Our group was growing, there were always people coming and going but there was a core of us who always seemed to be there; myself and Andrew, John and James, Nathaniel and Philip and the Zealot.  That changed one afternoon as we were returning from the shores of Galilee where Jesus had been teaching.  As…

The next day the new guy invited all of us to his place for lunch.  My first reaction was to refuse, but who can turn down a free lunch?  And besides, last night, when I told Esther what had happened, she insisted that I give Matthew a chance.  Not that I do everything thing Esther…

We had just entered the synagogue for Sabbath worship when Jesus saw him.  I hadn’t even noticed him, but that was probably what he was hoping for, that nobody would notice him. He was standing off to one side, head down and his left hand hidden beneath his robe.  His appearance and attitude told people…

The group following Jesus seemed to grow every day, some he called, and others just seemed to join the party.  And as exciting as the growth was, it was starting to get a little unmanageable. Everywhere we went it was like a parade, with people following Jesus, pushing and pulling to get closer.  There were…

Where were the people coming from?  It was another one of those days; it started off when the twelve of us got back from our trips.  We were clamouring to tell Jesus all about what happened, and people were gathering around him as they always seemed to be doing, so he said.  “Simon, let’s get…

We had just gotten settled and Jesus said, “Have you heard what happened to John?” Judas spoke up. “Only that Herod had him thrown in prison, why?” “That’s why I wanted to talk to you away from the crowds. John is dead.” I couldn’t believe it and blurted out “Dead? John’s dead? No, that can’t…

How did people figure out where we would be? One minute it was just the 13 of us and then out of nowhere people started streaming into the field. There were scores of people; it felt like a festival. Some were sitting down while others were pressing in trying to see Jesus and others demanded…

"Peter, you take the rest of the guys in the boat, I’m going up the hill and spend some time alone, I’ll catch up with you later.” We had just finished passing out leftover fish and bread and the sun was setting when Jesus let me know that we could head across the lake without…

The night before Jesus had told us we needed to get ready for a trip.   He said that we’d be gone for a week or more.  The destination?  Nazareth.  Jesus was taking us to the little town he had grown up in.  And we’d get a chance to meet his family. Esther wasn’t all that…

And so it went. For the rest of the trip Jesus told us stories and taught us about the Kingdom. Every once in a while someone would recognize him, word would spread and soon we’d be surrounded by a crowd. A clamouring clutching crowd, more times than not they weren’t there to hear what Jesus…