“No”

Posted on by Betsy

I have a friend who is going through the last months of a decades-long marriage that has dissolved. Her husband has left the family for another one, and she has prayed fervently over the last several months that God would change her husband’s heart. His heart has not changed.

She told me last week that she feels that God isn’t listening to her. I kindly responded that perhaps it is she who isn’t listening to God. I don’t believe there is ever a time when God doesn’t hear our prayers, though it certainly can feel that way when we don’t get the answer we are desperate to receive.

When disappointment, illness, tragedy, or hardship comes, do we ever lose our enthusiasm for God? Do we ever feel rejected by him when we don’t get the answers we want?

Proverbs 3 brings us into the heart of the matter. We are not to lean on our own understanding when things happen, but rather trust in the Lord with ALL our heart:

Proverbs 3 (New International Version)

Trust in the Lord with all your heart
    and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways submit to him,
    and he will make your paths straight.

Sometimes, God will say “No” to our prayers. 

But remember this: Sometimes God’s “No” is not a rejection, but a redirection.
Sometimes God’s “No” is not a punishment, but a preparation. 
There are times when God’s “No” will bring greater glory to his kingdom. Some “No” responses help us understand the scope of God’s reign as he teaches us to live with the consequences of our actions.
And God’s “No” can even start us on an adventure with him.

One thing is sure … God is more interested in our character than our comfort, and that is often reflected in his response to our prayers.

God even said “No” to Paul when Paul asked for his “thorn to be removed,” and then gave Paul special grace to carry on. And pretty much everything Christians know about grace comes from the letters of Paul.

So can we find comfort in God’s wisdom when he says “No”? Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow. But we can try to live into God’s grace, knowing that he always works for our good, and always listens to us when we reach out to him. Always.

So in all your discouragement and disappointment, submit to God, and he will make your paths straight.

Straight back into his arms.

The Straight Path by Kathy Schumacher

Not That Kind of King

Posted on by Betsy

If you read these devotionals on a regular basis, you have hopefully noticed that this space is a politics-free sanctuary. Indeed, my intent is to make Scripture approachable and understandable so that readers may form theologically-based opinions about every facet of life. But I have to share something that I heard recently. A friend who was very disappointed in the recent Presidential election commented to me that this election has made her long for the Second Coming of Christ. She then chuckled ruefully and went on to say, “and he better come back by January 19th!” I am sad that she feels that way, but I found it interesting that in her disappointment, her thoughts turned so quickly to the Second Coming. Sometimes the things that stress us the most are the ones that drive us back to God, and that’s never a bad thing.

I am not making light of anyone’s feelings about the election. But truly, all of our attention in every season of life should be focused on the Second Coming. We are citizens of heaven, and a better way of governance will be ours when we enter those gates. Christ the King will reign and all of our inadequate human leaders on every side and in every nation will fade away and become a thing of the past, not to be remembered or revered. Won’t that indeed be a wonderful day? All nations, races, and peoples will gather before one throne and worship the one true king. These present situations are something that just must be endured until then.

John 18 (The Message)

33 Pilate went back into the palace and called for Jesus. He said, “Are you the ‘King of the Jews’?”

34 Jesus answered, “Are you saying this on your own, or did others tell you this about me?”

35 Pilate said, “Do I look like a Jew? Your people and your high priests turned you over to me. What did you do?”

36 “My kingdom,” said Jesus, “doesn’t consist of what you see around you. If it did, my followers would fight so that I wouldn’t be handed over to the Jews. But I’m not that kind of king, not the world’s kind of king.”

Jesus’ kingdom will look nothing like the kingdoms of this world. His statement that his followers would only “fight for him” if his kingdom was like those of earth is a direct indication that his kingdom will not have warring, fighting, or violence. There is no kingdom on earth that can boast that.

He is not that kind of king.

37 Then Pilate said, “So, are you a king or not?”

Jesus answered, “You tell me. Because I am King, I was born and entered the world so that I could witness to the truth. Everyone who cares for truth, who has any feeling for the truth, recognizes my voice.”

Christ will reign over all the earth in due time. That is the truth. We who care for the truth and have any feeling for the truth recognize the voice of our one true king. And so we wait for righteousness, justice, and peace.

Come, Lord Jesus, come.

