BIGGER than me

Ever have something happen to you that was so eventful that you actually had a burning desire to dig deeper?

Life for me these past few months has been very interesting. God has continued our journey, but we have veered drastically off of the beaten path. As of right now, I: work part-time at a friend’s business in the warehouse – driving a forklift and doing general warehouse stuff, deliver pizzas two nights a week, run ethernet and coax cable for business installs maybe once a month, and I still do design work whenever it makes itself available. To be honest with you… not as I imagined my life. But something drastic has happened in midst of all of this stuff. Something so drastic that I actually feel burdened. I have a burning desire to go deeper.

I spent many years in full-time ministry, I have great memories of fantastic moments in the middle of those. But one thing that continued to elude me for all of those years, was a feeling of being a part of something bigger than me. I had many moments where I would ponder: “Is this all there is? Is there more?” I achieved success in ministry but still felt empty. I came to realize that I was doing good things for God, but not necessarily doing much with Him. There is a major difference! I kind of had the roles reversed – I was asking Him to follow me, instead of the other way around. Instead of the way it’s supposed to be. I had played it pretty safe with God, always doing things I knew I could accomplish – very rarely trusting in His guidance and stepping into the world of only what God can do.

I just finished listening to a Francis Chan message where he was talking about praying for God’s spirit to come in power and shake the ground, like the early followers in Acts 4:31. He mentioned how we ask God to show up in might and shake the ground with His presence but fail to realize the context in which He did that in Acts 4. The ground shook in Acts 4 because those people were scared and prayed for courage and boldness. They were in unfamiliar territory and didn’t know what to do next… so they prayed. They basically said to God: “We are the followers, You are our leader. Lead on Lord. We will trust You and continue forward in obedience.” God’s spirit poured out on them and the ground shook.

I am understanding a major lesson right now. The deepest understandings about who God is, can not be found in our familiar places. Not in the church service, not in our Bible studies, and not in our Christian routines. They can only be found out there. Out where God is leading us to. Out in the unfamiliar territory that looks pretty scary. I am learning this truth and I am going deeper with God. Something has happened that has touched deeper with us and our family and in 3 other families we pray with on Sunday afternoons.

So as you might have read on FaceBook, our group has established a ministry (Adonai) that will follow God into the unknown. So far He has led us to Liberia. In 1980, Liberia was thrown into a 23 year long civil war in which warlords fought for control over the country. This war completely destroyed the infrastructure and civil system, leaving thousands of people without food, medical care, and sanitation. Finally in 2004 the first organizations to safely enter the country started the long journey of rebuilding. Still today, though, thousands are without clean drinking water. The streams, creeks, and water holes are contaminated with several diseases like: e-coli, salmonella, and others. The people know to boil the water to make it safe, but simply don’t have the money to purchase firewood. And so they continue to drink nasty water and get sick and stay sick.

In one case, Rev Charles Saylee and his wife Dorris’ nine month old infant daughter (Marie) got sick from the water and suffered for 3 days with what most of us would consider a stomach-bug and then died. This was completely preventable and a complete shame that it happened. I drives me crazy to think that I don’t like to drink the tap water because it doesn’t taste as good as the water from our Brita filter pitcher. Actually… it makes me ashamed.

I want to be a part of the “BIGGER” that God is already doing in this world! Our group/ministry (Adonai) wants to champion this cause and has started a major campaign to do something BIGGER for people just like you and me. People who are in need. A need that is very easy to fill. We have partnered with a company called Vestergaard/Frandsen who makes a very simple, inexpensive product that will filter the water that these people drink so that sickness from it will become a thing of the past. I want to challenge you right now… do you want to be a part of something BIGGER? Something that will have a BIG effect for thousands? Something that will not cost you much but will be priceless for many? I invite you to dig deeper and read more about this here.

I don’t want to simply be a part of things that I already know I can pull off on my own. I’m ready to join God in what only He can do. Are you?
sJ

rooted

Tonight I’m sitting in the office in our house on a chilly night, pondering the very core of who we are in God. It is summed up in one simple word… faith. For the last several weeks, Robyn & I have been walking through a defining time in our relationship with God. We have come to a crossroads that will utterly paint the picture of our future. Our struggle is not unlike most Christian’s struggle… do I trust God with everything?

