Stretch Out Your Hands, and Go

5/12/2026

Very truly I tell you, 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.” (John 21:18-19)

Lucidity seems to come in waves, ordered just at the Right time (Romans 8:28-29), if we are truly open to being disciples, apprentices, learners. That leap from mammal to supernatural is not “more information” or “more commitment.” That is the wrong tree in the garden! Isn’t it fascinating how God started our story with those two mysterious trees in the garden, and somehow, instead of taking it as fundamental to the entire future of mankind and the galaxies and the universe, it became a bedtime story with a snake in it. So maybe not a bedtime story.

But there’s a reason why God started our existence with the first Adam with those two trees in the garden, and then gave us a running start and held our hand through the second Adam to show us and give us our destiny, if we are willing, if we will abandon in trust, “saving faith”—the “faith of Abraham” that is the doorway to becoming a Christian, eternal life. For whosoever will.

Shortly before this Call to Danger for Peter, not long before Jesus cracked the skies ascending to our Father’s side, Jesus and Peter are having breakfast on the shore of the Sea of Galilee after the resurrection.

During Jesus’ trial, Peter had denied knowing Him THREE times. COCK-A-DOODLE-DOO.

Jesus asks Peter, “Do you love me?” THREE times.

Each time Peter affirms his love, Jesus tells him to “Feed my sheep.” THREE TIMES. Coincidence?

Feed My sheep.

That sounds an awful lot like, Peter I haven’t given up on you. “Why me Lord?”

“Get busy, Peter. Be courageous, not a quitter, from your shame. This is, in fact, the good news of the kingdom you are experiencing. I trust you and know who you can be. That’s why I’ve been a little bit hard on you. Lucidity comes at a price, and that’s OK. My strength is completed and perfected and refined, and you are finally seeing your weakness. Now: Declare me in the assembly and to the world.”

“And Peter?” And the rest of us in some respect? “This is how you’re going to die!”

Very truly I tell you, 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.” (John 21:18-19)

“Stretch out your hands.” Maybe this refers to a figurative cross, for all of us. Maybe He is referring to the literal Roman cross, historically said to have been pushed into the ground upside down for Peter in 64 AD.

But maybe scarier than that... “Someone else will dress you.” The shame of being absolutely controlled in the smallest of details, and no ability to stand up for yourself, or make your own decisions about where you will go, or what you will do. The shame. That is such a different way to die than Peter had ever lived prior. No control. He couldn’t “solve the problem.”

Physical pain is such a small thing compared to what Jesus was saying to Peter about what his future would hold. Not unlike Saul/Paul being told about the many things he would suffer as a “leader.”

This wasn’t just an event for Peter, or a teaching, or a “deep” teaching. This was taking Peter into his deepest fear. No control. Real-time. Get ready, Peter. Get your heart right, and your head right. It is not about you. And there are no maverick molecules in this world, and there are no rebellious atoms in this universe. They all belong to God and March in order, as He decides.

Romans 8:28-29. All day, every day. God has decided in advance, before there was time, what our personal Skandalons will be that, this mission should you choose to accept it, will take you on the impossible, miraculous task of being like my son Jesus and his greater works. Rise up, “young men!”

“And someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.”

The shortest summary: Peter couldn’t fix it; he could only trust and worship.

One response later... “Lead you where you do not want to go.” “Do not want.” The nature of it is you, personally, will FEEL like you do not want it. You’d prefer something else. Probably anything else. That’s ok. If you wanted it, then you’d need a different path, one you didn’t want! You are supposed to “not want it” and then say “not my will but Yours,” “not my want but Yours.”

You won’t want it by Design. That is why it’s a cross and not a banquet. The banquet is later.

So, the feeeeeling of “not want” is neither here nor there. It has no weight. Just proceed with Jesus.

The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want :)

(Something I’ve learned along the Way. Always more levels though! He’s infinite!)

•  Skandalon, You, Abraham, and Family