Lent 24: To whom shall we go?

"You do not want to leave too, do you?"  Jesus asked the Twelve.
Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life."
John 6: 67-68

This exchange happens at the point when many disciples of Jesus were leaving because the things Jesus said were too difficult or challenging for them.

I often feel very challenged or unnerved by things the Jesus said.  I find they don't fit exactly with my world-view or ask too much of me.  Sometimes at these points it seems very tempting to give up on my faith.  It feels like it would be simpler.

But then my response to those times always ends up being the same as Simon Peter's - "Lord, to whom shall I go?"

While the way I have chosen to follow is sometimes very rough and difficult to stay on, I really have never had a better offer.  Even in my lowest times I cannot see what other path I should choose over this one.  I have never found a way of viewing and relating to the world, people and myself which offers more hope, joy and peace than following Jesus.

I am always open to listening to and trying to understand other peoples' ways of seeing things, their religions and beliefs.  I refuse to be closed-minded and to assume that there is nothing to be had in anything other than my set of beliefs.  I do not see things as binary - either right or wrong, either true or false, either of God or not-of-God.  But following Jesus feels like truth and is for me the deepest and most satisfying relationship I have ever found.

So, even in those times when I've forgotten for a while why I am following Christ - to whom else should I go?

"You have the words of eternal life."  This is where life is to be found.