We can only imagine what it was like to walk alongside Jesus on a dusty road, to listen to Him share from His heart and see Him reach out in compassion to the lost and hurting souls He encountered. What joy it must have been to truly know Him in His physical form. As they began to understand that He would be going away, did the disciples listen wholeheartedly, trying to memorize His words so they could reflect on them later? Did they worry about forgetting the things He’d told them? There was no need to worry, as Jesus assured them in verses 25 and 26, because He wouldn’t leave them without His presence. His own Spirit would come to each of those who recognized Him as the Messiah. His Spirit would reside within them as a constant source of wisdom, strength, comfort, and peace. The same Spirit comes to each of us when we proclaim Jesus as Lord. The teaching and discernment granted to the disciples is ours, as well. We are never powerless, we are never hopeless, we are never alone because the Father sent us the Spirit in Jesus’s name. Amen!