Through a series of events and teachings, I believe that I have heard clearly from God Himself. What He has been saying for these last 2 weeks have been extremely obvious. He hasn’t written it in the sky or called me on the phone and left a lengthy voice-mail – instead, He has been consistent in many ways – large and small. Clarity is great, unless it isn’t what you expected. God has been clear, and here it is… He has said, “Trust me.”

I have thought back to many moments of my life where I have prayed for God to lead me – there have been a lot! I saw a common theme = me pray for a bit, and then me making a rash decision. Not a lot of patience in there! And then I looked back at the last 6 years of our lives and see a different theme = me pray, and then pray some more. The struggle that I mentioned earlier, that all those who choose to follow Christ have in common, is the depth of faith. Can I seriously trust God with everything? Everything?

Robyn watched Dr. Charles Stanley on TV two Sunday mornings ago, she urged me to catch it on his website. I watched it just last week and sat in awe of how incredible God is and the lengths He goes to in order to get our attention. Dr. Stanley says this about faith: “Faith is the confident conviction that God is who He says He is and will do what He promised.” I love that! That is the crossroads – the struggle. Do we really believe that? Are we really confident in that? Am I?

Hebrews 11:6 says, “It’s impossible to please God apart from faith. And why? Because anyone who wants to approach God must believe both that he exists and that he cares enough to respond to those who seek him.” My relationship with God hinders on what I really believe about Him. If He says that He will care for our needs – will we believe that to the extreme? Or will we keep our options open? We have a terrible tendency to justify our lack of faith by keeping our options open, by saying, “I know God can provide for my needs, but I think I should do everything I can, just in case.” And why shouldn’t we? We are smart, creative, resourceful, and have the drive to survive. We’ll do whatever it takes to survive. Unfortunately, that isn’t faith in God… it’s faith in ourselves. We really trust ourselves and what we can do more that we trust God.

And so I stand at the crossroads of faith. Will God really take care of me and my family? Is He waiting for me to go out and do all the right “things” and knock on all of the doors and network to help Him provide for us? Or is He just simply wishing for me to be still and know that He is God?

Dr Stanley doesn’t even know that I exist, but he gave me some great advice on a waivering faith – meditate on God’s word, recall God’s answers to my past prayers, and courageously choose to obey. Our lives are all about learning to live with God. Living on God’s terms and timing, not our own. Paul said this to the Christians in Colosse: “Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.”

May we learn that God is truly trustworthy, and that how we react to that truth defines what we really believe about Him! I’m choosing to walk forward in obedience – not knowing how this is gonna turn out – but trusting that He does!

sJ

revealing

There was this old game show called “concentration” that was on TV several years ago. The basic concept was: there was this board with a phrase-puzzle hidden behind numbers, the contestants picked a number on the board and the corresponding window would slide away to reveal a bit of the puzzle underneath. The goal was to try and guess the phrase before the other person – whoever was correct first, won.

Life can be very similar to that show. Our futures and answers for tomorrow seem to be hidden from us. We’ve got a couple of options to uncover them: use our “gifts and talents” -or- wait and trust. Our nature is to try and figure it out on our own. We use our creativity to work all the angles and make a way. We get a sense of pride from accomplishment even though the end result may not actually be the answer! We can work like crazy to get it all figured out only to realize that we still don’t have it!

I’m in an interesting position right now – trying to understand what life has for me next… what’s around the corner. Sometimes you think you know what that might be and the next minute you are right back at square one, desperately trying to uncover the truth. It seems a lot like solving a hidden puzzle. As I have written each post for the last several years, I have tried to simply record the things that I am learning in the middle of living this life with God. And for a while now, it has been a big mystery to me. The end result has been hidden, and no matter how hard I try with all of my “gifts” & “talents” to uncover what’s real… it still evades me.

That’s what serving God looks like… the game concentration. Our futures are puzzles hidden from us. We want to uncover them and try to figure it out, but that is not our job… it’s God’s. When it comes to our relationship with God, we live by revelation, and I don’t mean the last book of the Bible, I mean something being revealed to us. The future of how God will use us is hidden and we will never discover it on our own – no matter how hard we try or how “good” we are. Only God knows what it looks like and He slowly and carefully reveals it to us piece by piece. We come to understand it only by Him letting us in on the secret.

