How Road Trips Change Everything

Hey you guys, how's it doing this morning? Go ahead and just hit your neighbor, would you just smack him? Just, I always like to get a little pain involved. So coffee just wore off, is anyone like that? Maybe your coffee just wore off. And can before we can get in, by the way, pull out your message notes right here. And we're gonna take a few message notes in here. If you got your Bible, you can turn to John chapter 21. Before we get into our study this morning, I just wanna say, I love your pastor and the whole team here. And I really mean that.

Before coming to the church I'm at now, I traveled a lot and I can't tell you how many churches I've been in, where the folks are not as friendly and the music's not as awesome and the worship is not as cool. And I mean, I've been in a lot of churches, the only time they raise their hand to worship is when they vote the pastor out. And, you know, he shake the hand with a deacon, and his arm falls off 'cause of rigor mortis, you know. This is an awesome, awesome, awesome church.

I wanna talk to you today about the Jesus journey. This book your pastor has written, which by the way is awesome. I actually started reading this last night and didn't go to sleep on time. And I wanna talk to you about this because I have actually had this theory, and I've had this for a long time, that the entire New Testament, especially the gospels, can be explained in terms of the power of a road trip, how a road trip changes everything. When you go on a journey in a tight confined space with people, it really does impact you. How many went on a road trip this summer, family reunion, anything, and it changed you?

If you have a two year old, please raise your hand right now. 'Cause that will test your faith and put you in the darkest hour right there, just that alone. The book of John is especially important in understanding the power of a road trip and a journey because John is the last gospel written. So you have four gospels, right? Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Mark is the first one written, Mark is the shortest one, Mark is the meat and potatoes one. It's the dragnet one if you're from that generation, just the facts, man. It's just straightforward. I call it the ADHD gospel, 'cause it's for those of us that have short attention.

You know what they call a person with ADHD, don't you? A man. And it's just for us that have a short attention. And then Matthew, he writes a very much bigger gospel, 'cause he looks at Mark and he goes, Mark, good job, but you're forgetting all the Jewish stuff. And so he kind of writes this exotic, prophetic, all these little intricacies sees in it. He's kind of like the Indian food or the Chinese food. He's the Kung Pao chicken of the gospel. It's interesting flavors you've never seen before that you gotta investigate deeper.

And then of course you have Dr. Luke, he's the scientist. He kind of writes the French cooking book. It's very precise and very, very, very well crafted and finely crafted, and it's just got all the details in it you need, and then you get to John. And John looks at these guys and he says, good job, Mark. That's great, Luke, good job, Matthew. Excellent, but you see, there's great biblical evidence suggesting that John knew Jesus as a boy. In fact, he might've been cousins. He knew John the Baptist. They're a pretty tight group there. John probably went to elementary school with Jesus.

John knew Jesus the most and he waited and wrote his gospel last. He looks back at these other three gospels and he says, you guys got the facts right, you got the cities right, you got the events right, but you don't have everything we need to know about Jesus in terms of the journey, the relationships. How many here like the spicy foods? How many here a little Tabasco on your burrito? John is the spicy gospel. It's that calienthe gospel that says, all right, let's mix it up, let's get into the drama of what really happened between the people.

Now look at your notes here. If you're writing that first blank spicy, by the way, you can write this in your Bible, write this in the notes, write it on your forearm of your friend next to you, I don't care, but write something down this morning 'cause chapter 21 is where we're gonna be and it's the end of this three year road trip. The end of a road trip is a very important moment 'cause there's four stages to every road trip, okay, right? There's the first of all, let's go, let's go. Who's the person that hurried everyone out of the house this morning, right? Was it mom or dad? There's one person that's like, let's go, let's go.

