Warning: The following essay is rife with content that is graphic in nature, which may disturb those who have a weak constitution. The experience described is commonplace for parents of young children, but has the potential to shock those who have not undergone the various trials of parenthood. I have recorded the experience with what I believe to be a redeeming spiritual insight or two which I hope will edify the reader, so you may choose to read on, or stop right here. Either way, you have been warned...
Fortunately, it was bath night, so I was already intending to dunk Norah into the tub. I had already given Jack his bath and had taken him into his room to dry him off and get him in his pajamas when I heard Norah scream. It wasn’t her loudest scream, but it was troubled and I could tell as soon as I heard it that she was on the verge of crying. I left Jack sitting on the changing table and rushed into the bathroom to find that Norah had diarrhea, but had not made it to the toilet... the poor girl was standing there not sure what to do. It was on her clothes, on her and all over the bathmat. I called out to Christy for help with Jack so that he didn’t take a swan dive off of the changing table and rushed back into the bathroom to sort out the you know what.
I managed to get Norah out of the rest of her clothes and onto the toilet. I managed to start the new bath water and I managed to comfort Norah, I think. The situation was fairly under control with the exception of one huge factor: I had no idea how to handle the bathmat. I mean, I knew it needed to go into the washing machine, (if not the trash can) but what to do with all the excess stuff? I felt like I need to get rid of that first before I could head to the washing machine, but I was at a total loss. I was thinking hard, tiptoeing around the problem with the grace and skill of a ballet dancer. Norah watched me with wide eyes and said, “Dad, be careful. You don’t want to get any poo on your socks!”
Finally Christy finished with Jack and came to check on us. I just looked up and said, “I’m not really sure what to do at this point.” I have to pause the story here and say that this was one of those moments in observing motherhood that filled me with awe and thankfulness for my wife. Without hesitating, without even blinking, she said, “I know what to do” and got to work. In the blink of an eye she produced a cup out of thin air and started scooping up the offending spot. In about two seconds, she had the problem solved, Norah in the bath, laughing and singing, and the bathmat in the washing machine, soaking in detergent and oxy clean. I had a meeting at church that night and by the time I got home, Norah was sleeping peacefully in her bed; clean, happy and at rest. The bathmat was back on the bathroom floor, clean as a whistle and Christy was on the couch paying all the bills with a smile on her face as if nothing at all had ever happened.
What!?
When I think back on that little scene, I am reminded of our Father in heaven who always knows what to do when we’re sick with sin, stuck, confused, helpless, upset and dirty. I think about 1 John 1:9 which says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” I think about Zechariah chapter 3 when the High Priest Joshua stood before the Lord covered in dirty clothes with Satan on his right side accusing him. Joshua didn’t know what to do! He was helpless and stuck, but the Lord said, “Take off his filthy clothes... See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put rich garments on you.” Just like a mother in the midst of the mess, our Lord knows what to do and He has done it! And we rest at ease in our beds on the other side of mercy, clean and at peace.
Fly On
Anna started first grade this week... FIRST GRADE!! Are you kidding me?! I know I probably said this when she started Kindergarten last year, but: How did this happen!? And how in the world was Kindergarten a year ago!? Was it really almost seven years ago that I first held her in the hospital? Didn’t she just start giggling a few weeks ago? Wasn’t it only yesterday that she started walking? Oh man, this is going so fast it’s making my head spin... I can’t slow her down and there’s no hope of stopping this madness. Everyone said that these years would fly past us and they were right... Anna just keeps on flapping her sweet little wings right in front of us. Before we know it, she’ll be gone.
As we dropped her off for first grade on Monday, it hit me just how desperate my prayers for her are becoming. I find myself gripping my pen a little too tightly as I scrawl out frantic pleas to the Lord. I’m begging Him to help her, to draw her to Himself, to pour out His love into her heart through the Holy Spirit and to give her a heart that loves to be His. I pray that He’ll guide her, shepherd her through the mess of this world along the pathway of some beautiful plan that He’s hatched for her very best. Everyday she gets bigger and older and more independent of her little ‘ole earthly dad and the more aware of it I am, the more desperate my prayers become.
In Psalm 127, Solomon said that children are like arrows. “Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are sons born in one's youth.” As much as you want to, you’re not supposed to hold on to your kids, you’re supposed to shoot them out there and send them flying through the air, blazing the trail of God’s will for their lives. The night before Anna’s first day of Kindergarten, as hard as it was for her to utter the words, my wife held Anna’s hand and prayed over that little arrow, that the Lord would shoot her out there far and swift. Maybe I’m overreacting... it’s only first grade after all, and we’ve still got a long way to go, but it’s tough. I’m putting all of my eggs in the basket of the Holy Spirit.
This is a good thing and it’s teaching me some difficult, but necessary stuff about control. See,the main reason I’m scared about the future and about my kids is that in some way, I must still think that I have some control over them and over what’s going to happen to them. Well, I don’t. We don’t have control over anything! In fact, our Lord said, “Don’t swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black.” Anna is in God’s hands. She belongs to Him. She’s really His child anyway, and so am I. It’s good to let go, to trust God and to let Him do is job. As these painful truths were hitting me in the face early one morning, this song eased its way out of my quaking little heart:
LITTLE BIRD
Fly on my little bird
Right up above the clouds
Sweet wind, won’t You carry her
She’s in your hands now
I can’t see where her feet are gonna light
But You can keep those little wings in flight,
She’s in Your sight
(CHORUS)
Hold her near when she breaks her little wing
‘Cause I long to hear the flying song she sings,
So let it ring
(CHORUS
Debt
Being is debt is the worst. It feels like a trap. See, if you’re in debt, it’s because you couldn’t afford to pay for something in the first place, but you got it anyway and now the amount you couldn't afford continually grows more unaffordable all the time even though the whatever it was you couldn’t afford is getting more and more old and worn out. Wow. Not only that, but sometimes you may even get your debt turned over to a collection agency, which is about the worst feeling ever. I’m not totally sure what a collection agency is actually like, but when you get a notice from one in the mail, all you can think about is how much you like your thumbs, how useful they really are and how much you want to keep them. Figures of imaginary and very large Russians with big fists and even larger guns fly into your fragile mind unbidden and all you can think about is getting out of debt!
