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I’m joining Kate Motaung for Five Minute Friday. One word prompt. Five minutes. No editing. Lots of women. All of us writing on that same word.

Today the word prompt is … Welcome.

There’s nothing quite like the feeling. You know when you feel it, almost the minute you enter. It envelops you like a warm, toasty blanket bringing comfort and acceptance and a sense of security. Relief just to be there. A sense of arrival.

Peter had to know the feeling of a warm welcome. I wonder if that was what Jesus extended to him that day on the shore. You remember the day … Jesus kept asking Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you truly love me more than these?” Peter kept attesting his love to Jesus. And then Jesus spoke the words ….

“Follow me!” (John 21:19, NIV)

And just like that, Peter was reinstated, welcomed back into friendship with Jesus.

It is no wonder Peter exhorts us “to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 1:10-11, NIV).

A rich welcome. That sense of having arrived safely.

Another version puts it this way …“Then God will give you a grand entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” (NLT)

I’m not sure I have ever received a grand entrance other than perhaps the day I was born into this world and the day I entered the church on my wedding day.

Somehow I think I get a glimpse, a shadow of this welcome each time I sit down and open the pages of my Bible. I taste a hint of this welcome as I come before His throne, bringing my needs to Him, acknowledging He is sovereign and never loses control

The warmth. The safety. The security of knowing I am wanted just as I am.

And it is in His Presence, I always feel the welcome.

Today I am joining with … Five Minute Friday and Fellowship Friday and Everyday Jesus and Faith Filled Friday and Faith & Fellowship and Blessing Counters .