And then once you get in the car, and by the way, if you actually got in a car and came to church this morning, you're a wildly successful human. It's not easy getting everyone in the car, amen. And then once you get in the car, there's always one person, usually the four year old, are we there yet, are we there yet, are we there yet, are we there, are we there now? And then there's this moment, I don't care, how much you love the people, I don't care how close you are, I don't care how great of a family you are, there's a moment where you're like, let me outta here. Just, I'm done with this road trip. I love these people, but right now I hate them. Anyone?

You see, I really do believe that in your darkest hour, on those most difficult road trips, is when God does the deepest and most important things. I was on a difficult road trip a few years ago, my mom was at the end of her 10 year battle with Alzheimer's, and my dad called me up, they were in Spokane in a care facility, and we live in Sacramento, and my dad called me up, and he said, I don't know what to do with your mom's dog. My mom was a dog lover, she had this ginormous dog named Yeti, a great dane. It was about as big as, I don't know, the balcony. This was a large dog.

And I immediately, of course, said, okay dad, I'll come up and help you, and I flew up for a week, and I said, I'll take the dog, it's no problem, I love this, and this dog and I had actually bonded, I'll take this dog, and at the end of the week, I rented a little car, and the only car they had was this tiny little econobox, so I start driving back to Sacramento, 'cause you can't fly a great dane, by the way, there's not a military jet that will take a great dane. It's too big of a dog, and so I rent this little car, and the dog, of course, we're bonded, and the dog's all nervous, so the dog, no matter how much room I've got in the car, the dog is squished forward, and the entire 14, 15 hours, she's got her head right there, a ginormous great head, and she's breathing dog breath, 'cause she's nervous, she's like, ha, ha, ha, ha, we're driving down the freeway like a two-headed monster, and I'm on this road trip going, God, where are you in the midst of my mom's sickness and all this, and I just, how have you been on that trip and you're just, I want to be home?

We get to Kettle Falls, and I said to the Lord, Lord, just inform me, you know, I'm about to sin. Don't try to talk me out of it, it's gonna happen. Normally, I'm a pretty conservative driver, but I'm like, God, I am going to speed. I'm going to speed, I'm gonna dangerously, foolishly, illegally, against Romans 12, respect the authorities, I'm sinning right now, God, and I put the pedal to the metal and I just took it up to about 87 miles an hour, which is the entire thing that car would go with that Yeti dog in there, and I didn't even get the benefits of the sin, I went for like two minutes, and I went, whoo! I pull over, the cop comes up, I unroll the window, they say if you cry, they won't give you a ticket. Poor cop, I'm sitting there going, uh, uh, uh, the dog's, heh, heh, heh, heh, heh.

He hands me a $400 little bonus to my week. You see, there's four stages to every trip. Let's go, are we there yet? Let me out of here. And the last stage is the stage I really want to focus on, 'cause it's the one in the context of our passage, no matter how dark, no matter how many tickets, no matter how many challenging moments, when you follow Christ, there's always this I'll never forget moment, the epiphany moment where God truly brings change to our life, and this is a big deal because change is difficult for us.

In this Welcome Back weekend, it's all about saying, hey, let's figure out how do we really change our lives and the lives of the people around us, and it's not easy to change. For the disciples, the trip is over. The actual journey with Jesus, this road trip they've been on is over, but they don't fully understand what change has happened yet, and the change is, it's, it's, it's, it's in formation, it's being birthed, you guys have all experienced this. How many have ever gone on a wonderful journey, but it's only wonderful after five years?

You ever been on that camping trip that was horrible, and then five years later, you're talking about it around the Christmas table, and you're like, somehow that became a good journey now. This is the exact moment of our passage, at the time, very difficult, and something is happening that's gonna really super change them, and we gotta ask this deep theological question at this point before we read the passage. Why did Jesus spend three and a half years road tripping? Why did he spend three and a half years on this journey? Well, I believe it's because it takes that long to really change a human heart, and probably longer for us. It took Jesus three years with these guys. It's probably a longer commitment for us.

