Back to Life

Here's a happy story for the weekend. It's not often that we see evidence of real-life miracles while we're eating our Cheerios, but such a miracle was featured on the Today show Friday morning. 

The parents of a 2-year-old boy named Gore shared the story of their son, who shows no signs of brain damage after his heart stopped for about an hour as the result of a near-drowning earlier this summer. When he was found in an irrigation ditch, his heart had stopped. His grandfather, a retired orthopaedic surgeon and the first to try to resuscitate Gore, said he had the color of someone who had died - which he had.

Once his heart started beating again, his temperature was kept low for a couple of days before slowing bringing it back to normal. Even then, there wasn't much hope that he would be unaffected by the experience until after an MRI showed normal brain activity.

It's an amazing story.

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Until next time,
Margaret

Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. ~ John 12:17

Totally Clueless

Making fun of the disciples is almost too easy. Despite spending three years in close contact with Jesus, eyewitnesses to miracle after miracle, they remained totally clueless.

They saw Him drive demons out of pigs. They saw Him feed the multitudes. They saw Him walk on water. They saw Him repair broken lives by healing lepers and the lame. And not long before that fateful trip to Jerusalem, they saw Him raise His friend, Lazarus from the dead.

Despite all of that, and the times that Jesus had foretold His own death and resurrection, they must not have expected Christ to literally rise from the dead. If they had, they'd have been at the tomb Sunday morning instead of hiding out, as they had been for 3 days.

I understand. I'm often clueless about God, too. 

I get the part about nothing being impossible with God. At least part of me gets it. The other part is thinking, "it may not be impossible, but it's certainly improbable."

Is that what the disciples were thinking in their hidy hole? Did any of them say it out loud? Were they afraid to believe that God is, indeed, able to do exceedingly and abundantly more than all we can ask or imagine?

Did they think it was just hoping for too much?

Or did they ever consider the possibility that Christ could defeat death? Did they question their instincts in devoting three years to following the carpenter from Nazareth? Did they begin to wonder if they had imagined the miracles they had seen with their own eyes?

Do I do the same thing? Do I sometimes forget the times I have witnessed God work in my own life? Do I sometimes hesitate to ask because it just seems like it's more than God can do?

 

I have to confess that the answer is yes.

It's hard to make fun of the disciples when I realize I'm no better than they were.

I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief! 
Mark 9:24 (NIV)