I remember when we got our first cell phones... we were newlyweds and didn’t know anything about anything. We got the phones, signed the contract and spent the next couple of days calling everyone we knew and talking to them forever. We had no idea that the first bill included two months fees plus a start-up fee. Combined with our naive and outrageous overages, our first bill was over $600!! And did I mention we were broke, collegiate newlyweds?!? It didn’t take long for us to open up the mailbox and find that little yellow slip of paper letting us know that our delinquent bill was being handed over to a collection agency! My heart dropped down into my shoes as I started nervously looking around for the Russians...
Being in debt is like being in prison, and until you’re free of it, your trapped. When you wake up, your joy is sapped and you wind up living the whole day in a state of oppression. Debt is the worst... unless its the good kind, that is. You see, the other day I was reading Romans 13 and it turns out that all of us are actually in debt all the time. You may not know it, but you woke up today in debt, and tomorrow, you will wake up in debt. This will be true of you for the rest of your life, and it’s actually a very good thing. Paul says, “Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another.”
You are in debt right now to the people around you, and what do you owe them? Love. Here’s the thing about this debt though: it doesn’t have to be an oppressive prison. In fact, it can be awesome! The reason debt is usually so awful is because you don’t have the money; you can’t pay your debt. You don’t have what it takes. But this debt is different! If Jesus lives inside you, the love of God is flowing through you like rivers of Living Water, giving you the power to actually love everyone. It’s cool... it’s like, you have a debt to love everyone, but you can actually pay this debt, and what’s more, it feels good to pay it! When you ask God to give you the power to really love the folks around you, you’re being the person you were made to be, and nothing fills you up more than that. Halleluah! We’re in debt, and it’s awesome!
His Own
“Hell on wheels.” he said. “I mean, I’m trying to slow down, but right now all He would see is hell on wheels.”
Darren’s response landed hard on the linoleum floors of that stuffy, cinder-block room. I was back at the Anderson County Jail and we were all sitting on metal folding chairs in the weekly Bible Study that, for at least one guy there, is the only church he’s ever known. I asked the guys this question: “How do you think God sees you?” As soon as I said it, three guys just dropped their heads. Others averted their eyes and some just stared blankly right past me or right through me. Darren shook his head and told us all that God basically sees him going to hell and quickly. Another guy pointed to the page of lyrics that we just finished singing and said, “The first verse of this song pretty much sums it up for me. That is me. That’s how He sees me.”
He was pointing to the lyrics of a brand new song written just this morning, and specifically for those guys. The song is called “His Own” and it’s all about pointing out the difference in who we used to be compared with who we truly are now. It goes like this:
HIS OWN
I was lost, I was aimless
I was broken, I was hopeless
I was hurt, I was lonely
Thinking of myself only
But Jesus made me His own
I’m righteous, forgiven, I’m totally clean
I’m headed to heaven, a child of the King
I’ll never be judged or condemned or alone
‘Cause Jesus has made me His own
I was hard, I was angry
I was trapped, who could save me?
But Jesus died, spilled His own blood
Gave His life out of His love
Now I am His own
(CHORUS)
I was dead, my life showed it
I needed hope and didn’t know it
Now I live, now I’m set free
Now I can be a new me
Since He made me His own
(CHORUS)
We talked about how Jesus paid for all our wrong so that He doesn’t see us in those old ways anymore and He never will again! Sure, I’ve been a mess. Sure, I’ve been a lawbreaker and a liar and a thief and host of other horrible things... yes, those things are true of me, but there is something else that is true of me and this truth is deeper and more true than anything else. It is that Jesus died for me, making me His, which means that I am forgiven and free and righteous and holy in the sight of God. I am completely loved and clean and acceptable. I am His.
This past week I got to watch my favorite songwriter, Andrew Peterson perform songs from his new album. It was a beautiful concert and I won’t soon forget it. But the moment that really stuck in my head was when he sang with such certainty these words,
“I’ve got voices that scream in my head like a siren
Fears that I feel in the night when I sleep
Stupid choices I made when I played in the mire
Like a kid in the mud on some dirty blind street
I’ve got sorrow to spare, I’ve got loneliness too
I’ve got blood on these hands that hold on to the truth
That I am a priest and a prince in the Kingdom of God”
As we left the small cinder-block room at the end of Bible Study, one of the guys came up to me and said, “Bring that new song back next week. We need to sing that one again.”
The Best God in the World
Last week some folks in our church gave up a whole week just to love on the kids in our church and give them five days in a row of fun, laughter and partying in Jesus’ name. Whoa, it looked like a BLAST! Everyday my kids came home so pumped, so worn out and so totally in love with Jesus! Man, you can’t beat that. There were sandboxes, homemade t-shirts, cheers, delicious food, a bounce house, a giant slip n’ slide and about a million water balloons and the whole thing went down under the umbrella of loving Jesus... not only that, but it meant that the moms of those kids got five days off from being total, full-time moms! Man, everybody wins!
During the week, all the kids put together a little something that they wanted to present at church during the worship service. It was their version of something called ‘Cardboard Testimonies’ where traditionally, a person will basically tell their whole story in about 15 seconds, using two sides of a big piece of cardboard. One side says, “I used to be this.” or, “I used to do that.” and then they flip the cardboard over and it tells how Jesus changed their lives... well, five-year-olds don’t really have too much of that sort of thing to share about, so they just made their testimonies about “Why I Love Jesus.” Each little kid held a big board that said, “I love Jesus because...” on one side, then they flipped it over and the cards said things like, “He made the world” or, “He let my Mommy have a baby” or “He loves me.”
They were all really cute, and I even got choked up a bit when Anna and Norah flipped their little signs, displaying their sweet love for Jesus for all to see, but my favorite cardboard testimony that morning was written by a little girl named Bethany. She walked to the front of the stage, held up her sign that read, “I love Jesus because...” and then flipped it over and it read “He’s the BEST God in the whole world.”
Wow. I’ve been thinking about that unbelievable bit of theological insight ever since Sunday morning! There are so many things in this world that are trying to be like gods... so many things making promises to fill you up, give you life, tell you you’re important, and on and on, but they can’t deliver! How often do we expect things other than God to do things for us that only God can do?! We think money will make us feel important. We think the right job or the best houses and cars will make us feel like our life has real meaning. We think that government or a specific party or ideology can meet our needs. We think certain relationships will tell us we are loved and wanted and yet, none of these things can really, truly fill us up! None of these things can do for us what Jesus can! There are many things in this world making promises, many things acting like ‘gods’ but only One can really be God. Of all the ‘gods’ in this world, only One can really fill you up! As Bethany said, Jesus is “the BEST God in the whole world.”
