"I have prayed for you."

(Sea of Galilee. Israel, 2009).

"But I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail." Yeshua to Peter - Luke 22: 32.

These words struck me right in the gut this morning...

Rabbi Yeshua prays for us.

The words didn't hit me because of the concept, really. I have known for quite a while and read a thousand times that Yeshua prays for us. But as I studied the Text this morning, the words hit me differently because this time, I read them with experience.

My experience came from a 2-week study trip to Israel that I was blessed to go on last year with a man named Ray Vanderlaan, someone who I think is best described as a Rabbi of modern day. He takes people to Israel and teaches them about Ancient Jewish culture and how the Bible would have been perceived by the people it was written to. His passion for being like Yeshua and sharing His truth with others is not only inspiring but challenges me daily as well.

One morning, far into our trip, we found ourselves (after a rigorous trek) sitting on top of Mt. Arbel, tired but excited from eight days of 12-mile-hikes through the deserts of Israel. As we rested there a moment, looking over the Galilee, RVL informed us that he had been on the top of the very same mountain the night before. He had hiked it when the rest of us were at dinner or getting some much needed sleep...

And why did he hike a mountain in Israel during the middle of the night?

To pray for us.

Not a corporate prayer either. No. RVL prayed for each one of us, individually, one by one. Under those eastern stars, this man who had been leading us and teaching us and preparing all the daily details for our trip...prayed for us. Us, the ones that God had put under his care for those 14 days in Israel. He used what little time and energy he had left to lay us (me?!?) at the feet of God.

And when I heard that, sitting on the top of Mt. Arbel, exhausted to my very bones...I felt cared for and loved in a way that I have never felt before. To be prayed for with that kind of devotion is a powerful thing. An incredibly selfless gift from a man as busy and exhausted as RVL.

And I not only felt grateful, but I also felt a responsibility. A responsibility to this man who invested so much into my learning. A man who thought so much of me that he would sacrifice that much for my benefit.

From that morning on, I hiked harder than I have ever hiked before. I woke up early to study my notes. I kept my eyes open and I paid attention. I listened. I watched. I prayed. I studied.

HARD.

Because if RVL could offer me his night hours and his energy and his prayers, then I was without a doubt going to give back every ounce of strength I had to walk beside him and listen to what he had to say.

After reading John this morning, I took this idea back to Yeshua. The verse quoted in John above is spoken to Peter by Yeshua on the night of their last supper together as they celebrated Passover. It is the night before Yeshua was arrested...the night before He started the most challenging and painful phase of His entire ministry...the night before the journey of His death began.

And He was thinking about Peter.

Yeshua used the time He had in that moment to encourage Peter. To remind Peter of what was true. To pray for one of His own.

What Rabbi is this, that He cares for us like that?

A man who gives so totally of Himself that, upon facing His darkest and most excruciating hours, He prays for another, for one of us?

Today, I am reminded by the words of John how grateful I am to this wise and selfless Rabbi, for offering me so much...for calling me His own...for allowing me to walk behind Him...for bringing me before the throne of His Father and praying for little.old.me..and for treating me as someone who is worthy of His thoughts and His time and His prayer.

And along with that gratitude, I feel responsibility.

A responsibility to live, love, breathe, pray, work, and sweat whatever I can for this Rabbi and for the ones He loves.

Because that's what He did, and that's what He does, and that's what He will do.

And He told me that I can be like Him.

You see, it's what a disciple does. They live like their Rabbi. And if my Rabbi loves people that much, then I want to too.

It's not a task to be taken lightly, and it's a not a challenge for the faint of heart, but it's a responsibility to be grateful for.