Lord, Hasten the Day

Unbinding

Posted on by Betsy

What has you tied up in knots today? Surely the election results have at least half of the country feeling bound up in restrictive cloths while the other half is feeling suddenly set free. There are lots of things in life that can make us feel wrapped up in burial cloth: Divorce, the sudden death of a loved one, financial woes, natural disasters, food and housing insecurities … the list goes on and on. What has you trapped today?

Our lectionary passage from last week tells the incredible story of a man who died and was bound up in strips of cloth like a mummy. This man was dear to Jesus, as were his sisters. Mary and Martha were strong believers in Jesus’ power to heal. They had sent for him to come and heal their brother, but he arrived too late:

John 11 (Common English Bible)

32 When Mary arrived where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.”

33 When Jesus saw her crying and the Jews who had come with her crying also, he was deeply disturbed and troubled. 34 He asked, “Where have you laid him?”

I find it striking that he was deeply disturbed and troubled at the news of his friend’s death and at their grief. Do you know that whatever has you bound up today causes Jesus some consternation? He loves you that much.

They replied, “Lord, come and see.”

35 Jesus began to cry. 36 The Jews said, “See how much he loved him!” 37 But some of them said, “He healed the eyes of the man born blind. Couldn’t he have kept Lazarus from dying?”

Notice that the Jews who were observing this acknowledged Jesus’ power to heal. They were believers.

38 Jesus was deeply disturbed again when he came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone covered the entrance. 39 Jesus said, “Remove the stone.”

Martha, the sister of the dead man, said, “Lord, the smell will be awful! He’s been dead four days.”

In the King James Version, this sentence reads “He stinketh.” I think we should revive that word. It kind of adds class to a smelly situation. If you’ve ever changed a diaper, you know what I mean.

Then Jesus had his “hold my beer” moment. They wanted him to heal Lazarus, but he showed an even greater power than that: He showed them the power of resurrection.

40 Jesus replied, “Didn’t I tell you that if you believe, you will see God’s glory?” 41 So they removed the stone. Jesus looked up and said, “Father, thank you for hearing me. 42 I know you always hear me. I say this for the benefit of the crowd standing here so that they will believe that you sent me.” 43 Having said this, Jesus shouted with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The dead man came out, his feet bound and his hands tied, and his face covered with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Untie him and let him go.”

The bottom line for this story for us today is this: Jesus wants to unbind you from whatever has you trapped. He longs to set you free from your burial shroud and watch you enter into new life, healed and whole. I bet you know exactly what to do to make this happen. Whether it’s leaving a toxic relationship, ending a destructive habit, stop obsessing over the past, or standing up for yourself against an enemy, you know what to do. So do it!

Untie yourself and let it go.

Free Flowing by Kathy Schumacher

Without Flaw

Posted on by Betsy

I am currently writing a women’s retreat for a large church in Alpharetta, Georgia based on the Temple. That was my one-word assignment: write a retreat on the Temple. Let me tell you, this has been the most challenging one yet! But after many, many long hours of research and study (and sweat and tears) it all boils down to one sentence: You are God’s dwelling place in which God lives by his spirit.

This one sentence undoes thousands of years of temple building! Let’s do a brief history lesson on the Tabernacle/Temple thing. In the beginning, God designed a perfect dwelling place in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve but when they sinned, they were expelled. From that point on, fellowship with God was broken and yet somehow, God still desired to dwell with us. As we follow the story from Genesis to Exodus, we see the people wandering in the wilderness after God delivered them from Egypt and Pharaoh’s vicious pursuit. At this point, God made a plan for them to build a mobile tabernacle, a “meeting tent,” so that his presence could go with them everywhere, and gave Moses very specific instructions for building it.

Now let’s fast forward to the Temple. For Jewish people, God’s Temple meant something very specific: it meant the Temple in Jerusalem. The Temple that was built by King Solomon. The Temple that housed the ark of the covenant in the Holy of Holies. The Temple that was destroyed by the Babylonians, and then rebuilt by Zerubbabel, before being destroyed a second time by the Romans in 70 AD. The Temple which now remains only as a single wall, the Wailing Wall, is still a sacred place for Jewish people. 

Now we move on to the arrival of our Messiah, Jesus. When Jesus came, he completed God’s full plan for the Temple by becoming the temple himself. As high priest, Jesus offers the best and most complete sacrifice at the altar and allows us to be tabernacled with him, becoming the dwelling place ourselves.

