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Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Today's Frontline Devotion Friday, January 30, 2004 Peter's Great Escape |
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Frontline Devotion for
Friday, January 30, 2004, by Mike Martine
Bible text:
Acts 12: 1-23
“Every time they were sure they had you caught
You were quicker than they thought
You just turned your back and walked”
As I read about Peter’s “Great Escape” from Prison today, I heard these words,
from the Bob Seger song, “You’re Still the Same” in my head. We think of walking
as a slow mode of transportation, but sometimes walking will get you far.
When I think of prison breaks, my head is filled with stories like “The Count of
Monte Cristo.” Stories where desperate men tunnel to freedom using nothing but
of spoon. Stories of men like John Dillinger, who fashioned a fake gun out of a
bar of soap to resume his life of crime. Epic tales filled with action and
intrigue—not simple strolls to freedom.
But this story is not without it’s excitement. Peter doesn’t just walk out of
prison—an angel escorts him. He doesn’t just amble away; he walks with God.
Many times in life we feel trapped by our actions or circumstances. And, while
there are no chains binding us, we feel as though there are. For me, this story
speaks to those times. Times when we need to look at how we’ve become trapped by
life, or by our own mistakes, and long to escape.
In those times we have two choices. We can suffer, or we can get up and walk
with God. We can act as though there is no way out, or we can listen to the
voice of our savior and follow.
Of course, some of the “prisons” we find ourselves in are harder to leave than
the one Peter fled. Some of what traps us is “long term.” We can’t completely
walk away from illness. We can’t instantaneously heal a broken relationship. But
by walking with God we can look beyond the prison and recognize that, in the
end, the only thing that really holds us, really possesses us, is God.
Our Lord proclaims freedom to the captive - don’t hesitate to claim that freedom
for yourself. Come, walk with God.
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