How many here have ever started a diet that you ended that same day? What we're gonna see in this passage is really the lessons that God wants to plant into our lives, especially this fall, to get us to fundamentally, profoundly, and truly find some real hope and change. Okay, let's look at verse three here. Chapter 21, verse three, you can read it on your notes or in your Bible. Follow with me, and we'll just pull four quick lessons out of this and see if we can apply them to our lives.

Verse three, they're stuck in a room. Jesus has been crucified. He's raised from the dead. He's appeared to them. They're afraid they might get crucified themselves. They have no idea what this means that Jesus appeared to them. In the midst of that fear and that dark hour, this is what happens. Starts with Peter. He says, "I'm going out to fish." Simon Peter told them, and they said, "We'll go with you." Circle that little phrase, would you? So they went out and they got into the boat, but that night, they caught nothing.

Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. He called out to them, "Friends, haven't you any fish?" "No," they answered. He said, "Throw your net on the right side of the boat, and you'll find some." Now, if you know your Bible, you know this is a rerun. This is the way he got Peter in the first place, and they're going through the exact same moment here at the end of the trip. When they did, they were unable to hold the net in because of the large number of fish.

Then the disciple whom Jesus loved, that's John, said to Peter, "It's the Lord." As soon as Simon Peter heard him saying, "It's the Lord," he wrapped his outer garment around him, for he had taken it off, and he jumped into the water, logical. The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish. They were not far from shore, about 100 yards when they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals. There were fish on it and some bread. Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish you have just caught." Simon Peter climbed aboard, and he dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many, the net was not torn.

Jesus said to them, "Come and have breakfast." None of the disciples dared to ask him, "Who are you?" They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came, took the bread, and he gave it to them, and he did the same with the fish. This was now the third time, that's crucial too, circle that, Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead. In this most difficult road trip at the end of it, where God's truly trying to change them, what are the lessons that we're trying to learn?

I'm gonna tell you four really quick little stories about what I think some of the truth in this passage is. And people say, "Why do you tell stories, Kurt? I had a guy early on in my life, and my ministry influenced me, and he told stories really effectively." I don't know if you've ever heard this speaker before. I know your pastor's a big fan of him. You might wanna take his name down, see if you can get everything he's written or said, 'cause it's awesome. This guy is such an incredible speaker. His name is Jesus Christ. And he told stories. So I wanna tell you a few stories.

The first story, I wanna tell you what I think they're trying to learn on this Jesus Journey road trip is simply about the idea of how to draw. Where are my art people? Is there any people who like to draw, paint, pottery, sculpture, any of that? And I was an art major. I like to paint and draw. I still like it to this day. And I wasn't always very good at it, though. In fact, what inspired me is I knew this kid named Bill Gilmer. Now, Bill Gilmer was the most incredible artist ever, and he was only in fourth grade. And he could draw just perfectly identical, any comic book cover you wanted him to draw. He was especially good at Batman.

You would get these awesome Batman comic books, and he could draw it exactly the way it was with the furled out cape and all the onomist, big, huge Batman looking shadows and everything. And one day I said to Bill, I'll never be able to draw as well as you draw. And he said, I could teach you how to draw this good in a week. I said, don't know you, Kenny. He said, come to my house after school. So I did. And in his bedroom, he had one of these old style projectors that had a giant lens in it and a very bright light. You remember these things? And you could put an eight by 11 sheet of paper in there, and it would project it huge on the wall.

And he would put a comic in there, and then he would put butcher paper on his wall. And he said, if you will come here every day after school for a week, and you will trace line for line, shade for shade, these comic books onto this butcher paper, you will learn how they do it, and you will become a great artist. And I said, that's cheating, right? That's cheating. You cannot copy someone's other, and he said something that I have never forgotten from that day to this. He said, to become a great artist, you must trace a great artist.

