The Wading Pool

We set out on a journey, called by Jesus to go! We set out, like Abraham, not knowing where we were going. We set out in faith, the evidence of things not seen. Blind faith, many would (and did) call it. We set out clinging to the promises we saw in Scripture, these ancient words that live, that shape, that guide.

We set out thinking we had a physical destination to find, and a destiny to manifest there. We set out knowing big things were in store. Everyone said it! It must be true!

“God has big things for you!”

Indeed…huge things. Massive things.

Just not things you thought.

“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him,” 1 Cor. 2:9

That includes what my mind and your’s think is best or fitting.

I never imagined what He had in store, but just like He met Saul along the way, he met us. Boom! Blinded by the light of the Gospel! Knocked off our horses and onto our knees before Him.

He had Himself in store for us.

Who are You, Lord?

Jesus. Jesus. Jesus.

Lord of life.

Savior.

King.

Redeemer.

The One we thought we knew. The One we claimed to serve. And yet, like Saul, we were so bound up in serving God that we pushed Him to the sidelines.

And we never knew it, until He Damascus-road-ed us from dark to light.

He is love, that Jesus who met us in that prison of Phariseeism. This idea that to follow Him meant you had to do more, be more, learn more. Do do do, more more more! It’s a trap that those who began well so often find themselves finishing in. We miss Him in the doing.

Until He shows up.

And boy did He ever show up.

“Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?!”

Yes, Jesus. We perceive it…now.

Speaking of a new thing, she went down into the water Sunday. She went down carrying with her all the hurt, bitterness, loss, pain and change of the past. She didn’t carry it alone. Jesus was with her. He was waiting for her there, waiting for those burdens to fall off her shoulders and onto His.

Because He died for those sins, too.

She went down into that water with eyes full of tears.  No tears of sadness, but tears of joy.  She went down into that water and came up soaking wet and smiling the most beautiful smile you’ve ever seen, an outward picture of what Jesus had already done in her heart.

And is still doing.

A new thing.

So do your new thing in us, Jesus. Bring to competition this heart work that changes the way our feet move, where they go, what they carry.

Let us carry You, the light, to a dark world.