Hebrews 9:11-14 (Common English Bible)

11 But Christ has appeared as the high priest of the good things that have happened. He passed through the greater and more perfect meeting tent, which isn’t made by human hands (that is, it’s not a part of this world). 12 He entered the holy of holies once for all by his own blood, not by the blood of goats or calves, securing our deliverance for all time. 13 If the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkled ashes of cows made spiritually contaminated people holy and clean, 14 how much more will the blood of Jesus wash our consciences clean from dead works in order to serve the living God? He offered himself to God through the eternal Spirit as a sacrifice without any flaw.

Paul goes on later to explain the completion of the plan in Ephesians 2:

 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

This is the great charge and challenge for today. As a dwelling place for God, how will you reflect his Spirit to the world in a winsome, inviting way? Do people see enough of God’s Spirit in you that they want to come in and know more? Are you a reflection of his glory and grace?

May we strive to be an open door to others until everyone hears.

(Georgia friends, you are invited to attend this retreat: February 22nd, Midway United Methodist Church, Alpharetta, GA. Registration forms will be available soon on their website.)

Peachtree City UMC

Election Angst

Posted on by Betsy

I had a conversation with a church member who is facing a lot of personal challenges right now. On multiple levels she is dealing with life changing events in her family and her stress level is high. As we talked about each one, trying to find possible solutions, I began to realize that we were both affected by another kind of pressure: Election angst. These last few months have taken a terrible toll on all of us. The vitriol, the false claims, the lying, the accusations, the intense fear of what is to come … whatever pressures you are going through in your work/life situation, there is an overwhelming dark cloud of “what ifs” that has affected us all. In some ways I can’t wait for it to be over but in other ways, I am terrified at what comes next.

This morning I was reflecting on all of this, and guess what God had to say about it? “Do not put your trust in princes, in human beings, who cannot save.”

Psalm 146 (New International Version)

Praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord, my soul.

2 I will praise the Lord all my life;
    I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.
3 Do not put your trust in princes,
    in human beings, who cannot save.
4 When their spirit departs, they return to the ground;
    on that very day their plans come to nothing.
5 Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
    whose hope is in the Lord their God.

Blessed are we when we put our hope for help squarely on God’s shoulders. God created the universes and told the stars and moons where to be! Even in the darkest moments of anguish over the future of our country, we must remember this. God remains faithful forever.

6 He is the Maker of heaven and earth,
    the sea, and everything in them—
    he remains faithful forever.
7 He upholds the cause of the oppressed
    and gives food to the hungry.
The Lord sets prisoners free,
8     the Lord gives sight to the blind,
the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down,
    the Lord loves the righteous.

We may feel like the bowed down right now as we await the results that will shape the course of our future together, but God still and always reigns forever. Yes, it is scary. Yes, it is unbelievable to be in such a place at this point in our lives. But even still, God watches over us.

9 The Lord watches over the foreigner
    and sustains the fatherless and the widow,
    but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.

So lift up your head to the Lord today and give up all your fears and worries. In the end, it is the Lord who reigns forever.

10 The Lord reigns forever,
    your God, O Zion, for all generations.

Consider the Flowers of the Field by Kathy Schumacher

Calling All Saints

Posted on by Betsy

Saints. They can be canonized heroes of our faith, plaster statues in a cathedral, a football team in New Orleans, or the person sitting next to you.

We usually balk at the notion that every day folks are saints, and the thought that we ourselves fall into that category is especially squirm-worthy. Comparing ourselves with the likes of the Apostle Paul, Mother Teresa, and Gabriel the Archangel is uncomfortable at best, unless you have a really, really big ego. Most Protestant denominations don’t have saints like our Catholic brothers and sisters do. Our traditions don’t include canonization, but we do have saints of the ordinary variety.

You and me.

All Saints’ Day is a way of marking the ordinariness of extraordinary people of faith. Many churches observe this on the first Sunday of November. Names of those who have died in the last year are read, and a candle is lit for each. Sometimes a bell is tolled as well. It is a sacred and solemn day of remembrance and thanksgiving for the faithfulness of these folks.

