There You Are, Peter

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In the 1991 movie Hook, the story of Peter Pan, there is a scene that has always stuck with me because of a spiritual symbolism that I see in it.

Peter (portrayed in this film version of the tale by Robin Williams), who originally lived in Never Never Land, has grown up in the world and now forgotten both his roots and experiences in Never Never Land. He returns to Never Never Land with Tinkerbell to find his son, who has been kidnapped by an evil pirate from his youth.

When he arrives, he finds a group of boys called the Lost Boys. When Peter lived in Never Never Land as a boy, he was their leader. But now, after spending so much time in the world that it has robbed him of his memories and his birthright, they do not recognize him, nor he them.

But then one of the little Lost Boys, Pockets, approaches Peter and asks him to kneel down. When Peter does, Pockets places his hands on the sides of Peter’s face and gently stretches his face into a grin.

When he does so, all the Lost Boys gasp in recognition, and Pockets says, “There you are, Peter.”

I was praying recently with an old friend of mine, a Brother in Christ. He'd been out in the world for a while now. I’d see him every once in a while, and I came to notice over time that he had forgotten who he was. He had forgotten his birthright. Living in the world as part of the world will do that to you.

Gets to the point that, though you can love someone who is living as part of the world with all your heart, you don’t recognize them like you used to, either. You remember that there was a person by that name and with that appearance, but it’s been so long since you’ve seen them as they were that you wonder if you’d recognize them if they suddenly reappeared.

It was kind of that way for my friend and I. But then we got together to pray recently. I asked him to pray. Just felt I ought to. And he didn’t start praying right away. He waited. And then he began to pray.

The way he prayed was different, yet familiar. The way he prayed was like he used to pray when he and Jesus were close.

And, just as though my friend’s words of prayer were a revelation of him kneeling before Jesus while He placed His hands lovingly upon his cheeks and stretched them into a smile, I heard my heart gasp in recognition. “There you are, Peter.”

Peter has returned to the land of his youth.