(from last time) There was a little hill as they were leaving town, and they began to pick up speed. They were going faster and faster, then it happened…they hit a big rock! The bicycle/time machine went flying up into the air! The Professor said, “Ooops!” When they hit the ground there were going about 50 miles per hour! Shane and Shelly said, “Ooops!” The Professor shifted the bicycle/time machine into high gear!
Then it happened… The bicycle began bouncing like a toad in a washing machine! There was a blinding flash of light and a loud noise like a turtle singing! Suddenly Martha, Mary and Lazarus’ house disappeared and….
They were on a sandy beach headed straight for a campfire! Shelly screamed and Shane yelled, “Turn the bike Professor!” The Professor made a sharp turn to the left and they missed the campfire! But now they were headed straight into the water! They hit the water with a big splash, and they all fell off the bicycle/time machine! The Professor tried to say, “Ooops!” He should not have opened his mouth because he got a mouthful of water and got seaweed tangled in his teeth! They swam and splashed to shore, and Shane dragged the bicycle time machine out of the water, and Shelly began to dry it off and get the seaweed out of the chain and gears. She turned the handle on the side of the bicycle/time machine and a lot of water came out. Shane said, “I hope that the bicycle/time machine isn’t ruined, if it doesn’t work, we will never get home!” The Professor came over to look at the bicycle/time machine, but he did not notice a rock in the sand. He tripped on the rock and fell flat on his face! The Professor tried to say Ooops again, but he could not open his mouth because of all the seaweed tangled in his teeth, and now he had a mouthful of sand too!
Just they heard a sizzling noise and began to smell a good smell! A man had gone up to the campfire and put some fresh fish on the fire to cook them for a meal! The man stood up and looked out to the sea! Shane and Shelly also looked out to the sea and saw a boat out there with some men on it. The man by the campfire suddenly yelled, “Do you have any fish?” The men on the boat yelled back, “We have been fishing all night, but we haven’t caught anything!” Shane whispered to Shelly, “This sound familiar, didn’t we see something like this happen before, when Jesus first told the disciples that they were going to be fishers of men?” Shelly answered, “Yes, we did see something like this before, but this is a different Bible story. That is Jesus by the campfire. He has already died on the cross and rose from the dead, let’s see what Jesus does this time!” Jesus yelled to the disciples in the boat, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some fish.” The disciples threw the net on the right side of the boat and they caught so many fish that they could not haul the net into the boat! The disciple named John remembered the other time this had happened, and he said to Peter, “That’s Jesus!” Peter jumped into the water and swam to shore. He wanted to be with Jesus! The other disciples brought the boat into shore and counted the fish in the net. There were 153 fish. One of the fish jumped up and whacked the Professor in the head with it tail! Shane said, “Look! There’s that same fish whacking the Professor in the head again!” The Professor tied to say Ooops, but he still had seaweed tangled in his teeth, and still had a mouthful of sand!
After they had finished eating, Jesus asked Peter, “Do you truly love me?” Peter answered, “Yes Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus then told Peter, “Feed my lambs”. Shane whispered to Shelly, “What is Jesus talking about? He doesn’t have any lambs!” Shelly whispered back, “Jesus is comparing the people who follow Him to lambs. Jesus is asking Peter to take care of the people who believe in Jesus.” Twice more Jesus asked Peter if he loved Jesus, and He told Peter to take care of his sheep. Then Jesus told Peter to keep following Him. Peter was getting more and more upset! Shelly whispered to Shane, “I think Peter is remembering all the times that he let Jesus down and even told people that he didn’t know Jesus. He can’t believe that Jesus will still forgive him and have a job for him to do!”
The Professor finally got the seaweed untangled from his teeth, and he went down to the edge of the water and was washing the sand out of his mouth. That same fish swam up and bit the Professor on the nose! The Professor jumped to his feet and yelled, “Ow!”
The Professor, Shelly and Shane continued to work on the bicycle/time machine. They noticed that the chain had come off, so they laid the bicycle/time machine on the sand and all three of them were trying to get the chain back on. The chain finally went back on, and Shane turned to pedal to make sure that it was working right. The Professor and Shelly were hold the back tire off the ground. Suddenly the chain slipped onto the high gear!
Then it happened… The bicycle began bouncing like a toad in a washing machine! There was a blinding flash of light and a loud noise like a turtle singing! Suddenly the Sea of Galilee, Jesus, the disciples, and the fish disappeared and….
Application:
Read the story about the second miraculous catch of fish and Jesus forgiveness of Peter. It is found in the Bible in the book of John chapter 21.
Have you ever felt like you have done something so bad that Jesus will not forgive you?
We all feel this way sometimes. After we have become a Christian by believing in Jesus and asking Him to forgive our sins, we somehow get the idea that we should not struggle with sin anymore. This is simply not true; a Christian will struggle with sin until this life is over and they get to heaven.
Peter had this same struggle with sin. He believed in Jesus and had given his life to Jesus, but in today’s story we see Peter after he had become a failure! When Jesus was on trial (right before he died on the cross), Peter denied three times that he even knew Jesus (that is right, he lied about knowing Jesus). Then Peter ran away and abandoned Jesus when he was dying on the cross! Peter felt like he had sinned so bad that Jesus could not love him anymore.
Peter was wrong! Jesus still loved him and forgave him! Jesus also told Peter that his job was to take care of God’s people. Peter spent the rest of his life telling people about Jesus and teaching people how to live for Jesus!
No matter what you have done, Jesus will still forgive you if you ask Him!
Jesus always has a job for you to do, no matter how badly you have messed up in the past.