw himself into the sea …”

Herein lies the difference between Peter and Judas. Judas chose to run away from Jesus and kill himself after betraying his Master. Peter ran toward Jesus and clung to Him for dear life.

Peter couldn’t wait for their fishing boat to reach shore, so he jumped in and swam the 300 feet to be with Jesus, probably kicking up a Roostertail as he went.

Have you ever thought God is finished with you? That He no longer can use a “flake” like you?

Look at what Jesus told Peter in John 21:15-17:

“Now 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, ‘Tend My lambs’ … ‘Shepherd My sheep’ … ‘Tend My sheep.’”

In the face of Peter’s failures, Jesus entrusts His precious lambs (the Church) to Peter’s care. 

Do you really believe that God is surprised by your failures?

“For He Himself knows our form;
He is mindful that we are nothing but dust.”
— Psalm 103:13-15