Psalm 48 put it this way, “This God will be our God forever and ever, He will be our Guide even to the end.”
Taking Words With You
Raising humans is hard stuff. Mainly because you wind up spending most of your time furiously arm-wrestling that hereditary selfishness which was passed from Adam to the nameless generations of goofballs, through you and right on down to them. You spend years training them to use their manners and ask for things politely, only to watch them clank their fork down on the plate, down their whole glass of juice in one, (complete with raucous gulps) slam the glass down and belch so loudly the neighbors scoff and shake their heads in horrified disapproval. Then, while you’re still reeling from such a Viking-esque display of barbarous impropriety, that same child looks at you and says, “Hey, Dad. Juice. Here. Now.”
Wait, how did this happen?! You’re thinking to yourself, “They’re so cute, and we’ve been so consistent! How is it that they still don’t always use the so-called ‘magic’ words?” That’s when you, the parent, decide enough is enough. You bow up and take your stand... “No girl, I don’t get juice for people who rudely demand things.” Boom! Deal with that! The challenged child (hopefully) backs down, says I’m sorry and politely asks for the juice.
The question I’ve been asking myself lately is this: “Is it a big deal? It is really all that important that our kids say “Please” and “Thank you” about everything? Are we teaching them a true and valuable lesson, or are we merely passing down a meaningless convention? Well, I actually think it matters, and here’s why: The word ‘Thank’ actually comes from the word, “to think.” It’s like saying, “Hey, someone did something for you. Think about that... you should express your gratitude.” Please and thank you are ways of expressing the fact that you are at someone else’s mercy... it’s humbling and good. It’s as if certain words actually temper and steer your attitude.
This morning I read a really cool verse in Hosea chapter 14. He says, “Take words with you and return to the LORD. Say to him: "Forgive all our sins and receive us graciously, that we may offer the fruit of our lips. Assyria cannot save us; we will not mount war-horses. We will never again say 'Our gods' to what our own hands have made, for in you the fatherless find compassion.”
Wow. Not only are we supposed to go to the Lord, but we aren’t supposed go empty handed! We’re supposed to take words with us... take words that temper and steer our attitudes. We’re supposed to go into His presence asking for forgiveness! We’re supposed to go in asking to be received! We’re supposed to express the fact that other things in our lives we used to trust in can’t save us! We’re supposed to admit that only He can fill us up! When we go to meet with Him, we ought to go armed to the teeth with certain words that will guide our hearts into a place of worship and trust. We ought to live all day with words on our lips that express that fact that we are at His mercy! If we take words with us on purpose, we’ll prime the pump for the kinds of hearts He’s looking to find!
For His Own Sake
Jack likes walking. When he first started moving about on two legs, he couldn’t decide whether he liked walking or crawling more, but that was only because he was still a bit faster on all fours. Now that he has the balance thing all worked out, he loves to walk and I believe that one of the reasons he likes walking is that he hates having dirty hands. If Jack stumbles in the dirt or mulch, he scoffs at the debris hanging on to those little chunky mitts. He wipes his dirty paws on his hair and on his clothes... anything to get the gunk off. Back in the day, when his hands got dirty, he would just look at them, crinkle his face up and cry until someone wiped them off, but now he takes charge because he likes to be clean.
The thing is, as much as Jack likes being clean, it’s nothing compared to how much Christy and I like him to be clean. He loves his bath and even says the word “bath” with much enthusiasm, but we’re the ones who take the initiative to clean him up. I would never have been able to explain this to my fourteen-year-old self, but there is almost nothing cuter and sweeter in this world than a little baby fresh out of the bath! Toweling off that soft, pudgy skin and slipping fresh pj’s over that fluffy head is one of the best things about being a parent... there’s just something in our hearts that not only loves that baby, but loves him to be all fresh and clean. As much as he wants that, we want it even more.
The other day I was reading Isaiah 43 and I was asking God to encourage me... to tell me He loved me and fill my heart with something for that day when I came upon a verse that says, “I, even I am He who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.”
Whoa! Sometimes it would be easy to think that God simply tolerates me... that out His outrageous mercy He saved me because I was so messed up and needed to be saved, and wanted to be saved, but that deep down He doesn’t really like me all that much; but look at this! He saved us and forgave us for His own sake! Can you handle this? Sure, I need forgiveness and I love being forgiven, but that’s not the only reason why I’m forgiven! My relationship with God isn’t based on or rooted in my desire or even my need so much as His love! When I wasn’t seeking Him, He was coming after me! When I was running the other way and didn’t want Him, He wanted me! When I needed Him but didn’t even know it or want Him, He saved me for His own sake... in other words, because He just wanted to! He wanted us. As much as we love being His and being clean, He loves having us as His own even more! He doesn’t just tolerate you or put up with you... He is absolutely crazy about you!
Wedding Day
This past week I found myself hiking up Sharp Top Mountain in Jasper, Georgia surrounded by 400 something high schoolers and Young Life leaders, when one of my favorite high school guys asked me to tell them the story of how Christy and I wound up together. It was a hot morning on day five of Young Life’s week long summer camp at Sharp Top Cove and I was glad to have a story to tell and questions to answer, because it made the steep climb that much more enjoyable. Step by step, the story of our life together unfolded in my memory and came out on the trail. I talked about our first kiss and about those two long years dating long distance. I talked about finally living in the same town and then getting engaged... it was at this particular point that we realized the small group of four or five girls hiking in front of us were listening in... I told the part about how I am the only boy my wife has ever kissed and well, they sort of exploded with girly sighs and admitted that they were listening intently to every detail and asked me to please continue.
I told these kids about how almost everyone tried to talk us out of getting married in college but how it wound up being the best decision we ever made. I told them how sweet and fun it was to know you’d never be alone again now that you could have a slumber party with your best friend every night... I thought about the day we were married almost nine years ago, August 3rd, 2001. I remembered being outside at the Museum of Appalachia surrounded by peacocks and sheep and everyone we loved. I remembered how it had rained all morning, but when that hot august sun burst through those clouds, the rain that had fallen became a mist rolling along the tall, green grass. And I still remember the way I felt when my bride appeared at the end of the aisle smiling wide and walking toward me through the mist like a princess from the very best of fairy tales.
