Cause to Pause

First the Bad.

Our church got broken into last night. Destroyed some doors, busted off a wall safe that never has cash in it, strewn some checks around. It appears there is no loss, just damage.

The ugly.

Now the Good.

In addition to God protecting us from any serious loss, here is an interesting timeline:
I posted a tweet (twitter) at 8:15 that I was headed to meet the police.
At about 9:30 I posted another one with the inventory.
At 9:35 I got a call from Dean Lisenby at ACS checking to make sure we were all right and if there was anything ACS could do for us. THAT is service! For us to call and say “Help!” is one thing, for a vendor to call and say “I have help if you need it” is another. I met Dean for the first time at the convention two months ago. Way to go ACS. I am sure some of the other CMS vendors would do the same, but now I KNOW that if anything major happens….I have friends.

When Jesus turned the water to wine at the wedding in John 2, no one knew what happened except the servants. Jesus did not come to perform magic tricks. He did not come to impress people with the miracles He could do. In fact, the opposite. When He raised Lazarus, he said “that the people standing by may know You sent Me.” There was no fanfare about the water becoming wine-good wine at that! No one running around “Look what He did! Let’s put out a press release!” But the servants knew.

What do you suppose life was like for the servants? Do you think they were highly respected? Probably not. Probably treated the way we treat those whose jobs we think are more “menial”. The way we may treat the migrant landscapers we run into in the convenience store. But the servants knew what happened. They knew water went in, wine came out. They knew no one would believe them, but there was no denying what they saw. They knew it was no parlor trick. They were probably waiting for Jesus to make a spectacle of Himself, declaring “Look what I did.” But He didn’t.

They knew. At least those who were watching knew. Those who were skeptical, disbelieving, or unmoved probably walked away when the water went in. They missed it. But those who stayed, those who continued to serve they saw it. They saw the miracle.

Don’t give up. Don’t walk away out of skepticism. If Jesus is in it, stay. Even if it seems you are just pouring water into a stone pot and everyone wants wine. He may be about to do something miraculous that only you will see. And maybe no one will believe what you saw, or believe that it was indeed the hand of God that did it. But you will know. And like those servants, you will never forget.

In John 1:43-51 Philip, who had just met Jesus and was all excited, went and found Nathanael. Instead of being all excited about the discovery of the Messiah, Nathanael’s response was “can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip then convinces him to come and see, and when Jesus sees Nathanael, His response is “an Israelite in whom there is no deceit”.

Now we find that Nathanael was previously just hanging out, under a fig tree, probably watching ESPN or SportsCenter. He didn’t really want to be bothered with getting up to see another false messiah. We know there were others claiming to be the messiah from Acts 5:34-39. So his skeptical response, could possibly be understood. When he reluctantly agrees to go and see, as soon as Jesus tells him one thing, Nathanael is ready to believe. Old Nate has no idea the ride he is in for.

How many times are we like that? We would rather hang out and watch ESPN than get up and go where Jesus is. But then when someone convinces us to go, we see – once again- and realize that nothing on this earth compares.

Tell your youth director you would like to burn a few vacation days and volunteer with VBS. Call up the local food pantry and see if your family can help this weekend. If we are truly ready to follow Jesus, I think we will see “greater things than these”.

Following Jesus means a lot more than just “not doing the wrong things”. It means a lot more than “don’t lie, don’t steal…uhh..what were the other ones?” Nathanael wasn’t a liar, Jesus Himself said so. But initially, he wasn’t ANYTHING. Following Jesus means to also “do the right thing”. To do SOMETHING.