Do you love me?
—John 21:16
Nearly a century has passed since Roy Riegels scooped up a Georgia Tech fumble in the 1929 Rose Bowl and ran sixty-five disoriented yards toward his own goal. For the rest of his life, he was saddled with the nametag “Wrong Way Riegels.”
I suspect that if you were asked to name three things for which Simon Peter is remembered, one would be his late-night wrong-way blunder.
But Jesus had unfinished business with Peter. He had healing in mind. So, after his resurrection, Jesus took Peter on an after-breakfast walk and told him he had work for him to do (Jn 21:15–17).
You may have messed up and run the wrong way, but Jesus isn’t finished with you. He believes in you and has work for you to do.
You may be discouraged,
but you’re not disqualified.