Whoa.
I was a man undone by love, gratitude and joy... joy like palpable flame... red hot gladness pouring from my eyes, down past my cheek to my freshly pressed suit. I was happier than I had ever been... happy in my bride. She was all my joy.
This morning I woke reluctantly and dragged my groggy self out of bed early. I opened my journal and started scratching out illegible prayers. I told the Lord that I was about to go to the Scriptures and I needed Him to open my heart to His word and to open His word to my mind. I asked Him to tell me something... to give me something for this day. I turned to Isaiah 62 and read this: “As a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you.”
Wow. Really, Lord? That’s the way you feel about me? The way I felt that day when Christy came down the aisle? The way I felt last night when I watched her beautiful face fall so sweetly asleep? You feel that way about me?! You love me like that? Oh man... who can bear this? Who can handle it? How can I cope with the gravity of this love, this truth, and yet, how could I ever live without it?
My Own Worst Enemy
A couple of weeks ago Christy had to run some errands, which meant that I was going to be with the kids, making dinner and cleaning up. I wanted to keep them occupied and interested in something while I made dinner so that they didn’t just trash the house, so I came up with the idea of having them write and illustrate story books for Christy. First of all, let me say that in my extremely biased opinion, both of these monumental works should be published. Norah wrote a story about a butterfly and decided to employ the very Avant-Garde technique of using precisely the same illustration for every page of the book. Anna wrote a book about rainbows which is very informative and entertaining and uses the correct color order on every rainbow.
The thing that surprised me in the midst of all this creative output was Anna’s attitude toward her own book. During the process of writing and drawing, she kept looking over at Norah’s book and encouraging her. She would tell Norah how much liked the butterflies she was drawing and how pretty it looked and then she would follow up by bashing her own drawings, saying things like, “Norah, your book is really beautiful, but I think my book is just really ugly.” Now, you may be thinking, “Well, she was just fishing for compliments... she just wanted to hear someone tell her how awesome her book was.” And maybe that’s the case, but I don’t really think so. When she’s pumped about something she’s done, she’s not afraid to say it. In this case, she seemed to be sincere. I encouraged her a ton about her story and her illustrations, which were really, very cool, but she was convinced it wasn’t very good.
I think most folks do this kind of thing to themselves constantly. I know I do. We don’t see what we’re good at, we don’t know what we’re doing here, we want to be used by God, but don’t really know if that’s happening. If you’re like me, you may even catch an occasional glimpse of how God is using you, only to think, “Yeah, but I bet He’s settling. I’m pretty sure He’d rather use someone else for this...” What I’m talking about isn’t just low self-esteem, it’s spiritual self-sabotage. I look around at other folks and see God at work in their lives, but then I look at myself and see mainly my failures, struggles and doubts. As Mike Mason said one time, if I had any friends that spoke to me the way I speak to myself, I’d fire them as my friend!
In 1 Peter 2, he says, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” In Colossians 3, Paul calls us, “God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved.” You see, the solution to this issue is not about having more self confidence... it’s simply about believing God! He says He picked me. He says I’m different than other folks to Him. He says I’m one of His people. He says I’m holy and dearly loved! He says He wanted me because He loved me. When it comes right down to it, I don’t have the right to make more of myself than God does, but at the same time, I don’t have any right to say anything less about myself than God does either. If He says it, He means it and it’s true. I’m lovable, useful and special to God, and so are you.
Waiting
Doesn’t it seem like a lot of our lives are devoted to waiting? Think about it... in the morning, we wait for the water to heat up, wait for the toaster to pop, wait for the bathroom to be free and wait to find out if it’s a snow day or not. We wait for the kids to get their socks and shoes on, wait for a good song on the radio, wait at the red light, wait for coffee in the drive through and then wait for that guy to take his sweet time pulling out of our parking space. We wait for that lady to read the nutrition label on every single can of soup twice before making a choice so we can grab the one we’ve been staring at for 27 minutes and then we wait for that same lady to be the only human being on planet earth who still writes checks. We wait on prescriptions as well as roller coasters and we can’t wait for our favorite movie to be released. In the late eighties, some of us were even “Waiting on a Star to Fall.”
By the way, has anyone found the loophole when it comes to the waiting room at a doctor’s office? I mean, some people say you have to get there 15 minutes early or you’ll have to wait for an hour, but I’ve arrived over 30 minutes early and had to wait longer than an hour. On the other hand, I’ve had times where I’ve arrived right on time or a couple minutes late and by the time I’m done with the co-pay, they were calling my name! It doesn’t even help to sit down in the waiting room and count the people who were already there, mentally blocking the ones who arrive after you to figure out when you will go, because they skip the line half the time! Then there is the awkwardness of all the other folks in the waiting room... do I talk to them? Do I pretend they don’t exist? Do I try to become friends or simply refuse eye contact? Do I tell them their kid is cute even though mine is way more cute? I mean, what in the world are we supposed to do during all this waiting?!
This morning I read a really cool couple of verses in Luke 23. This was right after our Lord was crucified. Luke says, “Now there was a man named Joseph, a member of the Council, a good and upright man, who had not consented to their decision and action. He came from the Judean town of Arimathea and he was waiting for the kingdom of God. Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus' body. Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid.”
The thing that really struck me about this passage was the way Luke said Joseph was “waiting for the kingdom of God.” Usually waiting means doing nothing... I would have thought waiting for the kingdom of God might mean sitting around on your hands just waiting for God to make this thing happen, but that’s not the way Joseph waited! Luke says that his waiting involved a whole lot of action! He stood up to the rest of the Sanhedrin when he thought they were wrong. When Jesus was dead, He stood up in Pilate’s face and asked for the body. Then he tenderly wrapped the body and placed our Lord in his own brand new tomb.
It turns out that the Greek word we’ve translated “waiting” is used other places in the New Testament and the other times it’s used, it’s translated “looking for,” “accepting” and even “receiving” like in Luke 15:2 when they criticized Jesus because they said, “This man receives sinners.” It’s the same word! Joseph of Arimathea wasn’t just sitting on his can waiting for the kingdom! No, he was looking for the kingdom, accepting what the kingdom means, receiving what kingdom folks have to go through! He was standing up for what’s right even though people didn’t like him because of it! He was tenderly showing love to Jesus when no one else was looking and even when no one else was around. I want to be like that! I want to wait like he did!
