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Regardless of Life's Storms
Joe Killian • Oct 06, 2016
Our Sarah just moved into her new apartment in central Florida. Typically, I have only worried about hurricanes in the past when they hit the gulf coast because I have family there. Now as Hurricane Matthew nears the Atlantic coast I find myself paying more attention than usual. This is potentially the worst hurricane in decades.
That realization gave me pause as I thought about Sarah's safety and then about those in the path of this huge storm. Every indication is pointing to potentially catastrophic devastation. Hundreds of thousands of people are being told they must evacuate their homes and businesses. In this week's Gospel we see Jesus interacting on a personal level with those who had experienced a life altering, devastating illness that required them to be "evacuated" from society to protect the general population.
As Jesus continued his journey to Jerusalem, he traveled through Samaria and Galilee. As he was entering a village, ten lepers met him. They stood at a distance from him and raised their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!” And when he saw them, he said, “Go show yourselves to the priests.” As they were going they were cleansed. And one of them, realizing he had been healed, returned, glorifying God in a loud voice; and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him. He was a Samaritan. Jesus said in reply, “Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine? Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?” Then he said to him, “Stand up and go; your faith has saved you.” Luke 17:11-19
Obviously the healing of the lepers is an important part of this Gospel. However the unknown backstory of the lepers is important. Imagine these people living their lives when an illness appears that changes everything. Leprosy had no cure so lepers had to be completely quarantined from the rest of society. Think of the "storm" they faced in their personal lives, as leprosy separated them from everyone and everything they knew and loved. Forever! If they were healed and approved by the priests they could return to society but that rarely happened. That is why the response of the ten men is so important to the message here. Their lives had been given back to them. Most likely they had no hope of ever returning to their normal lives and yet Jesus restored everything. And yet only one of the ten returned to thank God his savior.
Take note of what Jesus says to the one who did return. "Stand up and go; your faith has saved you." The man has already been healed of leprosy. Jesus is now speaking of the man's salvation. Shouldn't the others be just as grateful? Shouldn't you and I? If we've trusted our life to Jesus as savior He has restored us to the life we are intended to have. A life with God that lasts forever!
Glory to God! Thank you Jesus!
I feel compelled to pray! "Lord God you are our creator and redeemer. We trust you in all things. As this storm nears the densely populated coast may you protect all who are in its path. Comfort those who have already lost loved ones and their homes. In the end you are the true savior. Please protect those in harm's way that they might gratefully give You the glory. In Jesus mighty name I pray."
The story continues...I'm still working on the pondless waterfall in our front yard. I shared this project with you two weeks ago in Playin' In the Dirt. Since then I've had to rework sections of the stream three different times because we were losing too much water. I am now an expert on evaporation rates and excessive splash, two causes of water loss. This morning I tore the whole thing apart and I'm starting over.
Have you ever watched DreamWorks Animation's Kung Fu Panda? I stumbled across it recently and thoroughly enjoyed Jack Black's performance as a bumbling, noodle selling, kung fu enthusiast, giant panda named P o. Set in ancient China, it is more than a humorous slapstick comedy. The core message of the story jumped out at me as I have been focusing recently on the concept of being. Po is shockingly identified as the Dragon Warrior and he reluctantly enters training. The goal of the training is to receive the Dragon Scroll, which is believed to hold the secret to limitless power. Now I don't want to spoil the big reveal but I will say that what Po realizes is the same as what I speak to in the concept of being and authentic identity. So, where do we find the secret to our "power?" I praise You, because I am wonderfully made; wonderful are Your works! My very self You know. Psalm 139:14 God knows it; and we must seek Him with all of our hearts in order to find it. As it was in the movie, the answer is stunningly simple. Our authentic identity is already within us. The challenge for Po in the movie was in seeing himself accurately and not the way others saw him. Even his teacher scoffed at the idea that Po was anything more than an underachieving dreamer who overate when he was anxious. Po's problems are rooted in the fact that he believes the lie of his false identity much more than he does his authentic one. Is it possible that you do the same? Who could have imagined that beneath all of Po's girth lived the Dragon Warrior? What's hidden from view in you? Seek God for understanding as to who He created you to be. Spoiler Alert: the secret of your limitless power is already in you. God placed it there and He wants you to be who He authentically created you to be.
Maria and I have been playing in the dirt a lot recently. First we replaced our French drain and then we embarked on a creative project intended to change the entire look of our front yard. My brother Jeffrey and I installed a new front step.
