Skip to main content

A Year in Review: The Story I Had Fun Telling

Well, what do you know, it's another review! 
Luke 8:40-56

They knew she was dead. They knew it!

There was this guy that lived a long time ago. He did things. He did amazing things. And he spoke truth. But the truth was so amazing, people had a hard time believing it. They didn't accept it, or didn't want to accept it. 

But he would do these amazing things anyway. He would do them for free. So word began to spread and people began to call him for help, hoping he would do something amazing for them. 

One such time these parents had a young girl who was dying, so they called this guy. He agreed to come, but as you might imagine, people who can do amazing things often get stopped and distracted by other people who need amazing things done. 

And that happened. He got stopped. By another woman who was in need. She'd been bleeding. Actually she'd been bleeding for a long time. This was in a day and age before reliable healthcare. It was also a day before health insurance. (You can decide what has been gained.)

She came up and distracted this guy who did amazing things. And an amazing thing happened. She stopped bleeding. He didn't apply a band-aid. He didn't need to. He just did amazing things. 

Unfortunately for the parents of the young sick girl, the little girl died while the amazing guy was busy doing amazing things. But when the amazing guy heard this, he told the dad not to worry about it. He wasn't being insensitive, he simply had an amazing plan. 

The only problem was the girl was dead. They knew she was dead. 

The guy who amazed said she was only asleep, not dead. But they laughed at him, because of what they knew. 

So he decided to do something amazing. He took the girl, whom they knew was dead, and told her to get up. And then an amazing thing happened.

She did. 

They knew she was dead. They knew it!

But Jesus, more than just a guy who did amazing things, changed what they knew. It's as if He said, "Is that what you know? You know too much. Here's what I KNOW!" 

He does not depend on our time schedule. He does not require our perspective. He has no need of our knowledge. After all, He is aware that our lust for knowledge got us into the sin-predicament that He fixed. 

Jesus never seemed to bothered by keeping a schedule. Didn't He make last-minute plans to come to dinner with Zacchaeus? Didn't He linger while Lazarus lay dying...then dead? Didn't he discourage Martha from concerning herself over when dinner would be served?

We worry so much over knowing what needs to be done and when. Believe me, I am in the same boat. But perhaps it is time we acknowledge what we don't know. Maybe we should spend more time in awe of what we don't know. After all, if we trust Jesus, then we can know He will do amazing things. 
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Accountable

I recently officiated a wedding. The ceremony was simple, lovely, and ended with another couple professing to keep the covenant of marriage. But it all started with a clarification...from me. At our first premarital counseling session, as I have done with every couple I have agreed to marry, I clarified a couple of matters. First, I officiate Christian weddings, where both spouses-to-be are professing Christians. I firmly believe that marriage is difficult enough, without adding disagreements about God into the mix. Second, as a minister of Jesus Christ, I believe the pastor’s role in a wedding is to represent the blessing of God on that union. So we have several sessions of premarital counseling where we discuss married life. It’s not that I have this imaginary card in my head, with a picture of me on the front and my stats on the back. (You know, like a baseball card.) Ok, I do picture cards. Pastor cards! And being a competitive guy, I want my stats to look good. The number of coupl...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Facebook Maybe

Granted, I'm a pastor. I have Type-A tendencies. Ok, my tendencies border on freakish OCD behavior patterns, but... Few things bother me more than the Facebook 'maybe'. I suppose I could go on and on about the grey areas of our society and the refusal of people to accept absolute standards. I could discuss the great need of people to accept that what is wrong for one person is likely wrong for everyone. I should certainly be concerned about mentioning that someone might have sin in their life. But I don't believe the Facebook 'maybe' is quite sin. Perhaps if I were coming up with new sins, I would add this to the list. But alas... Some might think the Facebook 'maybe' did not exist prior to the Internet, but they would be wrong. When I was in high school and asked a girl out on a date, I would normally be told that if they had no other plans, if nobody else called them, if there was nothing good on television and their hair did not need washing, then per...
5 comments
Read more

But I Wanted It

As I've said before , I'm looking for a new place to do youth ministry. Job searching in itself can be a full time task. Unfortunately, no one is paying me to look for a job. And when you haven't had to find a job in 15 years, the whole experience can feel brand new. And nerve-wracking. And quiet. So very, very quiet. I may spend a few hours here and there sending out my resumes and writing cover letters. But the churches I'm sending my information to have their own timeline. And sometimes that timeline does not involve acknowledging my presence. Which is fine, especially if one of the churches I've applied to is reading this right now. I understand those looking for youth pastors will have their own agenda and their own timeline. But it leaves me sitting here with a deafening quiet around me. I am choosing to walk by faith through these days, picturing God working behind the scenes (always behind the scenes) and holding His voice very still, until He is re...
2 comments
Read more