The phrase saints appears in the Bible over 60 times. In Colossians 10, Paul assures us that all of us are saints:

Colossians 1:10-14 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

10 So that you may lead lives worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work and as you grow in the knowledge of God. 11 May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. 13 He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins

The root of the word saint comes from the word sanctified. To be sanctified is to be “set apart for holy use.” We have been called out of the world to be the reflection of Christ to a world that doesn’t know him but needs him desperately.

Many years ago, I traveled to Israel. Most of the holy sites are maintained by different churches: Roman Catholic, Coptic, Greek Orthodox, Franciscans, etc. As an American Methodist, I was struck by all of the plaster statues and busts of saints I knew nothing about. It was an interesting distraction from the holy site itself.

When I got home, I reflected on our Protestant understanding of saints as ordinary people, and I sadly realized that in many instances, I have been and continue to be a plaster saint. How about you? Do you ever feel that way … That if people knew what was really going on inside of you, they surely would feel differently about you?

The scriptures may affirm us as saints with the rest of the members of the household of God, but in so many ways, our usefulness as those set apart for holy use only runs skin deep. I may appear somewhat saintly on the outside, but the plaster is covering who I really am and hiding my less-than-sanctified-self from the world.

In our ordinariness, we all sin and fall short of the glory of God. Then we put on a plaster cast and show a holiness to the world that doesn’t really speak to who we are inside. As they say, actions speak louder than words, and people can easily see past the mask. And so can God.

On this All Saints’ Day, let us spend a moment meditating on that. Do you mirror the image of God in everything you say, do, think, and post? Or is your sainthood just a plaster façade, hiding an inner self you don’t want others to see? Let us mark this day with self-examination, confession, repentance, and change.

As saints, we are called to work hard in every way to do the right thing and endure in good works no matter the cost. We are instructed to grow in our knowledge of God, so keep doing your daily devotionals, people! Thank you for reading! Saints endeavor to live a life worthy of God, not just show up to church occasionally so we can check that box.

You see, the whole point of sainthood is not to be perfect, but to be redeemed, forgiven, and strengthened by the Holy Spirit to live a life that reflects our faith. And someday, when the saints go marching in, oh Lord, let us be in that number!

Stone Saints by Alan Janesch

Hear

Posted on by Betsy

If you could distill everything important you wanted your family to know about you and put it in a box, what would you include? I recently purchased a NOKBOX (Next of Kin Box) for my husband and I to consolidate all of our important papers and information for our next of kin in the event of our passing. He has been working on it for weeks and finally completed it. It has preprinted file folders that you simply fill with the necessary documents, and viola, there it all is in one box. You’re welcome, kids! We recently had a relative die very unexpectedly and his widow and children are still trying to chase down all of the necessary documents that one must produce in these situations. This motivated us to consolidate all the important things in one location for our family when we go. I hope you have some kind of system in place for your next of kin as well.

In a strange way, today’s scripture is like a NOKBOX. Moses had brought the nation of Israel to the entry way to the Promised Land after finally escaping from Pharaoh’s grip. The years of wilderness wandering have left them depleted in many ways. They are tired of their nomadic life and long for a home. A generation has come and gone and they don’t remember what it is like to be Hebrew. More importantly, they have lost sight of the commandments that God gave them in a love letter on stone tablets. Before they move on, it was time to go over all the important parts of the covenant with God.

Deuteronomy 6 (New Revised Standard Version)

4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. 7 Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. 8 Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead,9 and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. Right from the start the monotheistic nature of the Jewish faith is asserted. They are about to enter a land of pagans with false idols, so getting this part straight from the get-go would ensure their survival. They are reminded to love their Lord with everything they have. The prayer continues with an invitation to keep these words in their hearts, recite them in their homes, and put them on their hands, foreheads, and doorposts. This was done by writing this shema on tiny pieces of paper and placing them into small boxes called phylacteries, which could be bound to the arm and forehead with leather straps. In a literal sense, they boxed up everything important about God and wore them on their bodies.

One of the things that our NOKBOX does not include is a space for us to express how much we love and cherish our children and grandchildren, and how extremely proud we have always been to be their parents. This is a file that we need to add. In the meantime, I will wear my love for them on my arms and my forehead, and write it over my doorpost.

