miracles

My Easter Miracle – Part Two

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How Easter Found Me

How in the world I ended up 3,000 miles from home was a tangle of events ranging from a broken home where my parents seemed to me as confused as I was. Adding in plenty of recreational drug use and my decision at 17 to move out on my own and you might begin to get the picture of how I ended up sitting in that pew owning nothing more than a guitar and two changes of clothing in a back pack.

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The church service began with some happy singing and clapping. That was definitely something I had missed at the Lutheran and Congregational churches my parents had brought me on occasion.

Once the singing ended the pastor gave a message but the words of his sermon really weren’t what connected with my heart. What really penetrated was the love that I felt all day from the people around me. Here were folks who seemed genuinely concerned, not just looking for some angle to get something out of me. When I had traveled through California I had met others who had told me about Jesus. Some even invited me to church but I was afraid to commit myself. It all seemed strange and though the idea of believing in Jesus was appealing, it also seemed like too simple of a solution. Could finding the most important thing in life really be so easy? It would take a miracle to break through all my fears and excuses and regrets.  But it was Easter and on Easter miracles happen.  Continue reading →

Am I Willing to be Sent?

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 And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.    John 9:7 ESV

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For those of you who don’t speak a second language you may have missed the fact that Jesus sometimes spoke in Aramaic while at others the common language (Greek). At crucial moments He moved to His mother tongue, such as when He cried out on the cross, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabacthani – my God my God why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46). In this passage He sends the blind man on a mission to wash in a fountain which He gives its Aramaic name. Then just in case we miss that significance John translates it for us and tells us that it means “sent”.

Any time we are waiting on God for a miracle we need to first ask ourselves, “Am I willing to be sent?” To be sent means doing something I have never done. To be sent may mean doing something difficult (Jesus was asking the blind man to make a trip of over half a mile). To be sent most importantly means that as we begin our journey we are walking by blind faith into the exact center of God’s will. If we want to trust see all that God has in store and experience all that He wants to do get prepared; because Jesus has a mission and He is ready to send us on it when we are ready to be sent.

The Best Question

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Are you afraid to ask God for answers? Do you feel like church is the last place you would feel comfortable asking questions? But in the Bible people asked questions all the time. How many times should I forgive? Who is my neighbor? How can I inherit eternal life? These were questions that Jesus answered with stories like the prodigal son and the good Samaritan. In fact the best answers in the Bible are given to the people who ask the best questions..

When Paul and Silas were beaten and thrown into jail in Philippi one afternoon things looked pretty bleak. After weeks of preaching they had gathered only a handful of followers. But God had a wonderful miracle in store for that small city. At midnight as Paul and Silas praised and worshipped God sent an earthquake whose aftershocks are still being felt today. The first church in the Western world was about the have revival and it all began with the spark of the astonished jailers question. “What must I do to be saved?”

Maybe we are seeing litte growth in our ministries because we make our answers so complicated. But Paul didn’t waste any time with lists of secondary things. He pulled back on the bowstring of his opportunity and shot one arrow dead into the bullseye of our greatest need today. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved!” If we are not being asked this question in one form or another then maybe our problem is that we are giving out the wrong answers. The world is no darker, no more lost or violent today than in the Paul’s day. If we determine as Paul did to pray for freedom of the oppressed, be willing to joyfully deal with the consequences and be ready with the right answer then God will begin to shake things up! Salvation is still as freely available right now and right here. If we are ready with Paul’s answer then prepare ready for someone to come with their question. “What must I do to be saved?”