Entertaining Angels

I was visited by Jesus today. His name was Bill. He looked a little different though; no robe, beard or long hair. He was unkempt with dirty hands. He smelled. He had a tattoo and his teeth were rotting. He just showed up without an appointment! Ugh! I am extra busy now that it's Christmas. I am busy doing the real ministry of answering phone calls, writing letters and emails. Oh, and blogging too! Now that's some real ministry! Actually, I was heading into the sanctuary to pray when He arrived. Really, I mean it. I am not making this up for dramatic effect. It was really inconvenient for Jesus to show up when I was about to pray. What was He thinking? The more I think about it, the more upset I get that Jesus would interrupt my ministry like that. Damn it! It wasn't on my google calendar for today to waste an hour and half helping Jesus with gas and food. I kept looking at my watch. After that, I only had six hours to get 8 hours of real ministry done. I mean I had some filing to do! I had to clean off my desk. It was a real mess. It's clean now. At least I got that done! I hope Jesus doesn't show up again anytime soon, especially without an appointment. If He does, I'll be really ticked.

Get Your Shovel

Chances are, if you're like me, you sell yourself short. The truth is, though, we all have a great purpose because we have a great God. How great? Well, our God made Canis Majoris. This is the largest star ever discovered. Apparently, I've never measured, but you could fit 7 quadrillion earths inside this star. To give you an idea of how big that is you could only fit 1 million earths inside our sun. I haven't tried this, but I heard you could do it from a good source. It's kind of a science and math thing. Anyway, the same God who made Canis Majoris, the sun, Mt. Everest and a beautiful lily flower also made you and me. I am pretty sure He did it all for a reason.

As Christians, we believe that Jesus Christ showed us and told us that reason. The reason is to move mountains. It's to love God and neighbor. Like Abraham, it is to be a blessing. According to Jesus Himself, the reason is to do even greater things than He did. Don't believe me? He said, "I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. They will do even greater things than these" (John 14:12). So, think you have been selling yourself short yet?

You might wonder, like I did, how to get started doing "even greater things" than Jesus? When you think about that, it kind of feels like a lightening bolt is coming, doesn't it? DUCK! Actually, it's okay. Jesus said that so we're safe. How do you do it? The answer is pray. The John 14 context is prayer. John 14:13-14 says, "I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name and I will do it."

Prayer is the mountain mover of our faith. Jesus also said, "I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea', and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer" (Matthew 21:21-22).

It sounds to me like prayer is a great tool. Actually, it's the greatest and most powerful tool ever invented. Yes, it's even better than the Swiss Army Knife. If you have a mountain to move though, better not leave this tool in the barn. Prayer is a tool God wants us to use. Jesus told us to us it. He used Himself many times. Prayer takes persistence though. It takes faith. It takes effort day in and day out. Jesus didn't say how long it would take for the mountain to move, but He did say it will move. So get your shovel out of the barn and get to work. Just imagine what could happen if we all did just that!