... was a crazy day.
You ever have one of those days? Where so many things seem wrong, but you realize everything is exactly how it should be?
I left NC for Atlanta on that day, just another drive back to Atlanta... or so I thought it would be. When I was about 30 minutes away from my NC home, I realized that I left my computer power cord back at home and that my computer was dead. This is a big deal because just days before, I had dropped my iPhone in water for a second time, unfortunately ruining it forever. I have lived for 7 days without a phone. You may be asking "how does she do it???" Well, my friends, it is possible. But inconvenient. And not just on myself. And now I have no way to contact the outside world until I get another power cord. Anyway... I just kept driving. I had a date with my friend Amanda to see HP7.2, and I wasn't going to miss it.
In June I went to Passion City Church with my friend Amanda, and we heard the second sermon in a series that Louie did called "Word". He did 6 sermons on each of the first 6 chapters of John, in which he summarizes each chapter with a word. I listened to the first on my road trip with my grandparents, and I listened to the third, fourth, and fifth on my way back to Atlanta on this day. They are all powerful. And I'm sure if you listen(ed) to them, one was more powerful than the others for you. For me, it was John 5. Darren Whitehead, a teaching pastor at Willow Creek Community Church, actually taught that night. Brief summary of Chapter 5 in my words: A man who had been lame for 38 years was sitting by the pool at Bethesda, waiting for a time when he could be helped to the pool when it was stirred so that he could be healed. He had an encounter with Jesus that forever changed his life. Jesus asked if he wanted to be healed. Instead of answering the question directly, he told Jesus that he couldn't be healed because he couldn't make it to the pool quick enough. Jesus tells him to get up and walk. He does and he is instantly healed. The pharisees are outraged, of course. Then Jesus goes into one of His most beautiful speeches, about Himself, the source of His power, and what lies ahead for those who believe and those who do not. The word for this chapter: Believe.
The thing that struck me was that the lame man had no vision. He was limiting God by waiting around to be healed by being dipped into a pool that he may or may not make it to someday. When he was presented with the power of God, he had no idea. Of course, he probably didn't know the power of God then. He didn't know the Man who was asking this question. But we do! We as believers in Christ know exactly the kind of power we have residing in us... the same power that rose Jesus from the dead! How much do we limit that power in our own lives? When we pray, do we pray as if we have the attention of heaven? The attention of the most High God? So many times we respond to the God we know just like the lame man did to Jesus, who he didn't know. We give excuses, reasons why something can't work out, why something awesome can't be done. Why waste time before the throne of God if we aren't asking Him to do what we know He has the power to do?
Have you ever been asked to come up with a "life statement"? Something that sums up your life goals? It's hard to do, right? I've been asked that on several occasions through my life, and never have once been able to come up with anything real. I can finally say that I have! I would love to look back on my life in the end and say, "I did everything I could to make sure that God could do everything He wanted through my life."
Ok, so as if that wasn't enough (oh, and I did cry a lot while listening to that sermon, while sitting in traffic for an hour to go 8 miles, on 85 S)... I had begun listening to sermon #6 when I came upon the wreck that caused the traffic. It was on the other side of the interstate. It was the worst wreckage I've ever seen in my life. It was devastating, and I knew that there was no way the two truck drivers involved survived. And I wept. Seriously, almost heaving. I should have pulled over. I was probably a danger to other drivers.
So my conclusion... it really is all about Jesus. Everything exists by Him and for Him. And there is no point in living as if that statement is not true. And may I never be guilty of putting my God in a box because of my lack of vision or belief.
"As it is written: 'What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived'— the things God has prepared for those who love him— these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit." 1 Corinthians 2:9-10
And then I wept again when I saw the final Harry Potter that night. Well, I would have wept if I had been in my own home with no one around. So because I was in a theater, I tried my hardest to keep it as silent as possible. :)
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