Where?

So Jesus asked the Twelve, "Do you want to leave too?" Simon Peter replied, "Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe that You are the Holy One of God." John 6:67-69 There have been places in my life where I spoke the same words to Christ that Peter did. Two come to mind right now. The first was early on in my walk. My first year with Him was a lonely one. I'd left my lifestyle of parties, drugs, chasing women, and all that goes with that. Some of the disengagements came easily, some much less so. Though I had left the lifestyle, the lifestyle was still all around me, especially where I lived. One evening the people who lived where I lived opened up a bag of grass and began rolling joints. They proceeded to pass them around. It came to me. I can't say even now why I partook, but I did. The weed was particularly potent and I felt the effects immediately. Here's the thing; I was high and I knew it, yet my mind was clear, and in the clarity, I heard the whisper of His Spirit. He simply asked, "Is what you're feeling now in any way as wonderful as what you experienced when you first met Me?" It wasn't. I knew it wasn't, and my heart melted before Him. With that, the effects of the grass left immediately. I walked away from that gathering and from the counterfeit "high" I found there. I never went back. I knew that no high the world could offer could ever compare to the beauty of knowing Him. Like Peter, where could I go? I knew He had the words of life. I'd experienced them. How could I ever leave Him? The second time took place years later, in the midst of my divorce and my having to step out of ministry. Life was hard, confusing, terrifying, and I had no idea how it could have gotten like this. I was a follower of Jesus Christ. How could this happen? Into this the accusations of the enemy screamed at me. How could I follow a Jesus who'd allowed this? Where was He? Why didn't He stop it? Why didn't He immediately put an end to my suffering? If this was what life in Christ was, wasn't I better off in what my life was without Him than I was now? Each time, I would hear the whisper of His grace. This was not the end. This was not where He would leave me. I did have a future and a hope. At root, like Peter, I knew that there was no place else for me to go. I knew He had the words and ways of life. I had experienced that truth many times over. By His grace I would trust Him. By His grace I would press on. If you are truly following hard after Jesus, such times will come upon you. Times when the pull of turning back is powerful. Maybe you're in one now. If so, focus on who He was to you when you first knew Him and who He has continued to be. Press on, believing, trusting, obeying. He is with you, regardless of what the enemy is saying through it all. I close with this story about Annie Herring, one of the foremost Jesus Music people. She was living in the Haight-Ashbury section of San Francisco during the hippie centered summer of love. She had hopes of being a rock star and had just been offered a big record contract. She had also recently come to Christ as her Savior. She said she was faced with a choice, and in the choice, she heard the voice of the Spirit, saying to her that she could have everything she ever wanted if she signed the contract.....or she could have Him. She must choose. She said she answered Him with, "Lord, after knowing You, I don't want anything else." That choice will come to each of us, many times in fact. How do we choose? For Annie Herring, there was no other option but Jesus. How about for you and me? Where do we go if we don't go after Him? Blessings, Pastor O