The president of Orange, Kristen Ivy, opened by sharing a story of her 11 year-old daughter when she didn’t get something she wanted. And as she processed what happened, she wrote down that tomorrow is both wonderful and terrible.
Maybe this is why we are drawn to certainty. We need something that is steady, because so much of our lives are not.
So Kristen, then, pointed to Simon “the original rock” Peter, who she believes had to be the most certain person in the Bible. Walking through Peter’s life, it’s obvious that he is so certain about many areas of life that did not work out as he had imagined. It all hits the fan, and a rooster crows just when things are falling apart for him.
We don’t know what tomorrow holds for the next generation, but we do know there will come a time when something about their faith won’t work out as they had imagined. So Kristen asks: Have we prepared them for tomorrow?
She then explained that Jesus did for Peter what we have to do for the next generation. We have to anticipate a bit and teach like tomorrow matters. Jesus taught for the moment but also for the future. Kristen says that’s what we can do for a generation.
Here’s how Jesus did it:
- Jesus promised life will be painful.
- Jesus demonstrated how to be family.
- Jesus anticipated failure.
- Jesus gave them a place to go back to.
After all of this, Peter jumps out of the boat, runs to Jesus, and Jesus restores Peter. Kristen shared, “We have something in common. We want to hand this generation something that will last into tomorrow. That’s why we have come together. And even though we have this in common, we also have a lot of differences.”
And she ended with the reminder that Jesus is still calling us, just like He was always calling Peter, even when things were falling apart. Jesus’ calling for us is to keep showing up for the next generation.
Steve Cullum 