I bet you, I can....

Today I threw a football 40 yards in the air and won a bet that had been in the works for some two months! I didn't win much, but it was a win and pretty much 6 out of 8 guys said I couldn't.

How much did Peter lose to Andrew when he failed to walk on water??

I mean don't throw me to the wolves because of this question, but we men pretty much allow our egos to get in the way of everything, including the Savior of the world.

The guys had just put on the biggest soup kitchen of the First Century. Their faith had been completely stretched by one of the biggest miracles of all time; feeding somewhere between 5,000 and 12,000 people with just five loaves of stale bread and two fish is not the easiest way to spend your day. They had to have been worn out, and to top it off were thrown into a boat and sent on their way.

Lets take a look at the party shall we? We have 5 fishermen, 4 without jobs, a tax collector, a treasurer, and a member of a political party. I mean do I really need to spell it out any better? Oh yeah and did I mention the boss isn't here, he needed a break from these jokers.

I guess it went something like this:

Phillip- "Quick. Bart. Grab that case over there!"

Thad- "Anyone have any more fish? I am hungry!"

Bart- "Do you want me to grab this case too?"

All- "Of course you idiot!"

With the twelve of them on the way, the relaxation begins, the bottles are opened, the wine is flowing. They drop their guards and become once again just regular guys. There is laughing and joking, Judas turns to Thomas and says, "Hey, do remember that party we went to in Cana? Remember that chick? I think I saw her and her sister today, dang they looked good." Simon says to the group, "Touch your toes," and they all laugh as James falls on his face into the boat.

But as most of us know, nothing very good happens if you're drinking and it's 4am.

Matthew probably saw it first.

"Guys, shhhhh."

"James. Get up!"

"Shut Up! What's that?"

"Holy crap! It's a ghost!"

Jesus catches on right away and shuts down their egos real quick, (he's pretty good at that) "Courage, it's me. Don't be afraid."

And then it happens.

Leave it to brothers to cause the most trouble. Peter turns to Andrew and says the most famous line uttered when a group of guys has had too much to drink....Typically before 4am!

"I bet you, I can..."

Andrew replies, "I bet you (insert wager) you can't."

Peter pops over the boat as if it is gate at a subway station and the rest is, well, you know, history.

We are real lucky to have a God that forgives us even with all of our stupidity, our weak moments, when our egos are shining brightest. Instead of dunking Peter under a few times, (which he definitely deserved) or slapping him on the back of the head; Jesus reaches out, grabs his friend, takes him back to the boat and gets the guys ready for the next day.