Daily Reading 20

"There was a woman in the crowd who had had a hemorrhage for twelve years." -Mark 5:25

"Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering." -Mark 5:34

What kind of hands do you have? This woman's hands were the hands of a public outcast. She wasn't wanted around because she was too sick. Bleeding all the time. The way Max Lucado describes her hands - they probably hadn't been touched by another person for a long time. She was on her knees crawling after Jesus when she saw him walking through town. She and a bunch of others had heard about him and were following him around. She came homeless, poor, sick, and probably with little hope left.
Whispers had told her that there was something that this Jesus could do, that he was different. She literally had nothing to lose, so why not try? Why not do something desperate? She thinks to herself, "If I can just touch his clothing, I will be healed." -Mark 5:28. Even though the crowd told her to move out of the way; even though she kept getting jostled by them, she moved closer. Then when she got close enough, she reached out and grabbed his robe.
She realized instantly that "the bleeding had stopped, and she could feel that she had been healed." -Mark 5:29. She had LIFE again. He gave her LIFE.
The cool thing is, he knew that it had happened. He tried to find her in the middle of the huge crowd to let her know that her act of faith was what made her better.
Life can sometimes be full of a bunch of crappy stuff that makes us feel really weak. We don't feel much hope when something takes our strength away. Maybe it is a family situation? A job that we feel like we have to keep doing? Maybe its a choice that we keep making that we wish we'd never even started? I don't know what might be making you feel weak. I do hear from this message though, that Jesus wants to hold our hands. When we reach through all of the people, he knows. "Yours is the hand he loves to hold."

Daily Reading 17

"Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool. . . Here a great number of disabled people used to lie." -John 5:2-3

This pool. mentioned above is in a place called Bethesda. Lots of people are walking around, not paying any attention to the activity that is going on around this pool. Some of the passersby are going to the temple to seek God. the funny thing is, Jesus (God as a man) is walking near the pool amongst a whole lot of sick people who want to be well. The purpose of this "pool" was to heal. Under the pool, the water source was a natural spring. When the spring bubbled up, people thought that the first person to touch the water would be healed. One man was sitting a bit away from the pool, paralyzed when Jesus noticed him. At the time, he was alone; no disciples watching or following.
When Jesus sees this man, he asks him what appears to me to be a silly question, "Do you want to be well?"
The cynic in me says, "DUH, Jesus! Of course he wants to be well. Why do you think that he's there?"
The funny thing is that the man replies with a problem. He has no one to help him get to the water when it starts moving. And Jesus doesn't even really acknowledge the problem. Instead, he changed the man's perception and did something that he did not expect. He showed him the power of faith. Instead of carrying the man down to the pool, he told him to get up and walk. The man did it! He didn't argue that he couldn't. He didn't give excuses that others wouldn't help. He did what Jesus said because he believed him.

A lot of times I am not sure how have faith every day. I'm not saying that I don't believe that God loves me or that he forgives me. It's kind of hard to articulate. I guess I get annoyed sometimes when people say, "You just gotta have faith." What does that mean? Does that mean that I am not believing hard enough to please God? I don't think so. I don't think that God is up there waiting for us to perform certain actions in order to supernaturally open all of these consecutive doors. I guess my prayer to God is, help me to, "Get up and walk" when you're telling me to. Help me to step into the unknown and be okay with your guidance and my lack of control...
What do you think about this man's faith?

Max Lucado Daily Reading 7

"Jesus went into Galilee proclaiming the good news of God." -Mark 1:14

"God chose him for this purpose long before the world began." -1 Peter 1:20

If you haven't tried it yet, find a bible and read some of the rest of the context surrounding the verse that starts each day. It totally helps to understand what is going on. Too often, we read quotes or bible verses in isolation. As I read the beginning of this first chapter of mark, I saw that it introduced Jesus a bit differently than Luke. It talked about John the baptist and how he proclaimed that the Messiah was soon coming. He was announcing Jesus' entrance into a life of public scrutiny. Max points out that Jesus had to first say goodbye to private life at home with his family in the little town of Nazareth before he went out. The crazy thing about it all is that Jesus didn't have to do any of it. He could have kept quiet and led a normal life. But he allowed God's plan to unfold anyway. Not just to be killed, but to willingly carry his own tool of death- a cross, to have it done.
My favorite question so far in these daily readings posed by our author came today: "I wonder what kind of love is this? When you come up with a word for such love, give it to Christ." I have a new friend that is a fabulous writer. I think someday, she will express this sentiment in a way that I cannot. I have been talking about God with her for only a short time, and she is continually blowing me away with her insight about this lifelong spiritual journey. I am thankful for her and I am thankful for what God has done. "immense in mercy and with an incredible love. . . embraced us." - Ephesians 2:4