You see, the disciples had learned this. You can miss it because it's really early on in the passage, but the first lesson is everything to do about tracing. Look at verse three. It simply says this. Peter's freaked out. The disciples are freaked out. They're locked in a room. They've seen Jesus killed. They've seen him raised from the dead. He's appeared to them. They don't know what to do. Peter announces to the whole crowd, I can't sit here. I can't do it. I'm gonna go fish. What's their reaction? Most of us would say, fine, go out there and fish. I hope you don't get arrested.

But see, they've spent three years tracing the life of Jesus, and so they make a Jesus decision here. Without even knowing it, they've learned this lesson from Christ. Look at verse three. Simply put, they say, we'll go with you. In three years of camping, in three years of road tripping, in three years of journeying with Jesus, they've suddenly become with people. After three years of road tripping with Jesus, they have learned the power of with. With might be the most powerful little word that was ever invented. This four-letter preposition, it describes our God more than almost any theological $5 word you can think of.

He's the God who left heaven, became a man, gathered 12 people and walked with them on a journey. He was the ultimate example of with. And in their darkest hour, when they're afraid and their lives are literally in danger, what is their reaction? Their reaction is a Jesus reaction. They are with each other. I wanna just take a moment. I can do this as guest speakers because then you can hate me and gossip about me and I still have another job, so it's awesome. So I'm just gonna, I might not get invited back, but I'm gonna say something and I'm gonna say it directly.

Some of you come to church not enough. And I love you and God loves you and hear no condemnation, but I wanna tell you in the American church nowadays, we're kinda like the statistics tells, one out of every three Sundays people show up and I know life is busy and I know their soccer games and I know some mornings your children are nicknamed, we are legion, I know that happens. But I wanna tell you on this welcome back weekend, now is a moment to say I'm gonna be a with person, just the way Jesus was, just the way disciples were. I'm gonna trace the life of Jesus and value relationships and attendance and coming more.

You see, there's two types of people. The first type, whenever a problem hits, they look for a few friends to help them. And there's another type of person that builds those great relationships Sunday in and Sunday out, service in and service out, and they build those great relationships and when the problem hits, they're already with people that can help them. And my question just to you as the guest speaker who could just talk a little more honestly, is which one are you? Are you tracing the life of Christ?

The second lesson we get I think from John chapter 1, has everything to do with whether or not you're afraid of water. How many here love the water? Okay, we're in Santa Cruz, five billion people. You know, not everyone loves the water. I have three children, all three of my children love the water. They, especially my youngest, Emma, who's here with me today, and then they all, this is my shy child right there. I was at a church preaching to this ginormous crowd and they're all laughing even during the non, and she was behind me backstage and she was doing every motion as I preached.

So she said to me once, when she was only five years old, she said to me, she said, "Dad, we're at this public pool." She's like, "Let's go off the high dive." Now, I am afraid of heights. I'm actually more afraid of imagining my dead body from a high place. I don't like that experience. Even the steps right here are kind of freaking me out. She's like, "Let's go off the high dive." And I said, "You're five, you're too young. Go ask the lifeguard, he'll tell you." So she went to the lifeguard and the lifeguard said, "No, you can go off the high dive if you can swim the length of the pool." Boom, she jumps in, swims the length in two seconds, comes back, lifeguard's like, "You're good for go?"

Come on, daddy, let's go off the high dive. And I was about to give her some big giant dad excuse of why going off the high dive would lead to more visa card debt or something, I don't know. And my wife gives me the look that a wife will give a husband that she doesn't even need a word. She just looked at me and she said, "Guess what, home? She's going off a high dive today." 'Cause in no way are five-year-olds going off that high dive alone. So I walk over there and we start climbing up the ladder and halfway up the ladder, I start rethinking my position on divorce and remarriage. You know, I'm like...

But that time it's too late 'cause I look behind me and it's a chubby 11-year-old boy going like, "Come on, master." And you can't, you're stuck. You know, like if you step in his face, it's not a good witness, you know? We get the top of this thing and the second we get the top, she just runs off the board. She runs, you don't run on a diving board. (imitates buzzing) Gets the elbow, just bow, push. Comes up out of the water, "Come on, daddy, jump!" And I just measure I'm up there. First of all, I'm so white, I'm translucent, you know? Hello, city. Yes, I'm trying to add salads, yes.

