Scripture
It was by faith… Hebrews 11

Observation
A friend said to me yesterday, “In the Bible we have recorded the life stories of those who heard God’s call and said ‘yes’ to him. But how many people did God call who never said yes whose stories never made it into the Bible?” I felt a cold draft up my spine. To think of the unknown faces of history who missed it and even worse the living and active word of God falling to the grown like a glowing ember only to turn black and cold.

Walking through the corridor of Hebrews 11, like a hallway of niches and marble statues, these lives inspire me to live not just by what I can see but by what I cannot see as well. They risked embarrassment, financial loss, failure and even death to follow a simple word from the Lord. It is easy to read the Bible and underestimate the cost they paid because we know how the story ends. But they did not. And neither do we. We do not move through life as quickly as turning Bible pages. We live one calendar page at a time.

We must live “by faith” as our closest companion through uncertain times. Yes we will stumble and fall.  No, everything will not fall perfectly together.  But when we live by faith there is a certain end that is better than the beginning.  No one in all the Bible who believed God ended up worse in the end than in the beginning. Just think of it! What was true for them is true for us as well.

Prayer
Father I walk today by faith. Please walk with me and do more than I can expect. Amen.

Passover for Jews is like Christmas Dinner…a not to be missed meal.

What the Bible Says

Jesus sent Peter and John ahead and said, “Go and prepare the Passover meal, so we can eat it together.” “Where do you want us to prepare it?” they asked him. He replied, “As soon as you enter Jerusalem, a man carrying a pitcher of water will meet you. Follow him. At the house he enters, say to the owner, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is the guest room where I can eat the Passover meal with my disciples?’ He will take you upstairs to a large room that is already set up. That is where you should prepare our meal.” They went off to the city and found everything just as Jesus had said, and they prepared the Passover meal there. Luke 22:8-13

What My Mind Thinks

What is the most important meal in human history? It was not a state dinner in the White House, or escargot on a Paris avenue, or even tea at Buckingham Palace. The most memorable meal of all time was the last meal of Jesus with his disciples in the Upper Room. That story would be told and retold in cathedrals and church halls around the world, week after week over the 100,000 Sundays since it was first experienced.

Think of it: the experience of billions of future Christians in the 100,000 Sunday communion services since that day depended on 12 men cooking dinner. The disciples cooking is a scary thought. Peter could catch fish and burn them too, that’s why in the beginning he had Jesus heal his mother-in-law so she could cook. Matthew could count money but slice his finger chopping veggies. While John and James quarreled about about how much thyme and cumin to throw in the soup, the pot boiled over.

But Jesus left dinner up to 12 men.

Notice how Jesus started: he gave the instructions without any provision. Jesus told them to prepare the Passover meal but gave the disciples no place to host it. Jerusalem during Passover week was as busy as Macy’s on Christmas Eve. The city was booked out. Finding a restaurant with a banquet room at Passover would be like finding a hotel room during the Superbowl. But Jesus gave the disciples no directions, just the instruction to go and make ready the meal.

Nothing has changed today in the way that Jesus works. He often gives us staggering responsibilities without filling in the details. This isn’t a kindergarten class trip where the teacher holds the tells the kiddies every little thing in triplicate. No, Jesus gives us responsibility and then watches to see what we will do next.

The disciples responded well. They had matured enough not to say, “Come on Jesus, where do you expect us to find a spare room at a time like this?” Instead they asked Jesus for more details. It’s comforting that Jesus was okay with their questions about building and budget. He’s comfortable with our questions about his commands. Jesus wants us to ask him about the details.

What happened next is…well…just out of the box. You need to understand a little about the do’s and don’ts of daily life in Jerusalem in those days. Women carried objects on their heads, but men did not. A man with a water jar on his head in Jerusalem was as likely as seeing a football player with a purse in your hometown. So a strapping Jewish man parading down Main Street Jerusalem with a water jar on his head would have stuck out.

When Jesus calls us to do the difficult we should have our eyes opened to see the unexpected. On our way to obey Christ we will find the man with the water jar on his head who can lead us to where everything has been prepared. What a contrast the disciples experienced as they left the jostling streets where there wasn’t a place to sit let alone stay for dinner and stepped into a banquet hall with linen pressed, pantry filled, pots and pans and dishes waiting. Jesus had been at work ahead of time. They had only to follow the man with the water jar to find out.

How My Heart Responds

Overwhelming responsibilities should cause us to look for the unexpected. I’m opening my eyes today.

How My Spirit Prays

Father, today open my eyes to see as my feet move forward the things you have prepared for me before I have even arrived. Help me to see the man with the water jar on his head. Amen.

Swallowed By Waves © Copyright 2001 Kevin Ebi/Living Wilderness.

Scripture
The disciples went and woke him up, shouting, “Master, Master, we’re going to drown!” When Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and the raging waves. Suddenly the storm stopped and all was calm. Then he asked them, “Where is your faith?” Luke 8:24-25

Observation
On a dark and stormy night the 12 disciples came to a dumb conclusion: God’s grand plan was going to end up on the sea floor. Worst of all they made this dreary prognosis the very words they used to get Jesus’ attention.

Sound familiar?

How often in our midnight prayers in stormy seasons do we start our prayers off expecting the worst. We take our fearful conclusions and turn them into prayers.

The words of Jesus have not changed over the past 2,000 years: where is your faith? Faith gives the Lord room to execute hairpin turns in the course of our life journey. God is a great God and the miraculous takes room to maneuver. Faith gives the Eternal One elbow room in our tiny world to do great things. The disciples could only imagine water filling the boat, when the Lord, on a dark and stormy night, wanted to empty the sky of clouds.

Application
Where is your faith? That should send us scurrying for our Bibles. That interrogation question should cause us to search our pockets for memories of times past when the Lord has come to our rescue. Our prayers should be robust in stormy times so there is no doubt that there is faith behind our words.

Prayer
Lord hear my prayer and feel my faith. Amen.