You Follow Me

 

Readings 052326

This week, I buried three men.
Twenty years between the youngest and the oldest.
Different stories.
Different struggles.
Different ways of walking with Christ.
And in three different ways,
God called each one home.

At every graveside,
I kept hearing Jesus’ words to Peter at the end of John’s Gospel—
when Peter looks at another disciple and asks,
“Lord, what about him?”
And Jesus answers,
“What concern is it of yours?
You follow Me.”

Three men.
Three journeys.
Three endings.
And yet one Lord—
one mercy,
one promise,
one open door into the Father’s house.

Their paths were not the same.
Their faith did not look the same.
Their deaths did not come the same.
But Christ was the constant—
the One who walked beside them,
the One who waited for them,
the One who now holds them
in the communion of saints.

And His word to us today is simple and steady:
Do not compare your path.
Do not measure your story against another.
You follow Me.

Because every life—young or old—
finds its meaning, its dignity,
and its final rest
in the One who calls us home.

Prayer 

Lord Jesus, 

Steady my steps in Your light.
Teach my heart to trust Your timing.
Gather my worries into Your wounded hands.
Let Your Spirit breathe courage into my day.
Fix my eyes on the hope of Your Kingdom.
And lead me home, one faithful step at a time. 

Amen