January 24, 2008

Read Exodus 9-11 and Matthew 15:21-39

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

EXODUS: I don't know how the Egyptians and Pharaoh could NOT believe by now. I mean, hello? It's amazing how some people can be so blinded to what is obviously God's work. I got curious about the connection between the plagues in Exodus and those to come spoken of in Revelation. That might make for an interesting side trip during spring break or something.

I wish I could change my tattoo from Egyptian to Hebrew....

MATTHEW: I wondered if it bothered Jesus to ignore this woman. Sometimes I tend to ascribe fewer emotions to Him than He probably really had, because after all, I reason, He was the Son of God; He knew what was going to happen in the end, right? I tend to forget that He had and probably wrestled with feelings like hunger, lonliness, anger, disappointment, etc. I tend to think everything came easy to Him, and I bet that wasn't the case, if He was fully human as well as fully God. I used to think this passage was another "Jesus being elitist and mean" thing, but I understand now that the woman was not Jewish, and these were the chosen people, yet, she believed, and her request was granted. Too cool.

Matthew 21:33 Deja vu. Didn't this already happen, with 1000 more people? I thought, "C'mon, disciples, He pulled this off before; why do you doubt He can do it again, especially after the walking on water thing?" Then I thought of my own life, a situation I currently have going on. I dislike the situation immensely. But it's not something I can run from; I've got to deal with it head on. I don't want to. And I know I can't in my own strength. I know my weaknesses and limitations. But Jesus has helped me through so much before, and I have no doubt He will continue to. So I ask myself, "He did it before; why do you doubt He can and will do it again?" And I get it. The disciples were all caught up in the moment; all they could see was the problem before them, and if they were hungry (as I can get when I'm not in the Word) they really weren't seeing the situation clearly. All things are possible with God; feeding 4 or 5 thousand people, or getting us through an uncomfortable time.

Last night something cool happened. A friend called out of the blue and completely unexpectedly asked if they could go to church with me. Please pray that seeds were planted and we can continue to have an open dialogue about God. Oh, and today I got to witness to a patient; he said (he's in his 80's and in a lot of pain right now) "Maybe I should let whatever happens happen and not get treatment. It would be better to be in heaven...I think I would go there....I've tried to be a good person and that's what God wants from us, right?"

I said, "No,man, you can't work your way into heaven; it's all about grace and what Jesus did for us on the cross." I can't tell you his name but please pray for him.

January 24, 2008 at 2:50 PM

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