Skip to main content

Miracle Workers

John 14:12 is ridiculous, even for the fervent believer. It's Jesus talking, so I know I should believe it. He says whoever has faith in Him will do greater things than Him. Let's just make a little mental list right here.

Jesus: healing the sick, recovering the sight of the blind, raising the dead, including Himself, and making massive amounts of food out of small lunches.

Me: giving my kids Tylenol when they're sick, telling my wife where her glasses are, waking up sleepy children, and making a pretty tasty peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

I'll go ahead and say it. I think Jesus' list is more impressive. It just is. Although it is a really good pb&j. But Jesus said I would do greater things. I was talking with my wife about this stuff going through my head and she agreed that it seemed implausible that I would do something greater than Jesus. We were discussing this during supper and then I looked at the time. We had one hour to finish putting laundry away, do the dishes, bathe the children, brush their teeth and get them into bed at bedtime. Emphasis on bedtime. It's not a feat we accomplish very often.

We did a quick mental review and realized there is no recorded event of Jesus doing this, so we thought this might be our chance to put faith into action. (Cue the Chris Tomlin music for God of This City.)

Dish soap was flying, clothes were folded and with only 2 minutes to go, we had only to convince a 2-year old that she did, in fact, wish to go to sleep. Praying with them at precisely 8 o'clock, we smiled a satisfied smile at one another. (Does it count against the miracle if they kept coming back out for one more drink?)

I could get used to doing greater 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