So, if you find yourself in a position in life (much like mine) where your future in God is hidden, do the complete opposite of what your nature tells you to do… wait and listen. God is revealing it to, it just may take some time for you to get the complete picture. I know right now God has something in store for me and Robyn – - I have no idea what that might be, but He is showing us one step at a time. Proverbs 29:18 says, “Where there is no revelation, people cast off restraint.”, or another version says: “people run wild.” Revelation is good, it means that everything is in it’s proper place… God’s hands. It means that the future is safe and won’t be ruined by our “wild” instincts. He will show us in His time & it will be better than we could ever create on our own.

As hard as it may seem to be, join me in keeping faith and encouraging each other to know that God is trustworthy and that He will reveal what is hidden in perfect timing.
sJ

panic

Today I am using my personal blog site as my journal – I want to write down the feelings of today so that I might learn and gain insight for tomorrow.

Well, after spending over 5 years in a place of spiritual searching… a place of confusion and simple everyday faith – I happen to find myself knocking on the same familiar door. A scream of “OH NO!” resounds in my head and heart. Last night we rang in a new year (2012), I want to have hope that this year is better than the last… I hope. But I have this sinking feeling. Last year was no joy ride. Yes I made an income and had a job, but the world surrounding that was dysfunctional. My position with the Church I was with was completely in question… why was I here? I do not, though, question why we live here… that is for certain. The Church I was working with had leadership concerns and a real identity crisis. I felt like the whole year was an illustration of me banging my head up against the wall. I had several opportunities to speak the truth… and to do so in love – - not easy! And now that environment is completely gone: the good, the bad, the ugly! The Church is gone and so are most of the people. What a waste!

So here I sit at my desk on a Sunday afternoon, the first day of the new year, with no idea of what tomorrow brings. I have a part-time job with Dominos Pizza… not what I thought I’d be doing at 41!! Seems like I’m right back where we were just 2 years ago!! No where! And that’s when it happens. Peter describes the devil, our enemy, as a prowling lion who is seeking someone to devour. He warns us to “stay alert”! Obviously he wasn’t talking about the devil physically eating us, but something much worse. The root of the greek word for “devour” actually means to “overwhelm” – - used mostly for the word “drown”. In my opinion, to drown would be a completely horrible way to die. Peter is warning us all that our enemy wants to overwhelm us… to drown us. But to drown in what?

I believe that the early Christians experienced the same feelings I do right now: fear, doubt, and panic of the unknown. Not sure of what the future holds… not even tomorrow! That uncertainty can bring about a crippling panic, a panic that will consume and overwhelm it’s victim. The enemy of God’s children wants to plant inside of our hearts a small seed of doubt and nurture it into full blown panic. In a state of panic… we can do some pretty dumb things. Our discernment can be askew and lead us deeper into trouble! It can pull me down into the black darkness of being apart from God’s leading. A very lonely place.

The answer is trust. I know that. But very hard to stand on right now. I have no job, no career, not much in view for the distant future… not much to look forward to for the new year. How do I trust You God? How? My heart is prone to wander from You. I need Your love to anchor me down, to hold me in place when it hurts! I feel You working around me, and that gives me comfort. Thank You for being faithful and trustworthy. Provide for us while You do Your thing! Be my strength!

sJ

Run

When it comes to exercising, trying to stay in shape & be healthy, the last form that I would have ever picked would be running. I used to see people running along the road and the look on their faces would be one of shear agony… looks like a lot of fun to me! Running seemed to be something that hurt more than it felt good. Just wasn’t my idea of a good time.

As most of you know, we moved to a small South Carolina town just south of the NC/SC state line in August of 2010. For the last several years of living in Charlotte, we never felt comfortable enough to get into a routine of walking in our neighborhood. You never saw families or people out doing that, and it just wasn’t an atmosphere for getting out and walking as a family… kinda sad. But once we moved here, we experienced a great freedom to get out and explore our neighborhood. I mean, there were families out walking, people jogging, and it was beckoning us to join. So Robyn and I started walking. At first it was at a very leisurely pace – just enjoying the outdoors. But eventually we picked up the pace and saw that we could kill 2 birds with 1 stone: both – enjoy the outdoors & also feel like we were getting some exercise. Eventually I found myself wanting to start my day off with a “faster-paced” walk. It became my quiet time with God, something that I looked forward to. Even if Robyn couldn’t join me, I would continue to walk. It became something that I wanted to do, instead of something that I probably should do.

