Woah now

I was reading Matthew, and I had a "woah now" moment. In chapter 16:18 it says

"And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it."

Most people know that. Peter is the rock. Can you smell what the rock is cooking? Jokes (for those of you who don't know where that's from...no worries).
BUT 5 little verses later - only 5 verses, it says...

"But he turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things."

Woah now. Isn't that interesting? Jesus is like - dude, you're the man, then like five seconds later when Jesus tells his crew that he's going to have to die, Peter puts up a stink about it, trying to tell Jesus to back down. Now I can identify with Peter in many ways. First off, I too have a fickle heart. Super happy and joyous one day, then another day grumpy and tired - I think we can all relate, despite our best efforts to remain consistent. But I would probably also be up in arms about my Saviour telling me that He has to die.
I personally think that stories like this aren't in the bible so we can roll our eyes at Peter and say "man, how could he have been so stupid". I think they are there to show us how human we are. Just like Thomas - "Doubting Thomas". Eveyone always talks about silly 'ol doubting Thomas, but I think most of them probably were doubting and Thomas was the only one to have the guts to say anything about it.
People are people. All have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God. Pastors, fathers, mothers, friends, husbands, wives, we are all equal in the sight of God and we are all humans - humans that can mess things up. Peter, who was very succesfull (replace Peter with anyone that you highly respect as a Christian) can easily lose sight of what is Heaven bound.
So... I encourage you! Don't beat yourself up because you make mistakes - you are not God! Get up, shake off the dust and move forward. There's so much JOY that the Lord has, so use it up. The whole "woe is me" needs to be taken out with the trash. Get excited about Emmanuel - GOD IS WITH US. Woohoo! I am happy that my Saviour loves me and is here. That He doesn't abandon me when he sees my plethera of faults, so I might as well get real with Him and be honest :P
Be blessed my friends.