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\n
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A man once said “If anyone in this<\/p>\n
place is unwilling to take a bullet<\/p>\n
for Christ’s sake-Leave now and no<\/p>\n
harm will come to you. If you stay and<\/p>\n
are found false. You’ve written your own<\/p>\n
destiny.”<\/p>\n
~<\/p>\n
I stood and left like so many other<\/p>\n
scared people in this position. Afraid<\/p>\n
of what might happen if I stayed. Afraid<\/p>\n
of what other people might think of me<\/p>\n
following one who many claim never existed.<\/p>\n
~<\/p>\n
So many people are “Sunday Christians”<\/p>\n
Live wild and free six days a week<\/p>\n
On Sunday they sit in the pews at church<\/p>\n
and act as though they are a true follower<\/p>\n
of Christ.<\/p>\n
If you were to ask any of them alone if they<\/p>\n
would deny Christ- They’d say no.<\/p>\n
~<\/p>\n
I wonder how Peter must have felt<\/p>\n
Following Jesus throughout his ministry.<\/p>\n
Saying that he was the Christ and loving him<\/p>\n
When Jesus was arrested Peter deserted and<\/p>\n
then followed them into town and saw<\/p>\n
the outcome.<\/p>\n
~<\/p>\n
Christ was comdemned to die<\/p>\n
as Scripture foretold. Peter could have<\/p>\n
spoken up, but didn’t. He was scared of<\/p>\n
what the other people around him thought<\/p>\n
About Jesus and his disciples.<\/p>\n
~<\/p>\n
Peter denied knowing him three times<\/p>\n
How hard must that have been for him<\/p>\n
To know that he loved Christ But when put<\/p>\n
to the test- Denied him just to save his own
\nskin?<\/p>\n
~<\/p>\n
I am not worthy to be called a Christian-<\/p>\n
I love Christ and I say that I would die for him<\/p>\n
Would I really? Would I really be willing to die<\/p>\n
because of my unwillingness to Deny God?<\/p>\n
I don’t know<\/p>\n
~<\/p>\n
I was in the mall one day with some friends<\/p>\n
Not Christians. I saw a guy that I really liked<\/p>\n
Who was the furtherest thing from Christ<\/p>\n
He said to everyone who could hear.<\/p>\n
“You were at a Bible study Last night!”<\/p>\n
~<\/p>\n
To spare myself the pain of hearing their laughter<\/p>\n
That I knew was going to follow that statement<\/p>\n
I looked confused. I put on this big act for them<\/p>\n
like an award winning actress.<\/p>\n
~<\/p>\n
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I wasn’t<\/p>\n
There. You have me confused with some other<\/p>\n
girl. I wouldn’t be caught dead in a church.” And<\/p>\n
gave a little laugh as though to prove I was telling the<\/p>\n
truth.<\/p>\n
~<\/p>\n
They believed what I said, and everything was fine<\/p>\n
once more and I felt as though I was accepted into<\/p>\n
their group as though by some miracle I had passed<\/p>\n
some unspoken test.<\/p>\n
~<\/p>\n
We walked a little more, laughing and carrying on<\/p>\n
When some people that I had been at the Bible Study<\/p>\n
with saw me. They came up to me and hugged me,<\/p>\n
chatting about what fun we’d had the night before.<\/p>\n
~<\/p>\n
A girl who was with us said to me, grabbing my arm<\/p>\n
“It’s true. You were at the Bible Study” And I stood<\/p>\n
there angry because I could hear and feel the<\/p>\n
judgement coming from both sides.<\/p>\n
“I Don’t know what you mean. I don’t go to<\/p>\n
Bible Studies”<\/p>\n
~<\/p>\n
I jerked my arm out of her grasp and stood there.<\/p>\n
I could feel a little hurt come over me as I denied<\/p>\n
knowing him and his name. I was numb to it for<\/p>\n
the time being. I didn’t want to lose my new friends-<\/p>\n
But I didn’t want to give up God either<\/p>\n
And at the same time- I wanted to be accepted<\/p>\n
~<\/p>\n
A little while later- I was walking and someone<\/p>\n
that I’d met the day before said it was good<\/p>\n
to run into me.<\/p>\n
I had liked talking to him- He didn’t paint a<\/p>\n
pretty picture of life like so many others had.<\/p>\n
~<\/p>\n
We sat there and talked for what seemed<\/p>\n
like hours alone together, when the group I’d<\/p>\n
been hanging out with, came by. I could see<\/p>\n
it in their eyes what they<\/p>\n
were about to say.<\/p>\n
“You were there last night. Everyone saw you-<\/p>\n
Why deny it?”<\/p>\n
~<\/p>\n
I got so angry and stood up. I didn’t care anymore<\/p>\n
I was so sick of defending myself to everyone.<\/p>\n
Those who knew me and loved me for me knew<\/p>\n
the truth.<\/p>\n
Those who didn’t- It was their loss.<\/p>\n
~<\/p>\n
“I DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT<\/p>\n
I WASN’T THERE! I DON’T DO THINGS LIKE THAT<\/p>\n
I DO MY OWN THING.<\/p>\n
I DON’T KNOW THIS JESUS YOU TALK ABOUT<\/p>\n
AND I DON’T GO TO BIBLE STUDIES!!”<\/p>\n
~<\/p>\n
After I said that, I felt this wave of shame come over<\/p>\n
me. The clock in the center of the mall had struck 3 o’clock.<\/p>\n
I closed my eyes and started to weep as I remembered<\/p>\n
what was written in Scripture. ‘Before the rooster crows<\/p>\n
you will have denied me three times.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A man once said “If anyone in this place is unwilling to take a bullet for Christ’s sake-Leave now and no harm will come to you. If you stay and are found false. You’ve written your own destiny.” ~ I stood and left like so…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1290,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-miscellaneous"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1290"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58448"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58448\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58450,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58448\/revisions\/58450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}