But then something really weird happened to me one day. As I was walking at a “faster pace”, I suddenly felt my body urging me to… run. WHAT?! ARE YOU SERIOUS?! What  was happening to me? Was I becoming a runner?! I couldn’t believe what happened next… I was running! (Just heard Forrest’s voice in my head) So flash forward – today I walk half and run half of my route, which is just over 1.5 miles. I bought my first pair of running shoes (which are also my first pair that I’ve paid over $50 for), I have exercise clothes, and I have a goal – to run the whole thing and then run in a 5k. Now don’t get me wrong – my friends just ran in the Charlotte marathon – I have no desire to run 25 miles!! Believe me… I’m good. But I do enjoy my time running.

As I have been running in the last 2 weeks, an image comes into my mind. I keep thinking of what Paul said to the Christians in Corinth: “You’ve all been to the stadium and seen the athletes race. Everyone runs; one wins. Run to win. All good athletes train hard. They do it for a gold medal that tarnishes and fades. You’re after one that’s gold eternally. I don’t know about you, but I’m running hard for the finish line. I’m giving it everything I’ve got. No sloppy living for me! I’m staying alert and in top condition. I’m not going to get caught napping, telling everyone else all about it and then missing out myself.” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27)

Run to win. That keeps playing over and over in my head, but what does it take to win? Endurance. I didn’t start out by sprinting through the neighborhood – I would have passed out after 100 yards! I paced myself, I ran down the hills and walked up. I took a couple of weeks of running/walking the same pace before pushing myself. I stretch extensively before I leave the house. I paced myself.

Running is a lot like the Christian life… Paul knew it. There are ups and there are downs. There are days when you injure yourself and your pace comes to a slow crawl. There are days that you feel like you’re flying. And then there are days you don’t want to head out in the rain… just stay in. The life that God calls each of us to isn’t apart from this world. It’s actually “in” it – just not “of” it. We are not immune to the “stuff” that this world throws at us all. Life happens without impartiality. But Paul knew how important it was to be in the right frame of mind – endurance. Having the mentality of winning the race. The mentality of training – of staying in top condition. He knew how important it was not to just take this Christian life leisurely but to live with passion and endurance & to trust God with the timing.

Running has definitely helped my health and it has helped my physical endurance. But more than anything, it has brought clarity to my life with Jesus. In the midst of trials, temptation, hard times, confusion, and uncertainty… give God everything you’ve got. Allow Him to live extensively in you! Allow the passion He has for us to be extended in your life as you run. And trust Him!

So run to win. Don’t miss out on living a full life in God.

sJ

A Message from the Johnson’s

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No Turning Back

In the last chapter of the Old Testament book of Joshua, all of the people of Israel are gathered together finally in the “promised land” and Joshua himself is giving his final challenge to the people. He starts by talking about where they have been as a people in the last several months: how they were led out of Egypt by their great leader Moses – how they were chased by Pharoah and his army across the Red Sea, how God parted the waters and brought them across, and then how Pharaoh and his men were drowned – how God defeated the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites, Jebusites, and even the people of Jericho when the great walls came tumbling down – how instead of a curse from Balaam, they received a blessing. Basically, Joshua is showing all of the people how God has kept His word and has truly led them on a fantastic journey. Joshua is showing them that God is trustworthy… He most definitely can be trusted with their lives! Joshua himself has come a long, long way! He now comes to a new chapter of this journey and doesn’t know what God has next for him, but stands before all of his people and states one of my favorite verses in all of the Bible – “But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” vs15. I love it! Joshua makes his stand – God is trustworthy & I will follow Him into the next chapter of my life… whatever it may be.

How hard is it when you come to an understanding where God has specifically spoken and made it pretty clear as to the beginning of a new chapter of your journey, to say “I will serve the Lord.”? Pretty hard! Especially when you don’t know exactly what that looks like! It may seem weird, but that’s the place you need to be in. Where you know beyond a shadow of a doubt what God wants, but not the how, when, and where. It’s the best place to be in because it’s not our position to know those things – those are what God does… His position – we just need to take a stand and say, “As for me, I will serve the Lord.” No matter how hard it is to trust God, it doesn’t change the fact that He is trustworthy.

In my teenage years, my home church sang the same song for the decision time after the sermon – every week… “I Have Decided to Follow Jesus”. And we probably sang all 5 verses! It’s a pretty simple song – not a hymn – most would consider it a chorus (some of the older folk would have flipped out to know that!) – but with a very simple and focused theme – - God is trustworthy. I thought of one of the verses today because it resonates with my life, the fourth one: “though none go with me, still I will follow”. Is that true of us? Is that true of me? What are we prepared to do? What am I prepared to do? What does following really mean in our lives?

