One of the largest difficulties in my life is easing myself into a project. My normal response is to get really excited and go gung ho ’til I’ve got it as far as I can go.

I’ve got a new postulant at Radiqx and what I want to do is start dumping stuff on the poor man and just overwhelm him with input. Now, of course, I don’t think it is overwhelming but it always is to those receiving my data dumps. What I need to do is pull back and pray about what the Lord wants done and where the Lord is leading.

What got me thinking about this (thanks Holy Spirit) was the story in Matthew about Jesus praying in the garden. You know the story. Jesus is really upset — so upset that he’s sweating blood — in other words he’s so upset the capillaries in his face are bursting and blood is coming out the skin pores. It’s a documented medical condition for some people under extreme stress.  (So, I guess I haven’t been through much yet — never sweat blood yet anyway.)

Anyway, he took his three favorites with him: James, John, and Peter. OK, maybe they weren’t his favorites, maybe the Lord just told him to… right! He brought them along for support and they are so sympathetic they keep falling asleep while he is praying. [Although, someone must have been awake to record what He prayed.] He comes back, obviously disgusted, “You’re still sleeping? Well, the time is over and my betrayer is here. Let’s go.”

So, the three clods struggle to their feet and trudge off and Judas comes and betrays him. One of the three then gets panicky, grabs his sword, and cuts off the ear of the servant of the high priest. We all know that it was Peter, but the other two schmucks were known as the sons of thunder, wanting to call down fire from heaven to smite their enemies. So take your pick. But then John tells us the truth about the whole thing and it was Peter.

Don’t be always goin’ for your sword!

I mean, it’s the obvious thing to do when you  are attacked like this. But, IN THE KINGDOM, the obvious is rarely the tack to take. Jesus straightens him out with a quick, “Don’t you know I could call down a legion of angels?” They knew what a legion was: the largest unit in the Roman army, designed to be around 6,000 warriors. The betrayer only had a cohort, maybe 500 people or so.

Jesus’ understanding shows forth now.

Matthew 26:54 (English Standard Version)