I don't know, if you have this experience, I'm up there and I hear that still small voice of God's heart. You know, I get up every morning, I pray, I read my Bible, God doesn't hardly ever talk to me. The one moment I'd like him to not be talking to me, Claire's a bell. He just gives me this little impression, it's like, "Hey, Kurt, why is your daughter so filled with courage and you're so filled with fear?" And I'm like, I don't know, maybe she's dumb and I'm smart. God's like, "No, I think it's because she knows that she has a loving, good father behind her and that when that father is right behind her, she can do anything, she can run and jump and go for it and any mistake she makes, you're right there and she actually thinks you're a good daddy. Maybe you don't think your father's that good, Kurt."

Oh, oh, I see, Lord, this isn't about diving at all, is it? You see, Peter shows us in John chapter 21 that when you road trip with Jesus, not church-y-anity, but Jesus, you learn that even when you make a big mistake, God is good and you can take tons of risks. Peter has denied Christ three times. He's made huge mistakes, yet they're in the mist. It's 100 yards from shore. Jesus does that whole, I'm gonna do some more fish thing for you. John, he's the one who says it out, right? Everyone's thinking about it, he says it, it's the Lord. And then what does Peter do?

He doesn't cower in fear and say, I just failed that guy so much. He looks and he says, is it really him? And he does a freaky thing. People tell you that Christians made up the Bible, but look what it says right here in verse seven. The second thing, the first thing's tracing, the second thing is swimming. Look at how the swimming happens in verse seven. It says that Peter wrapped his outer garment around him for he had taken it off and he jumped in the water. We didn't, you can't make that up. Peter is so pumped about getting towards Christ, he's like, I gotta swim towards him and put on this big woolen coat first.

This is just what happened. You see, Peter had learned in three and a half years that being close to Jesus, even when you failed, even when you've messed it up, even when you've been far for him is worth it. This is what Peter learned, even in failure, Peter had learned that it's always better to pursue Christ with passion. Now pastors will tell you, and this is good advice. Us pastors, we like to say, you're not all the Christian faith, life is like a marathon, just keep running slowly and go. And by the way, that is great advice most of the time. But there comes a moment, there comes a weekend, there comes a day, there comes a season, there comes a darkest night.

When you, if you sense that Jesus, if you get even one little glimpse of him, I don't care what you've done in your past, you jump up on the side of a boat and I don't care what you're wearing, you jump in and for that moment, don't run a marathon, run a sprint, swim as hard as you can swim and get to Jesus. Because he is a good God, he is a great father, and when he has got your back, you can jump and run and swim with all your might. What does this mean in the real practical world of life? Well the first application thought, I wanted you to come to church a little bit more consistently. The second thought is simply this, what would happen if you just read the Bible daily?

John and Peter and the whole gang, they get to shore and what do they do? When Peter swims all the way, he sits down and he listens to the words of Jesus. No matter what's gone on in your life, that will help you friend. And if you get a glimpse of Christ, swim at him as hard as you can and get to the place where you can read the Bible. By the way, this thing really rocks. I was surprised at the diversity of information that's in there. If you're a veteran, you're gonna like that. If you're new to this thing called the Bible, you're gonna love that.

Okay, number three, it's simply this. It has everything to do with cooking and eating. Just go ahead and write that word cooking in there. Tracing, swimming, and cooking. I do a thing for my daughters. How many like to cook, by the way? Where are my foodies out there? Okay, good. I do a thing with my daughters, but on their birthday, I like to serve them breakfast in bed, I get out to find China. And here's how you do this, this is a great thing. You get up way early, find China, and you gotta get that little linen thing going on your arm. And then you get up to the door, and you bang on the door, and here's the kicker, you speak in a fake French accent. This is how this comes down perfectly.