Something to Sing About
Lately, whenever I write praise songs, I write them with my brothers who are in jail in mind. I think it’s because their issues and struggles are so clear and easy to pin down that the lyrics just flow naturally. All I have to do is just think about Unit 2 at the Anderson County Detention Facility and imagine I’m in there... I think about what I would need to hear, what I would need to sing about and what I would need to hold onto in order to stay encouraged and loving Jesus. I think about what those guys share and what they have to go through and the songs just write themselves! The great thing I’ve learned from doing this is that these so-called ‘jail’ songs work just fine in our worship services at Christ Community with folks who have never been within a mile of the lockup! In fact, these songs (which are often lyrically more direct than other praise songs) have been absolute home runs with our church people and I think it all has to do with the fact that incarcerated or not, we all basically have the same spiritual struggles and needs!
We all need to be reminded all the time that Jesus still loves us and wants us, no matter how bad we’ve been. We all need to sing about the fact that not only is it okay if we can’t make it on our own, it’s actually better that way! We all need to be told daily that we are weak and completely needy. We all need to be singing about the fact that Jesus didn’t just halfway save us from some of our sins, but He set us free completely from all of our wrong, past, present and future! Our newest praise song for the jail is called “I’m Going Home” and it’s all about heaven... man, you should have heard those brothers singing that song in Unit 2! They had never heard it before, but they brought it like it was their job! Not only that, but we sang the song at CCC on sunday morning and they brought it too!
Tom and I were at the jail one day and one of the brothers told me that the previous Friday marked his third year in Unit 2. Whew... I couldn’t handle that information. I mean, it’s a rough place to be for one hour a week. I can’t imagine three years there with a wife and a little girl on the outside. I asked myself, “What would I be desperate to know and sing about if I had just served my third year in this place?” ...and then I remembered the words of Jesus in John 14 where He said, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” I remembered the words of Paul in 2 Timothy 4 which say, “In the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.”
I would want to sing about heaven! I would be ‘loving His appearing’ and dreaming about that Great Day! Over and over again in the Scriptures, the hope of the Gospel is the hope of heaven: that we have a home that is not of this world - that we have a place we were truly made for where there will be no more pain, sorrow, sin or death ever again - that Jesus Himself is coming back for us to take us to be with Him forever! Oh man, if that’s true, then I can make it through anything! If heaven is real, I can make it through the tough and confusing times, the sad and hopeless times and really whatever kind of times come my way! If this life is short and then at the end, (because I have believed in Jesus) I get to be with Him forever in endless joy and sweet, ceaseless fellowship with everyone who loves Him, well then, I can make it through just about whatever... Now that’s something to sing about!
Isaiah 25 says, “O LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done marvelous things, things planned long ago... On this mountain the LORD Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine— the best of meats and the finest of wines. On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; he will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth. The LORD has spoken. In that day they will say, "Surely this is our God; we trusted in him, and he saved us. This is the LORD, we trusted in him; let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation."
Fruit For You
So, Christy got me this new book all about how the Beatles recorded their innovative and unbelievable albums and one of the things that I’ve learned in reading this book is how cut-throat a producer can be... See, a record producer’s job back then was simply to make hit records. They had one goal, which was commercial success and they would do anything to achieve it. For instance, the classic Beatles song, “Love Me Do” has a different drummer on it! Apparently Ringo couldn’t get the part right, so the legendary producer, George Martin simply hired another drummer! It didn’t matter that Ringo was angry, hurt and humiliated by this. It only mattered that the drums on “Love Me Do” sounded right. And, apparently George Harrison often labored unsuccessfully to get his guitar solo right, like on the song “Taxman” where he struggled in vain to play a passable take for over three hours. Finally, George Martin walked in the studio and said that Paul McCartney was going to play the solo. Harrison started yelling at the producer and finally stormed out of the studio! Fortunately for the album, Paul laid down an unbelievable part on the very first take.
I think there’s a part of me that sometimes wonders if God is like a record producer... what I mean is, I know He’s after a final product. I know He’s interested in yield and sometimes I feel afraid that if I don’t produce, He’s not interested in me because what He wants is a hit, whether or not I’m even on it. I mean, look at John 15 where Jesus says, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.”
Jesus says God is a farmer who wants fruit! He wants that final product, and He’ll do whatever He’s got to do to get it! Look at Ephesians 4 where Paul says, “Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called.” He wants us to walk this thing. He wants results... but you know what, I don’t think that’s all He wants.
This week, Jack started to walk on his own. Most kids his age have been walking for a while, but Jack has taken his time to get there. Most likely he’s struggled because of his hearing and balance. He recently had surgery on his ears and the doctor said that he’s pretty sure Jack couldn’t hear a thing, but either way, it’s been a long time coming. I’ve been holding his little fingers and conducting walking practice like crazy for months. I really want him to walk. When I finally saw him walking for the first time by himself, I cried. I was going crazy with excitement and crying. The thing is, if Jack never, ever walked, I’d still love the guy and I’d be glad to carry him everywhere. I want him to walk, but I want him to walk because walking is good for him. It’s better that way. God wants us to walk with Him. He wants us to be fruitful, but not just because He wants a stocked up fruit stand. He wants you to be fruitful, because it’s better for you. You’re better that way. He’s not just some record producer looking for hits at the expense of the band; no, He loves you and wants to see the best you for your own sake. A fruitful you is a better you for you and that’s what He wants.
Panic!
Last weekend we had to go to a wedding rehearsal in Loudon Tennessee (about an hour away) and we decided to take the girls with us. I know how to get to Loudon, but didn’t know exactly how to get to the wedding rehearsal location, so we followed some friends who knew the way. Everything was going along wonderfully when all of a sudden a car got in between us and the car we were following. I didn’t think a thing of it, but Anna hit the roof! “Dad! Dad! Drive faster! We can’t even see Ty’s car! Are we going to be lost forever!?” Norah followed this dramatic spiel of Anna’s by simply screaming out, “Dad! Why do you drive so SLOW!?!” I looked in the rear-view mirror to see Anna’s face contorted with pure panic. It was as if she had just realized she had been kidnapped or something. She was breathing loudly and way too fast, and simply couldn’t hear me explain that everything was okay because I was fairly confident that I could make it to the interstate, having driven this road about seventeen thousand times...
