Bob O’Dell of Root Source shares a “time-travelling” glimpse into the Apostle Peter and leadership. This video is excerpted from the Jerusalem Channel’s Feast of Tabernacles celebration in Jerusalem.

Following is a poem written by Bob O’Dell that he shared at the end of the talk:

 

The Peter Principle of Leadership

Part 1. The Sea of Galilee, after the Resurrection of Christ

When the light of the sunrise came up on the lake

My friends, we were fishing, a catch to take

All night we caught nothing, it was somber and grim

We said almost nothing, we were thinking within.

 

The one we had followed wherever He went

Had died as a Lamb, from God He was sent

But now He was risen, surprising us all

He gave us the Spirit, he trusted us all.

 

But there was a problem, in case you don’t know

His trust was in people, who failed him in so

Many different ways, we all had fled

Only John had been there when alive he became dead.

 

Thomas had doubted, over again,

“My Lord and my God,” was his admission of sin

Not even young John, had reason to say

He never faltered, he strayed not a day.

 

But my sin was different, than all of the rest,

I promised him something He promised to test

I would stay faithful, in life and in death

My love was stronger in height width and breadth.

 

When I denied him three times, as you know

I showed what was in me, the truth being told

When appeared to us later He had nothing to say

To me on this matter it, it wasn’t his way.

 

But He needn’t address me in public you see

I saw in his silence a message to me:

When you make a king’s promise and then fail like that

You show your true colors, there’s no coming back.

 

And when you can’t take it, the truth to be told

You go back to your past and revisit the old

I went out fishing, a party of one,

But friends would not let me go fishing alone.

 

Part 2.  Jesus Appears to All of Us for the Third Time.

 

I let them go with me, but let’s just be real

They had a certain pity kindness cannot conceal

Add insult to injury, then happened by

A man, asks, “How goes it?”, our answer, a sigh.

 

We had caught nothing all night it’s now known

He says, “Cast off this way.” Is this man a clown?

But right as we cast the net off the boat

My past came back flooding, I started to hope.

 

John said it faster than I dared to say,

“It is the Lord,” were his first words that day,

I put on my garment then swam to the shore

Yes, it was Jesus. I had to be sure.

 

The others were bringing the boat to the land

The net must be bursting in need of a mend,

Yet while the fish struggled to find their way free

not one fish was lost, an amazement to me.

 

We counted one hundred, then fifty, then three,

We heard him say forthwith “Bring some to me.”

But breakfast was cooking already on land,

Why needed he us? Had he not all in hand?

 

The sky growing brighter, upon him we looked

and saw what he held there, we saw what he cooked:

Five loaves and two fishes, he had those in hand

But more fish he asked from our boat now on land.

 

Part 3.  I’m Asked Three Questions, and Given Three Assignments

 

We all ate in silence, not venturing a word,

Eating the bread and the fish from our Lord

At sunrise He broke silence and said: “Please,

Simon, lovest thou me more than these?”

 

I loved him, like a brother, was my honest reply

Feed lambs, guard my sheep, feed my sheep he replied

He told of my future and adds “follow me,” too

I said, “What about John?”, he said “What’s it to you?”

 

We think it’s about us, I was focused on me

I’m fishing in darkness, and working for free

A chance to be someone, a chance to lead? No!

A chance to love back the one who loves me!

 

To lead and not LOVE, how can it be done?

It takes away joy, don’t try this at home

You don’t earn your stripes, you don’t make your way

It’s all about love, at the end of the day.

 

When the light of the sunrise lifts up on our sin

When leading’s a struggle, when fish don’t come in

When in the darkness you hear “How does it go?”

Try to be truthful and say what you know.

 

But come to His breakfast to learn, and be fed

To lead: is to follow in love where you’re led

When our sin is revealed in the light of His Son

The leading’s not over, it’s only begun.

 

This work is dedicated to the public domain.