I CAN"T TAKE IT!

-Connect-
Linkin Park has some great songs, like "ONE STEP CLOSER":

I cannot take this anymoreI'm saying everything I've said before

All these words they make no senseI find bliss in ignorance

Less I hear the less you'll sayBut you'll find that out anyway

Just like before...

Everything you say to meTakes me one step closer to the edge

And I'm about to break I need a little room to breathe

Cause I'm one step closer to the edgeAnd I'm about to break

I find the answers aren't so clearWish I could find a way to disappear

All these thoughts they make no sense I find bliss in ignorance

Nothing seems to go away Over and over again

Just like before...

Everything you say to meTakes me one step closer to the edge

And I'm about to break I need a little room to breathe

Cause I'm one step closer to the edge And I'm about to break

Everything you say to meTakes me one step closer to the edge

And I'm about to break I need a little room to breathe

Cause I'm one step closer to the edge And I'm about to break

Break break break break break

This song kinda seems to share the mounting frustration and pressure that people sometimes feel when we feel like we have said all we can, done all we can, but feel frustrated with a part of our lives. Sometimes we all find oursleves in a place where we are little bit sensitive . . . a little "on edge" so to speak, when others continue to push us.


We all get to these places where things aren't perfectly clear. Situations don't work out how we planned or hoped. We wish we never knew certain details of people's lives and/or issues, and we realize that not everything is black and white. Sometimes we just want to disappear from the scene and get away from everything, and everyone . . . just gotta have some room.

-Reflect- Read Matthew Chapter 26
Key Verse: 31-35

This is a perfect story of someone who felt a lot of pressure. Someone who seemed on the edge. Someone who just wanted some space, wanted to get away from everything and everyone, and felt like his words were not being heard. Peter was frantic. The tension was building. People were starting to recognize him as one of Jesus' buddies. And he tells them once tht he has no idea who the guy is. but yet they still come back . . . pressuring him, pushing him getting in his business . . . and he's strarting to sweat a little bit. I'm sure he jsut wanted to be left alone! He just wanted to disappear . . . and jst wanted for people to hear what he was saying--that he was innocent . . . but they asked again. Peter swears with everything that he has no clue who this "Jesus" guy is . . . and then gets out of the crowd and breaks down from the pressure.

The passage might remind us of the pressure we feel in various situations, and even when it comes to being asked if we are followers of Jesus. We admit it in church, but then we don't want too many people to know . . .it makes us panic . . . it makes us fight even harder to avoid seeming "too Christian." We kind of get nervous if people label us a "goodie goodies" or we fear we might be too much like our parents . . . always seeing God in "everything." And the harder people push us and question us, the farther we want to run, the closer to the "edge" we get, and we end up frustrated and confused about our faith, wishing people would just stop making a big deal about it.

-Direct-
-When was a time you felt people were pushing you over "the edge?"
-Have you ever felt like everything you were saying and doing was not being noticed--even when you tried harder? How did that make you feel?
-Have you ever denied Jesus--maybe not with your words, but with your actions?
-How so?
-If you were Peter, what would you have done to make things right after denying Jesus?
-What can you do now to make things right with Jesus?