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¹ Jesus then took Pete, James, and John with him up on a mountain. ² It was on this mountain that Jesus was changed completely. His face shone brighter than the noonday sun and his clothes turned bright white. ³ All of a sudden, two great cowboys from the past, Moses and Elijah, stood there with them, visitin' with Jesus.

⁴ Pete told Jesus, "I wouldn't have missed this for the world! I'm gonna put up three tents—one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."

⁵ While Pete was still runnin' his mouth, a big bright cloud surrounded everyone. A voice from the cloud said, "This is my Boy and I sure enough love him and he makes me proud. Listen to every word he says!"

⁶ When Pete, James, and John heard this, they fell flat on the ground and whimpered like weaned pups. ⁷ But Jesus reached down and helped them up and told them, "Don't be scared!"

⁸ When they stood up, Jesus was the only one standin' there.

⁹ As they rode down the mountain, Jesus told them, "Don't say anything about this to anyone until I have been raised from the dead."

¹⁰ They asked him, "Why do the religious teachers say that old cowboy Elijah must come back first?"

¹¹ Jesus said, "Sure enough, a cowboy like Elijah comes and will make all things new. ¹² But here's the thing, a cowboy like Elijah has already come and they didn't even recognize him. They treated him sorry and they will do the same to me." ¹³ The cowboys realized Jesus was talkin' about his buddy John the Baptist.

Jesus Heals a Possessed Kid

¹⁴ They rode up to a crowd of people and a man came and knelt in the dirt before Jesus. ¹⁵ "Lord, please help my boy!" he said. "He has fits and suffers terribly. He falls into the fire and into the water trough. ¹⁶ I took him to some of your cowboys, but they couldn't help him."

¹⁷ Jesus said, "Good grief! Where is all of y'alls faith? How long am I gonna have to stick around and hold y'alls hands? I don't know how much more I can put up with. Bring that boy over here." ¹⁸ Jesus looked at the boy and told the demon that was possessing him to get out. From that moment, the boy was fine.

¹⁹ The cowboys asked Jesus, "How come we couldn't rope and drag that ol' demon out?"

²⁰ Jesus said, "Cause you don't have a squirt of faith. With a bit of faith, you could move mountains; anything is possible. ²¹ But this kind don't shuck loose without prayer and fasting."

²² When all his cowboys had gathered with him near Galilee, he told 'em, "I'm gonna be double-crossed. ²³ They're gonna string me up, but on the third day after, I'm gonna be raised from the dead and brought back to life." The cowboys all looked down and some of them cried.

Pete and the Catfish

²⁴ When Jesus and his boys rode into Capernaum, a tax collector pulled Pete aside and asked if Jesus paid the church tax.

²⁵ "Of course he does!" Pete boasted.

When Pete caught up with the others, Jesus asked him, "Pete, do you think the governor of this territory or his family pays taxes for his salary or does he just make other people pay them?"

²⁶ "He don't pay taxes to himself. He just makes others pay them," Pete replied. "Then his sons don't have to pay the taxes either," Jesus said. ²⁷ "I don't want to start any trouble here so I'll pay the tax that keeps my Father's house runnin' even though I don't have to. But I want you to go down to that pond and catch a fish. When you catch that catfish, open its mouth and there will be enough money for my tax and yours. Ride into town and pay it."