Too many head to ground collisions.

If I fell and hit my head on hard objects once as a child, I hit it a thousand times. My mother probably didn't sleep well; she was always worried about my next head to ground collision. It some instances, I may have suffered concussions and was never diagnosed. This could explain moments now when my mind doesn't always maintain information and process it uniformly. There is hope though; I have a wife whose mind works like a computer so she fills in my blank spaces. I am convinced that much like me, the disciple Simon Peter must have hit his head on the side of his fishing boat multiple times.

When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me more

than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.” Again Jesus

said, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me?” He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus

said, “Take care of my sheep.” The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter

was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things;

you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. I tell you the truth, when you were younger you

dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and

someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” Jesus said this to indicate the

kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!” Peter turned and saw

that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. (This was the one who had leaned back against

Jesus at the supper and had said, “Lord, who is going to betray you?”) When Peter saw him, he asked,

“Lord, what about him?” Jesus answered, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to

you? You must follow me.” (John 21:15-22, NIV)

We all remember Peter denying Jesus three different times and then he wept bitterly when the realization settled in. Here in John 21, Jesus reinstated Peter and asked him the same topical question. "Do you love me? Three times Peter answered, "Yes Lord, you know that I love you." In the continuation of this dialogue, Jesus explained to Peter of the future trials Peter would face. Peter should have been zeroed into every word Jesus said....and probably did at some level. However, after Jesus finished his directive to Peter, the first words out of Peter's mouth were, "Lord, what about him?" in reference to John. Without skipping a beat, Peter jumped into the comparison game (Perhaps he suffered from mild head trauma as a child).

One can imagine Jesus taking hold of Peter and looking deeply into his eyes to get his full attention. Jesus told Peter to not worry about anyone else but to follow him! Good advice. Do we struggle with the commands of God? The directives to love, serve, and witness our faith are woven around and through the faith in which we live. Let's stop worrying about others and rededicate our life to following Christ.