I tried to explain to Anna that I could still follow Ty’s car even if another car got in between us, but it was no use. Literally every single time someone else filled in the empty space between our two cars, Anna gasped, winced or in some other way freaked out about my slow driving and the fact that we were destined to wind up stranded and alone, lost in the inhabitable wilderness that is Knox County. The absolutely palpable tension was ridiculous. I simply could not convince Anna that I knew what I was doing and that she could just sit back, relax and enjoy the ride while I steered her faithfully to her destination. I tried to explain the subtle intricacies and etiquette of following another car on the interstate, but it didn’t make any difference. After all, Anna’s only driving experience can be summed up with a purple Barbie jeep powered by a 12 volt battery in my driveway. No matter what I said, it didn’t land. She couldn’t get it.
When I think back on that night, I am reminded of Isaiah 55 which says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
You see, there is absolutely no reason for me to freak out or worry about any of the things that happen in my life. The Bible says over and over again that God is in total and complete control of every single thing that happens in this world! As Dave Roper said, “There is no maverick molecule in this universe.” Paul, in Ephesians 1:11 says, “we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will.” Psalm 115:3 says, “Our God is in heaven, He does whatever pleases Him.” When I call into question the circumstances and struggles of my life, I am basically saying that God doesn’t know what He’s doing and that I would be much better at His job! The truth of the matter is that God, in His genius fashion, is working out everything in my life for my best; and His plans, His thoughts and His ways are so far over my head, so high above my own, that I could never understand why He does the things He does. If He were to explain it all to me, I wouldn’t understand half of it! I don’t need to panic! I need to sit back, relax and let Him drive...
Fads
Well, they’ve done it again... someone, somewhere has come up with an idea so ridiculously simple and so sickeningly obvious that no one else even saw it coming, and as a result they got the jumpstart on a very specific and short-lived industry that will undoubtedly make millions of dollars. Now, these types of things come and go, but while they’re in, they’re so in and you’re only in if you have them. When I was a kid, the fad was called “Slap Bracelets” which were basically springy little pieces of tin covered in decorative cloth that snapped around a person’s wrist. Wow. There have been Cabbage Patch dolls, Beanie Babies, Crocs Buttons and on and on. The newest fad on the block is called “Silly Bandz” and believe it or not, some genius had the idea of making a rubber band mold shaped like an animal instead of a regular circle. You wear the animal-shaped rubber band around your wrist like a bracelet, and then when you take it off, it goes back to the molded animal shape... So, the manufacturer can basically make any shape and any color. Cha-Ching!
Somebody out there is laughing right now... About a year and a half ago, a guy in Ohio came up with the idea to pour colored silicone into variously shaped molds and started telling folks about it. The word of mouth advertising took a while to fire up, but now there is a website, a facebook group and a twitter feed. As you would expect, there are even tons of copycat companies trying to get in on the frenzy, although the ‘Silly Bandz’ official website warns me not to be “fooled by imitators.” Okay, I’ll bear that in mind. There are even Christian toy makers who have started to manufacture so-called Believer Bands... yep, that’s right, rubber bands shaped like crosses and fish are being touted as a ministry tool so that kids have “a new way to share their faith.” This fad has become so popular that many stores have to limit their customers to just a few packages per purchase and in the hands of the kids, it has become such a fierce social trade industry that many school systems have banned the bands altogether!
I have no doubt that within another year or two, the folks at Silly Bandz will pack up their gecko-shaped molds, disable their flashy website and laugh all the way to the bank as the fad dies away as quickly as it took the world by storm. No self-respecting third grader will be caught dead wearing a funky, purple giraffe around her wrist and our landfills will be packed with the rubbery remains of the money-making menagerie. and that’s how it works... fads come and go. Sometimes, they go quite a bit faster than they came. When you look around these days, you don’t have to search long to find people in another kind of frenzy. Folks are fired up, emotional and possibly inordinately engaged in a kind of fad. I think the Bible would call the fad ‘human arrogance’... and it is expressed in all kinds of popular crazes like money, material possessions, fame, beauty, sports and governments of men. I know, I know, all these things have always been with us for thousands of years, so how could they be called a fad? I would say they are fads because, just as sure as they are empty, they are on the way out and in the grand scheme of things, thousands of years will only be a drop in the bucket.
Isaiah chapter 2 says, “The LORD Almighty has a day in store for all the proud and lofty, for all that is exalted (and they will be humbled), for all the cedars of Lebanon, tall and lofty, and all the oaks of Bashan, for all the towering mountains and all the high hills, for every lofty tower and every fortified wall, for every trading ship and every stately vessel. The arrogance of man will be brought low and the pride of men humbled; the LORD alone will be exalted in that day, and the idols will totally disappear.”
See, there’s coming a day when all the stuff we get so fired up about will be gone. All our money, trade, power and beauty will be a thing of the past. All our governments with their theories and policies will be overturned and ended. On that Day, only One will be standing. On that Great Day, everything we hoped in apart from Him will be undone. Everything we’ve trusted in to do for us what only God can do will evaporate into smoke and blow away. Only the unshakable will remain and all the fads will fade. I don’t want to give my heart to something that’s temporary, whether it’s a slap bracelet or a four-year administration. I don’t want to pour my energy into a fad. Let’s set our hearts on Him, the Unshakable.
Where to Fix Your Thoughts
So, last week I did something I’ve never done in my entire life... and really, it’s kind of amazing that I’ve never done this at all during the entire span of my almost 31 years on this planet. I mean, you would think that at some point along the way I would have, but no. The funny thing is that as soon as I did this thing and people found out about it, I unknowingly entered an unofficial little club I never knew existed where people I had known for years all of a sudden decided that they really liked me and wanted to hang out with me... Okay, so what was this mysterious activity which I have somehow managed to escape participating in for three decades? What was this unavoidable cultural phenomenon which I have always (in one way or another) avoided? Well, here goes:
Golf. It was golf.
Golf. It was golf.
