I was starting to feel a bit down again about my past failures at work, even though my boss, being very nice and understanding, assured me that she didn't hold anything against me for my mistakes, but wanted to help me learn. Yep, I've learnt from these things, and she even praised me for some good initiative that I took yesterday. :) (thanks Elvis for praying for me! :D)

I felt rather discouraged, because of the fact that the damage was already done in a sense, even though I could move on and learn from it.

So I was talking to God as I walked off for lunch. I shared with Him my fears and sadness... when He reminded me about the sermon on Sunday: Jesus restoring Peter.

And He said clearly, "That's why this sermon is for you too."

Wow. :D Touched. Because I was asking God on Sunday, how does the sermon apply to me in my current circumstances? I know that it would have been a great comfort to me 5 years ago, but now, with the blessings of being used by God to lead without a title, and also a very clear calling and experiencing God... I wonder how so does this sermon about restoration apply to me, or any believer who has moved on already?

I realised that we who are stronger by God's grace, and have even experienced restoration in the past personally and are experiencing a wonderful time of God's closeness and goodness - we need this sermon just as much as the brother who is struggling with regrets and remorse over his sins and failures.

Because... sooner or later, we who dance on the mountaintops will inevitably be reminded of our failures. And we being pattern-prone humans, are bound to make the same mistakes again and again, even if they get less and less severe. Like a series of nukes where the mushroom cloud gets downsized. But the fallout is always there, no matter how small you have managed to make your 'nuke'.

So Jesus' words speak to those on the mountaintop just as much as those in the valley. Restoration is meant to be an everyday thing, because we WILL fail again and again, and it's never a pleasant thing to fail, especially when it's a character issue e.g. slacking, anger, lust, and so on.

But He asks us again, "Do you love me?" And when we confess that, yes, we do love Him though we fail Him so many times, He sends us back into the playing field again, no matter how many goals we've let through - even those own goals.