I absolutely love the miracle of the resurrection. There is this glorious tandem of Jesus giving his life for us, dying to provide the everlasting way for us to be forgiven, to be reunited with God, and a completely new life. We separate ourselves, cut ourselves off from God because we choose to sin. Still, Jesus dies for us.

I was reading Mark 14 this morning. 14:31 has Peter’s famous phrase when Jesus tells him that he will deny him. “If I must die with you, I will not deny you.” Later in verse 66-72 it happens. 72 ends with saying, “And he broke down and wept.” Death.

I think we all know what those death moments feel like. When we feel defeated, like we’ve hit the lowest moment of our life. I think for Peter it is precisely denying Jesus that is his death moment. He desperately wanted to be stronger than he was, and then he is broken seemingly because of his utter weakness.

We could jump ahead to Peter becoming the head of the church, but I want to sit with this idea of death before we move to resurrection.

If I honestly let God deal with me, my failings always make me stronger. I’ve got plenty of time to be introspective right now… At dinner last night I apologized to Em for having to be the oldest, and being the one who bore the brunt of me learning how to parent. There’s stuff I thought I would be stronger with that ended up being death moments for us both.

Working through those have made me far stronger, and better.
A completely trivial example. I have taught all of my girls how to ride a bike. We’ll just say Em and Kenz were not glorious, sweet parenting moments. I don’t have bad memories of teaching Maddie. But the twins…. not to brag, but I rocked! They weren’t better than the big three. I just understood how to communicate, how to teach, and how to encourage a little bit more.

I wish the extent of my failings were that trivial. Our sin, our failings, the times when the rug gets pulled out from under us. That is death.

Right now, if you’re feeling like you’re in a death moment, you are not alone. A lot of other people are in very similar situations. More importantly, you’re not alone, because Jesus has been there, and is right here with you now.

Jesus conquered death. He has already conquered death for us. Here’s the biggest thing I’ve learned about the idea of death and resurrection. “With God, all things are possible.” When I’m in those death moments I have never grasped how glorious new life would be. Hold on, it will be great. Sunday’s coming.