So, I know it’s kind of random, but I have been thinking about my friend Pete for a while. Well, in truth, I have been thinking about how things turn out differently than what you planned or expected. This reminded me of my friend, Pete.
Pete was a pretty simple guy. Pete liked to fish and he and his brother eventually made a business out of it. They did alright at times and struggled at other times. Pete got married and was happy for a time, but his wife died… I have forgotten the details. But Pete relied on his brother and they got through things. Pete wasn’t the brainiest of the bunch, but he had a decent head for what was right and what was fair. He was a good man, a good brother (most of the time) and a good friend.
Things changed for Pete when he met Josh. Actually, it was Josh that gave Pete his name. See, Pete’s first name was Simon, but Josh liked the name Pete better and it just stuck. That’s a funny story that I may have to tell another time. Pete, I’m sure, had a plan about his life; where he was headed, things he would do, etc. Josh, however, was kind of a “pot stirrer.” I guess Josh liked something in Pete and decided to take him under his wing, as it were. They instantly became best friends. Josh was an educated man. Pete was not. Josh tried to teach Pete about a number of things – important things- but Pete just didn’t “get” it most of the time. Pete was the kid with so much potential; he just hadn’t realized it yet.
This one time, Josh was trying to teach Pete and some of his buddies about service. Josh took each guy in turn and washed his feet, oiled them, massaged them, basically gave them the equivalent of a pedicure… Now, Pete thought that this was inappropriate for his friend, teacher, and mentor to be rubbing down his feet, so he refused when it was his turn. Josh told Pete that if he didn’t allow him to do this that Pete wouldn’t be able to hang out with him anymore. Well, at the thought of losing his friend and teacher, Pete suddenly became really enthusiastic and said he wanted to have his hands and head washed, oiled, massaged, etc. Pete missed the point of the lesson. There was much deeper significance there, but Pete didn’t understand.
There was another time when Josh and Pete and their friends got in trouble with the law. Now, Pete may have been a little naïve, but he was loyal. He came to Josh’s defense and got right in the faces of the cops that were trying to arrest them. He even grabbed a knife and took a swing at a couple of the cops, catching one guy on the side of the head and slicing half the guys ear off. Josh, however, was more patient and calmed Pete and even went so far as to do first aid on the cop, fixing his ear. Again, Pete was a good man, he just didn’t “get” it and Josh had to show him by example. Pete didn’t understand the example until later.
What was probably the worst, though was when Josh had been arrested and taken to the police station by the cops, most of his buddies took off. They were afraid of getting in trouble with the cops, too. Pete was different. Remember how I said he was loyal and a little Naïve? Well, he followed the cops along with some of the crowd that was there when Josh was arrested. Trouble is that some of the crowd recognized Pete’s face or accent and called him out on it. Pete didn’t stand up for Josh. Instead, he said that he had never met and did not know Josh. This happened several times. The last time, Pete could see Josh from where he was and just after he had gotten done telling some woman that he didn’t know the criminal, had never met him, didn’t know what she was talking about, the clock rang. Pete looked up at the clock and looked back to where his best friend Josh was and saw that Josh was looking right at him. The look on Josh’s face was curious… knowing, but sad. He had turned his back on his friend. It hit Pete pretty hard. Really hard, in fact. Pete left the police station, running. He ran and ran for a while until his breath caught and he had to stop in a back alley and breathe for a moment. He broke down and wept even more bitterly than when his wife had died.
Now, Josh (short for Jeshuah) was in a lot of trouble and was sentenced to die by the cops and courts. There was nothing Pete could do but watch. You can imagine that it was devastating for him. It was like losing his brother, best friend, father, mentor, personal hero and his dog all at the same time. Can you imagine? And it got even worse for him. He couldn’t even grieve for Josh. After only a few days a couple of girls that he would hang out with came and said that someone had hijacked Josh’s body from the cemetery! Now, Simon/Peter was not one to simply take someone’s word for anything so, you better believe he went tearing down to the cemetery plot and when he got there all he found was the cloths that Josh had been buried in. The body was gone.
Now, you may think you know this story. There are a lot of people that know about my friend Pete and even more that know or have at least heard of my other friend Josh. What you may not remember is that Josh came to Pete. Keep in mind that this is after Pete had watched Josh die. So, you can imagine that Pete was a little freaked out! Funny thing is that Josh had told Pete that all this was going to happen. But again, Pete didn’t get it.
When Pete finally DID get it… wow!
He became almost as great a teacher, mentor, friend, brother as his friend Josh had been to him. He realized the potential that he never knew he had. Think about all the things that Pete did. What he became… from a simple fisherman.
I guess what I have been thinking about is how funny life is. “Men plan and God laughs.” How many times do our plans change suddenly and dramatically because of what life throws at us? Before he died, Pete was able to say, “I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course. I have kept the faith.”
Will I be able to say the same?
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