“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!
