No, that is not a fast food sandwich.  I'm talking about Peter...the apostle Peter to be exact.  We can identify with him can't we?  Bold one minute and chicken the next.  Peter's courage facing the evening possee was in the genre of True Grit.  Peter's denial of Jesus is more like...gulp...the rest of us.  Haven't you choked at some point in your witness?  Even though you made a commitment to not be ashamed of the gospel of Christ that is the power of God unto salvation to all who believe.  But I suspect that Peter's denial (though sad) was not the real failure here.  (John 18:15-18).  I probably should but I don't remember ever going out and "weeping bitterly" after a blown opportunity.  I think there was more going on here than what we traditionally have discussed.  We know Peter loved Jesus or he wouldn't have been in that spot in the first place.  However, does it ever happen that courage gets in the way of obedience?  Does bravado ever get in the way of wisdom?  Of course, we see it often.  I think that Peter's denial was a symptom of another failure and the rooster revealed the chicken...not for a lack of courage but for a lack of listening and obedience.  Think about it.  More on Sunday, July 31...

Three of the four accounts of the sufferings of our Lord include His "Gethsemane Prayers."  Just previous to His arrest Jesus was overwhelmed with sorrow and grief, He was sweating profusely and in agony of spirit.  He asked three of His disciples to join Him in prayer but went off by Himself to wrestle with His emotions and the conflict in His soul.  When He came back to check on them He found them sleeping.  It was the middle of the night and it had been an exhausting week.  Their spirits were willing but their flesh was weak.  Jesus instructed them--in His hour of need--that they ought to pray so that they would not enter into temptation.  This is not just a comment to take as a passing remark.  Remember in Matthew 4 the Scripture was Jesus' defense against the temptations of the enemy.  Here He teaches that prayer is the key.  I do not think there is a contradiction, rather we have the key to the kind of praying that helps us overcome temptation.  What kind of praying?  Scripture soaked praying.  And how does this help?  The Scripture is the truth; it acts as our compass when we are tempted to stray from the course.  When I am being sorely tempted, I begin to allow my feelings and desires to affect my thinking instead of the other way around.  If I don't take some time alone with the Father and think about what is right, good, true and helpful I will cave in!  However, when we do bring the truth to shine on our temptations, we begin to see them for what they really are...lies!  The world, the flesh and the devil are actively attempting to negate sound thinking.  Imagine if the first Adam had stopped to pray before saying yes to the tempter.  Thankfully, the last Adam prayed, obeyed and made a way for us to be redeemed.  The pattern He revealed is for us.  Sometimes a nap is the best thing we can do when we are feeling vulnerable...but, sometimes that nap is the first step to our failure...let us pray that we do not enter into temptation.