Have you ever been persuaded to dosomething that you think will be awfuland then afterward you were really gladthat you did it? That was just the situationSimon found himself in.

Imagine one of your friends betrayingyou. Imagine the rest of your friendsrunning away and leaving you to face amob of angry people. Imagine forgivingand encouraging them anyway.

Did you hear about the man in NewYork City who offers to sell the BrooklynBridge to a rich tourist? When the touristcan’t decide if he wants to buy, the manadds the Titanic to the deal! Of course,it’s a hoax. Doubters say the resurrectionis a hoax too. Ye

Have you ever put your faith in afriend and felt sure that that personwould come through for you? Howdid you feel when the person let youdown? Would you trust that personagain? Mary and Martha knew theirfriend so well that they trusted Hislove—even when H

Have you ever experienced the deathof someone you loved dearly? Did youturn to Jesus for comfort? Even when wecan’t understand why He is allowing usto go through the pain, we can trust thatHe has a plan, and we can focus on Hispower.

Everyone has some friends who saylighthearted things that are easy tounderstand. But there are other friendswho are deep thinkers. When thesefriends say something, you sometimesend up scratching your head becauseyou are not sure what they mean. Jesuswas o

Think back to when you were learning toride a bicycle. Did you manage it the firsttime? No? Some things take time to learnto do. In the same way we need to practiceusing our talents. The more we practicethe better we will be and the more wecan do to serve

Have you ever been so caught up insomething that you forgot all about thetime? You were so engrossed that youforgot to eat anything, and suddenly yourealized how hungry you were. That isjust what happened to a crowd of peopleone day as they were listening

Have you ever had the measles orchicken pox and were so sick that youthought you would never get well?Maybe no one came to see you for fearthat they might catch whatever you had.Maybe you went to a hospital for a longtime. Can you imagine what it wouldbe

Has a friend ever awakened you whenyou were in a deep sleep or interruptedyou when you were working on animportant assignment? How did yourespond? Jesus told a story about sucha situation. Imagine it happened like this.