Joshua just put it out there, he had no idea if anyone would actually follow along, if anyone would decide to serve God even though He had proven to be very trustworthy. Would anybody choose God? The reality is that they all did. No one wanted to be left out and they all saw that God could be trusted into the next chapter of their journey. So I ask myself the same question: will I follow even though none may go with me? If so, there is no turning back. Lead on God!

sJ

Holy us

I have a bad memory of when I first became a Christian over 25 years ago; I was overly eager at the age of 16 with my new found faith, I wanted to tell everyone I ran into about what had happened in my life. The hard lesson that I learned very quickly was that no one wanted to hear! Matter of fact, some were straight up weirded out! Some friends close to me started asking questions… hard questions – questions that had hard to swallow answers… especially for those who were far from God and who were happy living life on their terms. With one specific friend (my good friend’s sister) I had become the goody-two-shoes… the Mr. Perfect (enter in the doomsday jingle). I suddenly found myself in a position of being the judgmental do-gooder, the guy who thinks he’s got it all figured out – the guy who thinks he’s better than everyone else. The funny thing was… I really didn’t.

I guess when I realize that not only is God holy (pure, set apart, stands out) but that He wants the same for me… I remember that feeling. I remember feeling like having no control over the label of Mr. Perfect mistakenly placed upon me. It wasn’t my intent. It wasn’t my goal. But it was how I was perceived. I understand that God wants holiness for my life, but maybe – just maybe it’s more than me flying out the door to tell someone. Maybe it’s more than me trying so hard to be so good. Maybe it’s just as simple as allowing His purity to penetrate my everyday life so much that I actually start to stand out – even without saying a word or telling a soul.

The sooner I realize that me being holy has nothing to do with me – the better off I’ll be. Being holy is nothing more than allowing our Holy God access to the deepest part of our lives – allowing Him to literally be placed at the center of our normal everyday lifestyle. God let Paul in on the secret when He revealed to him this: “Since we’ve compiled this long and sorry record as sinners (both us and them) and proved that we are utterly incapable of living the glorious lives God wills for us, God did it for us. Out of sheer generosity he put us in right standing with himself. A pure gift. He got us out of the mess we’re in and restored us to where he always wanted us to be. And he did it by means of Jesus Christ.” -Romans 3:23-24. God does it for us – despite our flaws His purity soaks to the bone and through us… He stands out! Beautiful!

So, we are all in this boat together. All of us – flawed and broken. Desperately trying so hard to be so good. To say the right things, to do the right things. But then again – all of us destined for holiness! We were meant for God to live in and through us in such a way that our lives stand out regardless of our desire to tell the world or be good (no matter how well intended it may be). If you are anything like me, you have no desire to become “Mr. Perfect”. I don’t have all of the right answers and I don’t say all the right things. I honestly can’t be good enough and guess why… I’m flawed. BUT, the great thing is… He’s not!

Get this… if we would just allow God to be God, completely and thoroughly, inside of us – His holiness is all we need to utterly stand out. Be holy by allowing the Holy God access to you!

sJ

spiritual zombies!

Yesterday I had the privilege of speaking at Crosspoint. The scripture that was assigned to me was Ephesians 5:8-14 – -  a scripture that is easily overlooked! What lies between those 6 verses is the key to understanding the very nature of Jesus and the very nature of ourselves. It’s a simple letter that Paul is writing to the newer Christians of Ephesus, one where he lays down some of the very basic & key elements to following Jesus – - this one, hidden among what would seem like more important elements, is actually a very crucial foundation element.

Paul describes two ways of living out your one life that we’ve all been given: living in darkness (aka: stumbling around guessing at what is important and what is not) & living in light (aka: ‘phos’ = enlightenment or knowing the truth). Those of us who would call ourselves ‘Christians’ would consider a life once lived in darkness but now lived out in light. An old life of guessing and one of emptiness and void of truth traded in for a new life lit up by the truth bearing wisdom of God through Jesus. BUT, there is a spiritual disease that has afflicted many Christians that keeps them from experiencing a complete life of truth. Instead of walking into the light and living in it, some are having a hard time taking that step and end up lingering around in darkness for quite some time – even though they have ‘seen the light’.

This type of lingering can be looked upon as a form of a living dead. In other words, a spiritual zombie. Neither dead nor alive. One who could simply choose life in light, but is held back by something that oppresses. The walking dead.