And so they know it by now, so I knock on the door, they're like, who is it? And I was like, it is Garçon, you're waiting from the restaurant, fous-fous-chez-chon-ron-le-chite de branchen-reux. Pay for it all. And they're like, oh, daddy, it's just you again. It's just you. And I'm like, no, I do not know how this daddy is. I have common brushes, they waffle, and the eggs, and the juices, and nukes. And I'll come in, and my daughters are really sweet, nice girls, but for that day, they just turn into total dictators, they're like, put it right here. Yes, and I need to syrup a little hotter.

And I wanna tell you, there is something just profoundly fun about serving. But here's the kicker. See, a few years ago, I got a birthday present I actually liked, 'cause after 40, you don't get a lot, birthday's after 40, let's just be honest. First of all, it's just a reminder of how much little you have in your retirement, isn't it? It's just like, yep, where's that Walmart greeter application, 'cause I'm gonna be working, I'm gonna be working into it. And then the other thing is, even the gifts you get, you actually bought, they bought for you with your money. You're like, wow, this gift that you used my money to get me. Can we afford it?

And thank you for putting me in greater debt for something I love. But one birthday, I'm sitting here in bed, and this is how old I am, I couldn't even remember it was my birthday. You know, I went to sleep the night before, I didn't even remember, and so I give this little knock, I don't even know what it's about, it's knock, knock, knock. I'm like, daddy wants to sleep in. A little knock again, I said, who is it? I hear this squeaky little voice say, eat this Garçon. With your breakfast in bed. And this little pause, and I hear this even squeakier voice say, hey Garçon's assistant.

And in walk my two daughters with waffles and eggs, and let me tell you friend, who are you? See, these guys started this Jesus journey, this road trip with Jesus, not knowing who they are, and at the end, Jesus does something so amazing, and he does it because he wants them to know who they are. I wanna tell you, I don't care if you're new to faith, or this is your one millionth church service, you gotta get this from your mother's womb, from the beginning of time, you are a servant. That is your identity.

There may be a thousand jobs represented in here, but there is only one vocation, and when you don't understand that you were created to serve, you don't get the most out of life. But when you find that moment where you put the towel around your arm and say, it's not about me, it's a bigger thing, and you begin to serve, that's when you'll start understanding, seeing the world clearly, and getting it, why you've gone through what you've gone through, and what God wants to do in your life, and here's the kicker, if you go to the extra level where you serve with such great humility and love and joy that you inspire service, then you'll truly find what it means to have a great life.

Look what Jesus does here, he's in the last few hours of being on the earth bodily, and how does he choose to use his time, verse nine, when they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals, there was fish on it and some bread. The guy who invented gravity, you know what he said, I'm gonna spend my last few hours making a fire that's perfect for cooking, getting flour and yeast, and kneading it with my hands, I have people I love that are fishing all night, and I wanna hand them a piece of warm, buttery, fresh, oh people, you know it in your soul, whether you believe in God or not, warm bread's proof of the existence of God, isn't it? Carbohydrates is the only evidence I need some days.

Write this in, would you, with his last hours on earth, Jesus chose to provide and prepare a meal, so what? What does it mean? It means God is calling me to serve, you say I don't know if I have anything to give, yes you do, and this is a great church to figure it out, by the way, because you have the serve the bay opportunity, there's opportunities in children's ministry, in high school and junior high ministry, if you'll just walk out the doors after this service, you're gonna find there's more than enough chances to put that towel around your arm, jump in and figure out who God has always wanted you to be.

