Thank God for Jesus, Roses, and Facebook

“He said to them, ‘where is your faith’?  They were afraid and amazed, and said to one another, “Who then is this, that he commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him?” (Luke 8:25)

I’m drying roses for the prayer room. The children will take the rose petals, eucalyptus and mint leaves and tie them together in a sachet in remembrance of Jesus praying in the garden of Gethsemane.  My house smells like cake from the roses drying in the oven.  I never would have thought that drying roses would smell like cake.

I also never that giving up Facebook would turn into a spiritual exercise. The hardest time to not use Facebook is when I have those moments of down time, like last night at Althea’s game. It would have been nice to check in on the rest of the world while I was sitting in the gym. Then, as I remembered not to use it, I was forced to talk to the people beside me to pass the time.  I talked with the mother of one of Althea’s friends and I visited with the parents of another teammate. I texted my friends to check on babies and sick children. I interacted with specific people regarding specific concerns.  I even watched more of the game.

Things are not always what we assume they are. We are reading through the Gospels in Disciple class and I keep thinking about these guys who walked with Jesus. So far in Luke their most frequent comment is “who is this guy?”

This was a man they had traveled with and lived with. They knew all of his habits. They knew which foods he liked. They had left their careers and families to follow him. They studied his words and actions every day all the time and yet. And yet, they still asked “Who is this?”

I would have expected the drying roses to smell like roses.  I would have expected giving up Facebook to be a time saver.  I would have expected that following Jesus would result in material blessings and comfort. But, the drying roses smell like cake and giving up Facebook is more like a spiritual exercise and following Jesus is costing me material blessings.

Thank God for the loss of these material blessings! Thank God that my life is not what I had planned it to be. Thank God that while I fumble and question and fail, God is revealing mercy and compassion and salvation.  Thank God!