New Neighbor

Ride or Die

Posted on by Betsy

Do you have someone in your life who is your “ride or die”? A ride or die friend or relative is one who will come to your side no matter what the situation. They are the first to call, the first to show up, the first to take your side, the first to defend you, and the last to leave. They are the person who will sit at the vet’s office with you for hours on a Sunday morning, call you 30 minutes after a particularly stressful meeting to make sure you’re okay, rush to your side with hot soup when you are ill, and always sends flowers for your birthday. I hope you have someone in your life like that, and I especially hope you are a ride or die for someone else.

In today’s lectionary passage, we meet a young Moabite woman who was a ride or die for her Jewish mother-in-law. Does that surprise you? Not everyone is blessed with a strong relationship with their mothers-in-law. I was, and I count myself very blessed. The story of Naomi and Ruth is an inspiration for any committed relationship between two people.

Naomi’s husband and adult sons have died, and so she and her daughters-in-law have decided to move to Naomi’s hometown. Watch what happens:

Ruth 1 (The Message)

8-9 After a short while on the road, Naomi told her two daughters-in-law, “Go back. Go home and live with your mothers. And may God treat you as graciously as you treated your deceased husbands and me. May God give each of you a new home and a new husband!” She kissed them and they cried openly.

10 They said, “No, we’re going on with you to your people.”

11-13 But Naomi was firm: “Go back, my dear daughters. Why would you come with me? Do you suppose I still have sons in my womb who can become your future husbands? Go back, dear daughters—on your way, please! I’m too old to get a husband. Why, even if I said, ‘There’s still hope!’ and this very night got a man and had sons, can you imagine being satisfied to wait until they were grown? Would you wait that long to get married again? No, dear daughters; this is a bitter pill for me to swallow—more bitter for me than for you. God has dealt me a hard blow.”

In Jewish tradition, women who were widowed at an early age could marry their husband’s brother to keep the family line going. But because all of her sons are gone, Naomi cannot provide husbands for these women. By urging them to leave her, she is offering them a second chance at life.

14 Again they cried openly. Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-bye; but Ruth embraced her and held on.

15 Naomi said, “Look, your sister-in-law is going back home to live with her own people and gods; go with her.”

16-17 But Ruth said, “Don’t force me to leave you; don’t make me go home. Where you go, I go; and where you live, I’ll live. Your people are my people, your God is my god; where you die, I’ll die, and that’s where I’ll be buried, so help me God—not even death itself is going to come between us!”

This is some of the most beautiful language in the Old Testament. Wherever you go, I go. Wherever you live, I will live. Your people are my people! Such devotion and commitment is remarkable, especially in the context of an in-law relationship. Ruth had her heart set on staying with Naomi.

18-19 When Naomi saw that Ruth had her heart set on going with her, she gave in. And so the two of them traveled on together to Bethlehem.

We can see the Holy Spirit at work here. Naomi and Ruth move to Bethlehem, and you remember what happened in Bethlehem. Ruth eventually married Boaz, who became her kinsman redeemer. They had a son named Obed who had a son named Jesse who had a son named David, who became king. As Jesus was from the line of David, Ruth is forever remembered as one of Jesus’ direct ancestors.

This story points out another thing to us. We have someone in our lives who promises to go wherever we go and live wherever we live. A descendant of Ruth, he is our own personal kinsman redeemer. He rode a donkey into Jerusalem and died on a cross for our salvation.

Jesus is the greatest ride or die we will ever have.

Sky Ride by Kathy Schumacher

Anti-Toxin

Posted on by Betsy

We are rounding the corner when holidays challenge us to try to spend time with our families. There is an expectation of togetherness that dominates our schedules between Halloween and New Year’s Day. For families that are experiencing dysfunction, these next few months can be extremely disruptive.

Does your family put the “fun” in dysfunctional or is there a deep and toxic undercurrent that threatens your peace? I spoke to a mother who has been battling with a very toxic relative who refuses to listen to her and has rejected all of her words and counsel. When that relative suddenly announced that they were coming for Thanksgiving, the mother responded that this would not work this year. I applaud her conviction in standing up for herself. Let me say this out loud for those in the back: it is okay to walk away from toxic relationships. You can still love people from afar, but to put appropriate boundaries around your heart, your mind, and your sanity is sometimes the only way to negotiate relationships that threaten to undo you.

Not only is it okay to walk away from toxic relationships, but it is also biblical.

In the tenth chapter of Matthew, Jesus was training his disciples to go out and announce that the Messiah had come. He instructed them to knock on the door and offer a blessing of peace. If the blessing was rebuked, Jesus told them to “let your peace return to you” and walk away.