Let's go to the last point, and it has everything to do with this, write this word in, comforting. How many know who Thomas is? You guys know who Thomas the disciple, what's his nickname, Thomas's nickname? Down, I'm on a personal crusade to get Thomas's nickname changed, this is wrong, 'cause first of all, if I was there and I had a choice of believing John or Peter, especially Peter, Peter's just bipolar, he's running, he's denying Christ one moment, the next moment he runs back in the room, Thomas, yeah, he's alive, yeah I know you saw him die, but I'm sorry, he's totally, I just saw him wear it at a grave with an angel, stone was moved, it was awesome, I saw it, you didn't, but believe me, okay Peter, sit here, someone get some olive oil, give him a massage or something, he's lost it.

The next moment, what happens in that story, if you know the Bible, Jesus shows up, this is the first time he appears to the 12th, and does he rebuke Thomas for doubting? Listen, doubt is not always sin, now he just says, Thomas, feel my wounds, feel the side, he reassures him, he comforts him, he says, no, it's real, see I think we all need to sit down with Jesus and touch him again once in a while, don't we? We all need to know that it really did happen, in this world it can get pretty filled with so much noise and mist, and Jesus can seem 100 yards off on the shore, and there comes a time when he says, no, I've got a fire, I've got a bread, I've got a fish, sit down with me, I want to reassure you, I want to comfort you, it is true, it is real, you're not alone, I am here, I have conquered death.

It's not hype and words, it's real, look at John 13 and 14, 21, 13 and 14, it says, Jesus came, he took the bread, he gave it to them, and he did the same with the fish, this was now the third time. Now Jesus appeared many times after his resurrection, the reason that John says this phrase third time, he's trying to make the point, this is the third time Jesus has appeared specifically to the 12, in other words, the most committed people needed his comfort and reassurance the most.

I want to just speak a moment to the veteran Christians in the room, those that have been here for Welcome Back Weekend, 10, 11, 12, five, six years, I want to tell you thank you for your faithfulness, I want to say if you go through a darkest night, if you go through one of those road trips where it's the middle of the night, you just want to be home and all you're getting is traffic tickets, God loves you, and he wants to sit down with you and tell you, keep moving forward, he wants you to put your hand on his wound and realize again, and if you're here, and this is the first time you've been in church in forever, I want to tell you God doesn't require anything of you, but this one thing, let's you and I sit down and eat a little bit, let's you and I talk, I want to comfort you more than you know.

I experienced this, reassurance, even those who walk with him bodily need reassurance, so what, how does my faith grow? It's just, here's the application, you've got to get in a small group, you've got to have some friends around you. I experienced this at the end of this bad road trip, I started our message telling you about, I get the ticket and I'm just miserable, and I'm so miserable, I cannot stand it, I just have to be home. We get all the way home to Sacramento, California, it's about six in the morning, by this time it's a weekday, the kids are just getting up for school, and I wondered how Yeti the dog would react and I opened the door and she had been so nervous, she had not gone to the bathroom the entire trip, which is interesting 'cause the second we got home, she went right in the middle of my lawn, just, this is home, huh?

And I opened the door and she did an interesting thing, I thought she'd be nervous or worried, but what she really did is she ran right upstairs, right to the master bedroom as if she'd been in her house a thousand times. My wife is a real dog lover and Yeti could sense that immediately and she jumped up on the bed and just laid right on top of Kelly, (grunts) ginormous dinosaur dog. And then my girls quickly found their way and they were sitting around her and then my son found his way, even the two cats came in. There was something profoundly healing in all the tickets and all the troubles and all the sickness and all the darkness of night. There was something powerful about just being in that circle.

This is the lesson for us today, friends, tracing the life of Jesus, swimming hard after him, cooking for others and making sure no matter what, we find that moment where all the hardships of the journey are comforted in a circle of God and close friends. Amen. I pray Lord Jesus, I thank you so much for this wonderful church. I pray that we not just be hearers of your word, but God help us practice this stuff, help us trace how committed you were to be with us. Help us Lord, swim hard after you and Lord most of all pray that we would become great servants of one another and as we do it, we know you'll continue to reassure and comfort us along the way and we ask it in Jesus name and everyone said, you guys are awesome. Thank you so much.