Last week my mom took me out for my first ever round of golf... Up to this point, I had never actually even held a driver and had no idea what a pitching wedge was! At every point I had to ask which club I should use for my next move and I still have no idea how she formed the answers to those questions... She would say things like, “Hmmm, you’re gonna want a 7 iron for that shot.” And I was sitting there thinking, “What? How in the world do you know that? Are you making this up?” The long and short of it was that I stink at golf. I can’t put, I can’t pitch, I’m utterly hopeless in the sand and although I can sometimes drive a little, I mostly can’t do that either. But, as I was saying, as soon as the news spread around a little that I played a few holes of golf, I started getting all these invites, phone calls and text messages. Folks want to play... they want to coach me... they want to hang out with me... it felt good.
Truth is, if I had known fifteen years ago that there was this game you can play where you instantly have tons of friends and they all want to hang out right now no matter how bad at it you are, I would’ve started stinking at golf a long time ago! I’ve been looking for people’s attention, help and approval my whole life. This magnetic pull towards wanting to be liked, appreciated and invested in has mostly led to the craziest messes of my life and to my darkest places emotionally; and that is because no regular human person could ever fully meet the needs of my intensely needy heart, or yours for that matter. We need oceans more TLC than anyone can give.
That’s why Hebrews 3 is so cool, though. Verse 1 says, “Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess.”
Isn’t that awesome?! I don’t need anyone’s approval because Jesus is the Apostle I confess! Apostle is a word that just means “sent one”. Jesus is the one God sent for me. Why? Because He’s so crazy in love with me that He sent His own son to save me! I have God’s love and approval and He proved it to me by sending the Sent One! Not only that, but I don’t need to depend on any person around me to do stuff for me, because Jesus is the High Priest I confess! Other people may let me down, but Jesus is my priest... He stands in the gap and does for us everything we can’t do for ourselves, presenting us holy before God. We have the help and the approval of God Himself! All we have to do is fix our thoughts on Him! God loves you and He’s right there to help you... think about that!
Term Limits
One time Anna and Norah ran up and asked me if we were going to go to the park that afternoon. I answered them by saying, “Maybe.” As soon as that word was out of my mouth, Anna grabbed Norah and said, “Come one Norah, let’s go play. When adults say “maybe” they just mean “no” but they’re trying to be nice...”
Ouch! Busted!
What if you had all your hope wrapped up in something that could only ever tell you “no” and let you down? What if you hoped in something or someone who was actually powerless to help you in any way? Well, the long and short of it is that you will be disappointed a lot. As I look back over my life, I can think of so many places, people, companies and things I had my hopes set on that simply didn’t produce... like those cereal box tops I mailed in to get a free He-Man action figure that never showed up or the $140 Air Jordans that were too small for my feet after three or four weeks. Over the years there have been concert tickets I’ve bought for artists who couldn’t or didn’t show up and jeans I’ve bought that have fallen apart in no time. For weeks I’ve been patiently waiting for our tax refund and right now I’m waiting on a drywall guy that was supposed to be here four hours ago! If there’s one thing this world rocks at, it’s letting you down.
There is no person, privilege, ability, group or government that can meet all the convoluted and complicated needs of the human heart and when we start pinning our hopes on anything or anyone in this world, we wind up frustrated, disenchanted, confused and disoriented or even betrayed. When we expect the people in our lives to completely ‘get’ us, we wind up hurt when they don’t. When we expect our leaders to perfectly represent us and our values, we wind up angry when they don’t.
That’s why I was so pumped when I read Psalm 146 this morning... “Do not put your trust in princes, in mortal men, who cannot save. When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing. Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God...”
You see, I have real needs that weigh me down and real problems I can’t solve. I have issues a-plenty that I can’t even begin to handle and I desperately need someone who absolutely can handle these things. I need someone I can actually count on who not only completely knows me, but completely knows what to do and has the power to do it! I need Someone without term limits who wasn’t elected by anyone’s wisdom, but simply is the Sovereign Lord. I need God, who reigns over all to help me! The people in your life will eventually let you down. Your government, no matter how much you tailored it to your own preference, can’t save you. When those folks are gone, so is there power and impetus! The only real change that can take place in the life of a person is the change that happens when the Lord of heaven and earth comes in and helps by His Almighty power! That’s the help I need! That’s the One I’m going to call out to!
Wedding Bands
Every time I go with Tom to the jail, I notice something different that is only true of that particular place. For instance, a few weeks ago I noticed that the Anderson County jail has a very specific smell. We pulled into the parking lot, got out of the car and BAM... there it was: the smell. I had never really noticed it before that one day and even now I can’t really describe it, but it totally exists and is just part of the (I guess you could say) charm of that place. Today when we went I noticed something new... and it was sad.
Tom was going through his message for those guys and asked them, “How many of you brothers are married?” Out of the eighteen guys that showed up that day, four or five of them raised their hands and that’s when I saw it... That’s when I realized that none of those guys had on wedding rings. Their wedding rings had been confiscated at some point between their arrest and their having been placed in the cell block. Now, maybe for you this seems like a no-brainer, and sure, when I give it even a little thought, I realize that they couldn’t let guys keep any jewelry on their person, but it shocked me just the same.
I sat there as Tom talked, just thinking about these guys that I had come to know and care about, and how they had been forced to take off their wedding bands and put them in plastic bags marked with their names. I thought about how I would feel if I had to go there... if I had to go to jail. What if I had to take off my wedding band... the ring my girl gave me all those years ago? What if I had to feel it’s conspicuous absence all day long? The terrible thought expanded in my head... what if I didn’t have my wife? What if I didn’t get to see her smiling face at the end of the day or call her anytime I wanted? I began to miss her like crazy!
Then I remembered the words of Paul in Ephesians 5 when he got himself all wrapped up into thinking and talking about marriage and said this: “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh." This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church.”
You see, marriage is just about the most awesome thing ever and one of the reasons it’s so awesome is that God designed it to be a picture of what He wants with all of us! The way a groom feels about his bride is the way God feels about you! The incredible and almost magical closeness shared by a loving husband and wife is what He wants with you! While I was sitting in the middle of the jail in that Bible Study, I thought to myself, what if I weren’t allowed to worship God with brothers and sisters in Christ? What if someone confiscated my Bible and took away all my praise music and my guitar? What if I weren’t allowed to meet together to pray along with others who love Him? What if someone ripped up my journal and didn’t allow me to talk to people about Jesus? What if someone took away all the outward signs of my relationship with Him? Would I miss Him? Would I long for fellowship and encouragement and hope from the Blessed Scriptures? You know it! Folks, we’re free! Nobody’s taken our ring away yet! We’re free to worship, free to love each other and free to enjoy Him... don’t take it for granted!
