BLOG POST 3
Kaitlyn D. | 9.4.2025
Introduction
Peter is my favorite Bible character. When I read his story, I feel like I’m gazing into a mirror and, instead of my own face staring back at me, it’s Peter. Peter had many great qualities. He was a leader, a servant, passionate, and faithful. But he was also stubborn, hard-headed, and had an attitude problem. He denied Jesus. He cut someone’s ear off. He doubted. He cursed. He was real. And it is the reality of Peter that first connected me to his story.
The post I am sharing today is unlike ones I have previously shared. Today, I am sharing an epistolary poem I wrote while completing a class during my undergraduate education, many years ago. Since it was originally written – probably around 2017 – it has been revised, edited, re-revised, and re-edited several times. This poem has gone with me over the years, somehow making a reappearance in significant moments in my life. As I grow and change, so, too, does this poem. Yet, it’s message stays the same.
Much like this poem, I have gone through many developmental stages throughout my life, and I know I will forever be growing and changing still. Much like the message behind the poem, there is One who stays constant through every change, every storm, every success, and every failure. Our Redeemer, Jesus Christ, never leaves us. He never forsakes us. He always loves us and always picks us up.
This is my letter to Peter, whose story exemplifies these things and more, revealing the goodness of God at every step, despite our failures, setbacks, or struggles. Jesus is always waiting for us at the shore. Sometimes we just have to jump out of the boat and start swimming.
To Peter, Part 1
To Peter,
The Rock who walked on water
And sank into its depths as you denied Christ thrice.
The Rock who promised to follow through until the end,
Yet returned home in despair as you realized what you had done.
The Rock who cut off the guard’s ear and the Rock that afterwards fished in the sea.
Today I write to Peter, a working man, a sinning man.
A redeemed man.
The man upon whom Christ builds His church because
“he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.”
I write to you because I read your story and see in you, myself:
A working woman, a sinning woman.
A redeemed woman.
One who has fallen again and again and again
Often scared to stand once more.
You dove into the water
When you saw the resurrected Christ upon the shore.
I never truly understood why, if not for shame or guilt or fear or all of the above.
Despite not knowing your reason, I do feel your pain.
Your shame.
Your guilt.
Your fear.
Jesus forgives you and Jesus loves you and I
Don’t understand that either because He does the same for me today
And tomorrow
And the next day and the next and the next.
Understanding eludes me yet each day Jesus continues to redeem you
And me.
And all of us.
So I write to you, the Rock who sank into the sea only to be
Pulled out by the One who forms every Rock
And forgets every repented sin
Over and over and over again.
We are one in the same.
We may never understand,
Only know that our Redeemer lives again.
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