Do you ever feel out of place? Does this culture make you feel like you are from another planet? Does this life wear you down and make you wobble? The Apostle Peter knew some people like that. They had been driven from their homes and they suffered both persecution and the kind of angst any of us would feel getting planted in a foreign country. After the resurrection of Jesus, Peter had been commissioned to love and feed the scattered sheep of Jesus. To do this, Peter preached, formed church assemblies and wrote letters. We have two of those letters in the New Testament. The first letter was written, according to the last chapter, to encourage and strengthen the believers to stand fast in the grace of God. In fact, 1 Peter starts with grace and ends with grace. Life seems to have trial upon trial, so we need grace upon grace. We are living in a complicated world characterized by anxiety and fear, so we need peace upon peace. The grace and peace we had yesterday is not enough for today and it sure won’t be enough for tomorrow. Thankfully, because of the infinite goodness and generosity of God, grace and peace are multiplied to us through the Spirit and the Son. We’re going to start a new series to learn more about these truths this weekend. My prayer is that those of you who are discouraged and a bit weary will be encouraged and strengthened in the grace and peace of God.