After Jesus directs Simon Peter to care for his lambs and sheep, Jesus concludes his conversation with some straight talk about the likely outcome. Simon Peter might die as a result of following Christ.

I cannot hear this scripture without thinking of the summer my ninety-three-year-old father fell and broke his hip. To move my father from bed during rehab after his hip surgery, the nurses used a piece of medical equipment known as a Hoyer Lift. This device is a bit like a human-sized crane that can lift a patient from a bed using a belt and a pad.

Seeing my father having a belt fastened around him and being hoisted with the lift was an image of vulnerability and dependence. My father, who had once been so independent and energetic, looked incredibly frail and helpless. I fought back tears. He did not want to be confined in a nursing home. This is not where he saw life taking him.

My father recovered from the fractured hip but died the following year. For me, however, seeing him in the lift was harder than being with him in the final days before he died.

We are fortunate if we are able to live out our lives fastening our own belts and going wherever we wish. We are less likely to experience the religious persecution that Jesus warned Simon Peter about, but at some point infirmity, illness, loss, or injustice may lead us somewhere we do not want to go. Whatever the cause, faith and the examples of those who have gone before us—from Simon Peter to our parents—can help see us through.