Bad Day Better Day

Happy Sunday. I met a man many years ago who had a specific Ministry. He helped prisoners who had never finished high school; he helped them get their GED. He always said that you can throw your life away with one bad decision and that we all deserve a second chance. I'm so thankful that God Specializes in second chances.

As we continue to look at backsliding, we've come to a bad day in the life of a great Christ follower. Luke chapter 22 begins with Judas scheming to betray Jesus, and after that, Jesus hosts the last supper. At the meal, many things happen. Among them, Jesus tells Peter that he'll turn away. In fact, Jesus tells Peter that he'll deny Jesus three times before the morning comes and the rooster crows.

Peter said it wasn't possible. He swore his loyalty and pledged he'd never deny. It was a long day. Jesus went to the Mount of Olives to pray, and he told his disciples to pray, but they all fell asleep. And shortly thereafter, a large crowd came and arrested Jesus.

Peter grabbed a sword and cut off off the ear of one of those who came in the crowd to get Jesus. He was ready to fight; he was ready to die. Jesus healed the man, and then and there the crowd took him away. The disciples followed the crowd at a distance to see what would happen.

Through the night, as Jesus was falsely accused and tried, Peter in fact did deny knowing Jesus three times. And then the rooster crow, and Peter went away from the crowd, and he cried his eyes out, and he fell apart. If you recall, Peter was one of the strongest disciples, maybe the most outspoken. He had great faith. Remember, it was Peter that got out of the boat and walked on water.

For three years Peter was moving in the right direction, and now, Wham, he's drifting in a hurry. One of the things that I love about scripture is that it reveals to us how the followers of Jesus really were, warts and all. I think it helps us to relate. You know, Peter could have asked the other disciples, "Now don't tell anybody about what I did." But here in chapter 22, Luke tells the world Peter failed.

He had a bad day, a real bad day, but that day did not Define his life. If you've ever had a bad day, if you've slipped, there's no reason not to come back to Jesus. And that's exactly what Peter did. He stopped falling away, and he ran back, and Jesus forgave Peter. You can read all about that in John chapter 21.

Our stories are still being written. Hopefully your bad days are in your rearview mirror. Maybe it's been recent. I don't know. You know, God knows, and God Waits. God waits for all of us to come back to our senses and to turn back to him.

Let's look at what Luke wrote about Peter after all this happened. Now, these words were written after the resurrection of Jesus. They're found in Acts chapter 5, beginning at verse 12: "The apostles performed many signs and wonders among the people, and all the Believers used to meet together in Solomon's colonade," a big porch, we think. "No one else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people. Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number. As a result, people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter's Shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by."

I love that story. Peter was so revered and holy that people just wanted to be near him. They wanted his shadow to pass over them. Now, that's powerful. Here a man who had a bad, bad day is now restored and truly living for Jesus.

He failed, he sought forgiveness, he bloomed. He moved in the best Direction. His reputation took a momentary hit, and then his life became a beacon shining for Jesus. I love stories like that. I know alcoholics who preach now, murderers who witness, adulterers who now have Str families and marriages. God's in the business of changing lives.

In the story of Peter, who's the hero? Is it Peter? Well, I truly admire him. It's not Peter. The hero is Jesus. He taught, he forgave, he empowered, and he gifted Peter for great things. He still does that today.

If you've had a bad day, do not let it Define your life. Sometimes we drift away after those days. When that happens, God often sends a sign for us to return. Condalisa rice is a name that you probably know, prominent in our nation's politics. During a Sunday school class at the national Presbyterian Church in Washington DC, she told this story.

She said, "I was a preacher's kid, so Sunday were Church, no doubt about that. The church was the center of our lives, and segregated black Birmingham of the late 1950s and early 1960s, the church was not just a place of worship." She said, she said, "It was a place where families gathered. It was the social center of the community too."

CA went on to say, "Although I never doubted the existence of God, I think, like all people, I've had some ups and downs in my faith." Maybe that included some bad days. She said, "When I first moved to California in 1981 to join the faculty at Stanford, there were a lot of years when I was not attending church regularly. I was traveling a lot. I was a specialist in international politics, so I was always traveling abroad. I was always in another time zone."

"One Sunday," she said, "I was in the Lucky Supermarket, not very far from my house. I will never forget, among the spices and African American man walked up to me and said he was buying some things for his church picnic, and he said, 'Do you play the P piano, by any chance?'" Condalisa rice was a trained pianist, very talented. So the man from the grocery store: "Do you play the piano?"

"I said yes," she said. "They said they were looking for someone to play the piano at church. It was a little African-American church right in the center of Palo Alto, a Baptist Church. So I started started playing for that church, and that got me regularly back into church going." She wraps up by saying, "I tell that story because I thought to myself, my goodness, God has a Long Reach. I mean, in The Lucky Supermarket on a Sunday morning, God does have a Long Reach."

What a powerful testimony. Never doubt that God is reaching out for us. If you've moved as a result of a bad day of your own making, or you've been, well, subjected to one, God wants to give you a better day.

Pray with me. Father, thank you for this day that you have made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it and be close to you. You know our past, and we pray that you're part of our future, because we've turned every day to you. In Jesus name, amen.

God bless. Have a great week.