Paul ends this important thought with a recognizable paraphrased scripture, where God is beckoning those zombies to ‘wake up!’ Arise from the depths of death to the light of life. Come out of your world of lingering and step into and live among the light.

The qualities of living in the light are awakening thoughts in and of themselves: pure goodness, pure right living (things just seem right), and pure truth. Basically, everything just falls into place and we experience something that we could never experience on our own. But a life carried out in darkness is simply this: absent of any light, any good, any right, and any truth. It’s a life that continuously seems out of place and never fulfilling.

I don’t know what keeps us lingering around the dark, maybe it’s a weak sense of trust (hard to let go), maybe it’s a matter of faith (hard to see into the future), or maybe it’s just that when it comes down to it… we don’t believe. I don’t know what it is, but I’m tired of not living my one life in the middle of the light, in the middle of right living, in the middle of true satisfaction. If you have been experiencing a major lack of fulfillment in your one life, maybe feeling like things that you have placed as important don’t bring you a deeper satisfaction and could be a waste of time, or maybe you just simply don’t want to live the life of death… a zombie… anymore. Well, me too.

Let’s crawl out of the grave and rise to greet the shining light of Jesus! Let’s allow this truth that comes bursting into our lives as bright as anything to truly change us and transform us into the type of people who want to make the most of our one lives by centering them smack-dab in the middle of God’s world! Let’s learn to live, and live fully!

sJ

imagine that!

I met a friend for lunch two weeks ago. He is, as of right now, smack in the middle of Kershaw Correctional Institution (aka: a prison in Kershaw, SC). No – he’s not a prisoner, he is working with a group called Kairos Prison Ministry – where they’ll spend the whole day, for four days, deep inside the prison ministering to the prisoners. The main thing they’ll do there is host a feast where only a select few of the prisoners (the most well behaved) will be invited into a special room to participate in a home cooked meal with home baked cookies and even waited on, hand and foot, by the Kairos team.

My friend, Michael, was telling me stories of past years and told me one in particular that I quite honestly can’t get out of my mind. He told me of a friend of his father’s who one year was assigned a table of men to serve. When the men entered the room, Michael’s friend noticed that one of the men was quite different than the others – he was the poster-child of what you would think a death-row prisoner would look like – he was huge and very intimidating!! Your goal as a volunteer is to go overboard with these guys, to make them feel like kings, to serve out of the most sincere, humble heart – no matter what the prisoners look like! So Michael’s friend went about his job and gave all of his assigned men his very best and went above and beyond to make them feel like kings… to make them feel loved.

At the end of the night, Mr. Bad-to-the-bone Inmate looked at Michael’s friend in curiosity and said… “Imagine that! You would serve me?!”

That phrase hit me so hard, that it literally changed me. I can’t help but to think of Jesus hanging with his disciples in the upper room. They had just finished eating the traditional passover meal together (which was saying something, since you normally would eat that with close family – which they were not), where Jesus created a new meal out of this old one – one with a new meaning – deeper and more significant than the passover, He shared a very intimate moment with them and then caps it off with this…

John 13:3-5: “Jesus knew that the Father had put him in complete charge of everything, that he came from God and was on his way back to God. So he got up from the supper table, set aside his robe, and put on an apron. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the feet of the disciples, drying them with his apron.”

Jesus washes His disciples feet!! I love Peter’s expression in the next verse: “Master, you wash my feet?” He can’t believe it. It’s shocking. Took Peter off guard. Why would a master wash the feet of his students? Shouldn’t it be the other way around?! Peter’s thinking, “I’m not worthy of this! This shouldn’t be!”

It is shocking to experience such unconditional love. Our response is that of total momentary confusion, like we are living in Bizzaro-world… everything for a moment seems upside-down and backwards. It’s definitely an “imagine that” moment.

What a great reaction. Jesus goes on in that chapter – in verse 35- to tell the disciples to love just like He had just shown them. That the world would recognize Him and His love through their lives. Shouldn’t our lives create such a reaction like that prisoner’s? Shouldn’t the very heart of who we are, our moral fiber, center around an attitude of serving out of the most sincere, humble heart?

I want to be apart of that. I want to see that reaction in people when they come across the same Jesus working inside of my life – causing me to love unconditionally, to serve with everything. I want my life to be based upon something so much bigger than what I can ever achieve or accomplish. If you are so desiring this way of Jesus, just know this… me too.

Imagine that!