“Lord,” Peter said, “I’m ready to go with you, both to prison and to death!” Ancient Christian tradition said Peter was crucified in Rome around 64 A.D., but when he spoke these words, he wasn’t, in fact, “ready” for that. Jesus knew him better than he knew himself. Jesus was arrested, and when bystanders said he must have been with Jesus, Peter denied it three times. Then a rooster crowed, and Peter “went out and cried uncontrollably.”

• Of all the disciples, only Peter walked on water (Matthew 14:28-29). He was first to say flat out that Jesus was the Messiah (Mark 8:27-29). He was no coward—just a human being under pressure. Has pressure ever led you to be ashamed of and to hide your allegiance to Jesus? Jesus told those who arrested him, “This is your time, when darkness rules.” Was there anything Peter might have done to keep the darkness from seeping into his soul (cf. verse 46)?
• In 24 Hours that Changed the World, Adam Hamilton noted that all four gospels tell of Peter’s shattering failure. Yet when the gospels were written, Peter was known as a great apostle, a prominent church leader. It seems likely that he himself told the story—that he had openly shared his failure, and the forgiveness and hope he’d found in its wake. When have you grown through a failure that you were able to embrace and learn from by God’s grace?