Matthew 10 (New International Version)

13 If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it; if it is not, let your peace return to you. 14 If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet.

Think about your most challenging relationships. If the relationship is deserving, let your peace rest on it. If your words, advice, and loving counsel are rejected over and over again, step away from that relationship and dust off your feet.

This is not to say that we are suddenly relieved of our duty to love others as Christ loves them. This does not discount unconditional love. But loving with healthy boundaries and space is appropriate. Jesus said so.

Are you dreading the holidays? Do you wish you didn’t have to deal with someone this season?

Dust off your feet, stand up for yourself, and walk toward your own peace of mind.

When Peace, Like a River by Kathy Schumacher

Tone-Blind

Posted on by Betsy

Have you ever been in a situation where you suddenly realized that the person you are with is completely incapable of seeing the reality in front of them, in spite of your repeated attempts to explain, describe, reveal, and expose exactly what is going on? Like people who are tone-deaf and can’t hear the nuances of musical notes and overtones, tone-blind people are folks who can’t or won’t see the stark reality of a situation right in front of them.

I had a very hard conversation with a friend who described his 98 year-old father’s extreme deterioration. Not able to talk, walk, stand, hear, or eat for months now, he is confined to a nursing home with a feeding tube. My friend desperately wants his father to be released from this world and ushered into God’s loving arms, where he will be made whole. The doctors and nurses support this. His siblings, however, insist that if he could just get enough nutrition through the feeding tube his situation will completely turn around. My friend feels that his siblings are tone-blind. Their need for their father in their lives has blinded them to the reality of their father’s current and real situation. They can’t see the layered tones of what his “life” has really come to.

Our scripture today talks about a time when Jesus healed a blind man. I imagine my friend wishes Jesus would heal his family and allow them to see their situation through the eyes of faith, which surely would bring comfort about the reality of their father’s eternal life in a whole and functioning body, living in God’s presence. When we forget that death brings resurrection, we become myopic to the whole thing.

As you read this, imagine yourself as a bystander on the road, watching this whole scene:

Mark 10 (Common English Bible)

46 Jesus and his followers came into Jericho. As Jesus was leaving Jericho, together with his disciples and a sizable crowd, a blind beggar named Bartimaeus, Timaeus’ son, was sitting beside the road. 47 When he heard that Jesus of Nazareth was there, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, show me mercy!” 48 Many scolded him, telling him to be quiet, but he shouted even louder, “Son of David, show me mercy!”

The crowd’s shushing and his response by yelling even louder makes me smile. He surely knew what Jesus was capable of, didn’t he? He understood that Jesus alone could heal him, and he wasted no time in working hard to get Jesus’ attention. This was his one and only chance and he was not about to miss it!

Have you ever been in a situation like that, where you saw that there was one way out of your predicament, but it involved loudly asserting your need for help? Did you shut up or yell louder? I hope you yelled louder.

49 Jesus stopped and said, “Call him forward.”

They called the blind man, “Be encouraged! Get up! He’s calling you.”

50 Throwing his coat to the side, he jumped up and came to Jesus.

These two actions of “throwing down the coat” and “jumping up” paint a beautiful word picture. We can feel his anticipation and excitement. His lifelong affliction was about to be over.

51 Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?”

The blind man said, “Teacher, I want to see.”

52 Jesus said, “Go, your faith has healed you.” At once he was able to see, and he began to follow Jesus on the way.

Faith healed him, because faith was the oomph and the push to get right in Jesus’ face and demand healing. Yes, demand. There was no politeness here in his actions or his tone. He trusted that Jesus would immediately see and understand his despair, and rush right back to him to heal him … which Jesus did.

Do you realize that it is okay to demand God’s attention when you are in trouble? I think when we won’t be silent but just get louder, it demonstrates to God that we are indeed putting our whole trust in his grace, with our faith exercising its right to be heard.

I love the end of this story: As soon as he was able to see, and he followed Jesus on the way. I bet he followed Jesus for the rest of his life, joyfully retelling his story to anyone who would listen and even those who would not. That’s what getting louder will do.

So get loud. Exercise your faith. Demand to be heard. Ask for your healing. And don’t let anyone shush you on the way.

Homeward Bound by Michelle Robertson