Second Chances

         Have you ever received a second chance to do something right? Probably my one job on a farm was a good example of doing something poorly and then having to do it again and again until it was right. Plowing a field is a good example of doing something right. I have mentioned before the art of getting the first furrow straight as an arrow. My first attempts at getting that first furrow straight was not always the best. Once you make the first cut then every other cut is going to follow the one you made in the beginning. The farmer then instructed me on how to do it. You picked out an object at the end of the field and you didn't take your eyes off it for one second, no matter how many bumps, sounds or thoughts came into your mind during that first 5 minutes. In life, I have had a lot of second chances to do something. It might be the singing of a song as a ministry in church or somewhere else. It doesn't always come out the way you expected it to come out. God gives a lot of us second chances, even the apostle Peter had a second chance. John 20:17 says, “He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.”

         The scene just a few days before. found Peter even denying that he knew Jesus. He denied Him three times and before the rooster crowed At the crowing of the rooster, Peter realize what he had done. In the above passage, Jesus gives Peter a second chance even though Peter had done some rather serious deeds prior to the early morning breakfast on the shore. Jesus however, made it clear to Peter that Jesus had a job for him to do and gave him that second chance. Peter had made a lot of statements that seemed to be getting him into trouble yet after Pentecost, his words were mighty so that there was a large group of people who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ for their salvation. As one looks back through the Bible you see many times how God gave people second chances. One of the most famous is that of the life of Jonah who turned and fled the opposite direction from where God had given him instructions to go. After the spending of three nights in the belly of a great fish, Jonah had a second chance to do what God wanted Him to do. One thing we can learn from this is that when God calls you to do something, don't argue or disregard what He says. We can try to rationalize or argue why we should not do something but if it is God's will that you do it, then there will be no better place to be. God provides the ways and the means to get the task done. We just don't know how it is going to work out. Sometimes we are just overwhelmed by seeing what God does even with an unworthy vessel as myself. We often find that God gives not only second chances, but third and fourth and so on. We may find that we have failed in doing something for God and we know it. That doesn't stop us from trying to do it better the next time. Praise God today that He still gives us second chances.