One-track Mind
Do you ever wake up in the morning just so thankful for your bed? What about your car and your central heating and air? How about the kitchen that has your own food in it and the bathroom you get to use privately? What about the tons of different clothes you get to choose from everyday that are all yours? When was the last time you just felt so thankful for all these things?
For me, I’ve only started to really notice these kingly luxuries very recently... as in, since November 5, which was the very first day I went with Tom to the Anderson County jail. Now that I’ve been going there pretty regularly, I know its sounds, smells and particular charms. The biggest effect this ministry has had on my daily life has been gratitude. I find myself so much more aware of just how blessed I am to have a comfortable home with my sweet family and to be able to enjoy privacy and possessions. It makes me hope that if I ever had to find myself in the jail I would be able to live it well, but it sure is a bleak place...
Sometimes when I go there, I think about the Apostle Paul and how much time he spent in prison. The thing that really blows me away is that the Anderson County jail is probably like the Ritz Carlton compared to the jails Paul was thrown into! I would do just about anything to keep myself out of those block walls and orange PJ’s, where at least a person will be kept warm and dry, clean and fed; while Paul was beaten and shackled in dark, dank dungeons. On top of all of this, he was happy! Not only was he mistreated, misrepresented, flogged and confined, but he was pumped! Paul spent his jail time singing to his guards, praying for his ‘cellies’ and joyfully preaching to anything with ears! I would have cried, sulked and wrestled with my very faith in God, while Paul worshiped God out loud and managed to write some of the most amazing and inspiring documents the world has ever known!
How in the world was he like this?! What was it that kept him joyfully fired up in the midst of the worst circumstances ever, and how can I get some of that?!?
Well, this week I have been reading the little letter Paul wrote to Titus. It’s short. It barely takes up more than a page in your Bible and you could stop reading this thing and read the whole letter in just a few minutes. One of the things I noticed is that in a pretty short little letter that’s only three chapters long, Paul talks about one thing three times... once at the very beginning, once in the middle and once at the end. So, what was this thing that was so on his mind that it gets a treble mention in such a short work? Heaven.
Verse 2 says, “...a faith and knowledge resting on the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time...” In chapter 2 He says that the grace of God teaches us to live holy lives in the present age “while we wait for the blessed hope - the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.” In chapter 3, near the very end, he says, “...having been justified by His grace, we might become heirs, having the hope of eternal life.”
Paul was able to endure anything with joy and praise and fruitful labor because he had a one-track mind! He simply thought about heaven and the return of Jesus all day long! In a letter that takes only a few minutes to read, he literally can’t stop talking about eternal life! Wow, what if I were like that!? What if the reason we’re not that happy is that we have gone too long without thinking about our ‘blessed hope,’ our eternal life? What if we thought about and talked about heaven all day long? God has made promises to us! Jesus is coming back for us! Soon and very soon, we are going to see the King and when we do, we will live in joy forever and ever! It’s our blessed hope! Think about that!
More Real Than Real
I have been to a lot of funerals in my life and some of them have been for people I was really close to and really cared about. When you first find out someone you love has died, it takes your breath away and the very rotation of the earth seems to stop. Then you start planning and getting ready for the funeral. You call family, you use quiet voices around the house... it’s somber and delicate. Then you have the funeral and someone talks about the one who has passed, and all the emotion you feel and have felt for that person floods over your heart and out of your eyes. You feel, you hurt, you cry and then you talk... you talk to family and friends, you eat food and eventually you start to tell old stories, and then at some point you realize it’s okay to laugh again.
On a strange and singular Friday, Jesus died. The sun burned out in the middle of the day and in those dark hours, Jesus really stopped breathing and was gone. His friends couldn’t believe it. Joseph laid Him in a tomb and some women helped prepare His body. Everyone went home and slept. Amazingly, almost unimaginably, the sun rose on Saturday, as if somehow, anything in the world could ever be the same again...
Then, on Sunday morning, just as He said He would, He rose.
Luke tells us that in the evening of that Sunday when our Lord rose from the dead, two people were walking the seven mile road from Jerusalem to the village of Emmaus. They were still in the throws of all of the emotion of Jesus’ death along with the confusion of reports that His body was not in the tomb. Apparently some angels showed up and told the women that He had risen from the dead! They didn’t know what to think or what to feel when all of a sudden Jesus showed up. The two on the road didn’t recognize Him, but He walked that seven miles with them and gave them what must have been the greatest Bible Study lesson of all time... the Resurrected Jesus unfolding the Old Testament Scriptures that spoke of Him! Wow. Then, before they knew it, He disappeared from the dinner table like that, POOF! They were so excited, they ran the whole seven miles back to Jerusalem to find the Disciples and tell them that it was all true! He was back! He’s not dead! We saw Him! He told us everything! And then, BAM! Poof! He was back again! Right there, in their presence again!!
When you read these accounts, it’s hard to get a handle on what Jesus risen from the dead was/is really like. I mean, He appears and disappears at will. He eats food, lights fires and touches people. He is unrecognizable, and then totally recognizable... what’s the deal? Some might say He is like some sort of less-than-real ghost, the way He passes through space and matter, but He can’t be a ghost because people touched Him and ate food with Him! He can’t be less-than-real... Somehow, Jesus risen from the dead is more real than reality. He is more real than walls and miles and wavelengths of light. He is wherever He wants to be instantly. He is so much more substantial than our reality that He passes through our matter without even disturbing it!
How can this be?! How can something be more real than real? How can something be more substantial than solid matter? Well, did you know that an eagle can see an image that is three times sharper than anything the human eye can perceive? Whoa! That means that with all our amazing HD TVs, we’re still no where near the clarity and detail that eagles have been enjoying for thousands of years! There is a whole world of crisp, sharp images we have never even dreamed of seeing! There is a level of real that we know nothing about, and Jesus is real like that! He is really risen from the dead! He’s alive and powerful, which means You’re not alone! He’s here, right when you need Him to be! You can call on Him and He will help you! As He Himself told His Disciples, “Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”