Waiting for the water to move
In John 5 the story of the healing by the pool of Bethesda. I always love this story but feel that it is particularly pertinent to my life right now.
For those of you who aren't familiar with it, there was a pool that an angel would touch and stir up the water once a year--the first person into the waters after they were moved would be totally healed. Because of this, there were always sick and crippled people laying all around the pool.
One day, Jesus walked through there and approached a man that had been laying there for 38 years. THIRTY EIGHT YEARS in the same situation! Even I'm not that bad! lol Anyways, when Jesus asked him if he was serious about getting better, the man had a ton of excuses (he had no one to carry him to the pool, someone always got there ahead of him, etc.). Jesus told him to get up, take his bed and walk--and he did.
In this modern day of the written word--email, IM's, texts--we can all appreciate how "tone" is sometime so difficult to tell just by reading. Sometimes you just can't tell how someone is saying something like you could if you were in their presence. I think reading about this situation by the pool of Bethesda is one of those situations. What I love about my Jesus is the fact that yes he was loving, compassionate, sinless, etc.--but he wasn't just a doormat that sat around all pious-like with his hands clasped in front of his chest saying all sweet and gentle, "Rise, take up thy bed and walk". No, I believe he said it louder than that and what you would have heard is Jesus looking this man in the eye and shouting, "GET UP!" Every translation that I've looked in besides the King James Version has an exclamation point at the end of it--so I don't think I'm alone in this theory either!
God doesn't want us to give up hope! Your breakthrough can be right around the corner and you will never ever know it if you lay there making excuses as to why you can't move forward. Jesus didn't stand there petting the man's head saying, "I know honey, I'm sorry you're down and out. Hopefully it will get better soon." No, he said GET UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is pertinent to me today because I feel like I have had nothing but roadblocks come before me over the years. One thing after another--and it's exhausting! I always joke that I am Murphy's Law or that I am a cosmic flystrip and all the crap flying around sticks to me. Carl jokes and calls me a "freak-beacon" because if there is a freak within 50 yards they will be attracted to me. lol
Even right now when all around me feels like it is crumbling--my home is being sold by the sheriff in 17 days because I refuse to continue letting those demons at Countrywide steal my soul anymore. Everytime I think there should be plenty of money coming in to save for a new home--there's nothing. I got sick and had to call off of work for nearly two weeks (like I can afford that now!). I still don't have the final word on a new job. I don't have a new home to move to yet. I can go on and on. For a lot of people in the world, this would be the point where their life changes--for the worse. This is the point where they would become homeless or substance abusers and they would have the story of, "I used to be 'somebody'". But God doesn't want that! God is like a drill sargeant in my ear shouting, "Don't you DARE lie down! You may not know what's gonna happen, but I do! Your breakthrough is RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER! GET UP!!!"
And he doesn't just mean up on the outside either--he means up on the inside too. I need to keep encouraged and hopeful and know that it's going to get better. Instead of laying down to die, I just know--I know that I know that I know--that moving far away is going to bring WONDERFUL changes into my life and the life of my family. I can feel it in my bones--just like those people laying around the pool at Bethesda KNEW that if they were the first ones in they would be healed. What else could make them lay around the same spot just watching and waiting for so long? Being "up" on the inside even though they were "down" on the outside is what. They knew it was coming--the waters were going to be moved--and they were going to have a wonderful life.
I may not know the specifics of what's going to happen to us in the coming days because--well, that's how God likes to roll with me. But I do know that he has told me to get up--and I am.
For those of you who aren't familiar with it, there was a pool that an angel would touch and stir up the water once a year--the first person into the waters after they were moved would be totally healed. Because of this, there were always sick and crippled people laying all around the pool.
One day, Jesus walked through there and approached a man that had been laying there for 38 years. THIRTY EIGHT YEARS in the same situation! Even I'm not that bad! lol Anyways, when Jesus asked him if he was serious about getting better, the man had a ton of excuses (he had no one to carry him to the pool, someone always got there ahead of him, etc.). Jesus told him to get up, take his bed and walk--and he did.
In this modern day of the written word--email, IM's, texts--we can all appreciate how "tone" is sometime so difficult to tell just by reading. Sometimes you just can't tell how someone is saying something like you could if you were in their presence. I think reading about this situation by the pool of Bethesda is one of those situations. What I love about my Jesus is the fact that yes he was loving, compassionate, sinless, etc.--but he wasn't just a doormat that sat around all pious-like with his hands clasped in front of his chest saying all sweet and gentle, "Rise, take up thy bed and walk". No, I believe he said it louder than that and what you would have heard is Jesus looking this man in the eye and shouting, "GET UP!" Every translation that I've looked in besides the King James Version has an exclamation point at the end of it--so I don't think I'm alone in this theory either!
God doesn't want us to give up hope! Your breakthrough can be right around the corner and you will never ever know it if you lay there making excuses as to why you can't move forward. Jesus didn't stand there petting the man's head saying, "I know honey, I'm sorry you're down and out. Hopefully it will get better soon." No, he said GET UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is pertinent to me today because I feel like I have had nothing but roadblocks come before me over the years. One thing after another--and it's exhausting! I always joke that I am Murphy's Law or that I am a cosmic flystrip and all the crap flying around sticks to me. Carl jokes and calls me a "freak-beacon" because if there is a freak within 50 yards they will be attracted to me. lol
Even right now when all around me feels like it is crumbling--my home is being sold by the sheriff in 17 days because I refuse to continue letting those demons at Countrywide steal my soul anymore. Everytime I think there should be plenty of money coming in to save for a new home--there's nothing. I got sick and had to call off of work for nearly two weeks (like I can afford that now!). I still don't have the final word on a new job. I don't have a new home to move to yet. I can go on and on. For a lot of people in the world, this would be the point where their life changes--for the worse. This is the point where they would become homeless or substance abusers and they would have the story of, "I used to be 'somebody'". But God doesn't want that! God is like a drill sargeant in my ear shouting, "Don't you DARE lie down! You may not know what's gonna happen, but I do! Your breakthrough is RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER! GET UP!!!"
And he doesn't just mean up on the outside either--he means up on the inside too. I need to keep encouraged and hopeful and know that it's going to get better. Instead of laying down to die, I just know--I know that I know that I know--that moving far away is going to bring WONDERFUL changes into my life and the life of my family. I can feel it in my bones--just like those people laying around the pool at Bethesda KNEW that if they were the first ones in they would be healed. What else could make them lay around the same spot just watching and waiting for so long? Being "up" on the inside even though they were "down" on the outside is what. They knew it was coming--the waters were going to be moved--and they were going to have a wonderful life.
I may not know the specifics of what's going to happen to us in the coming days because--well, that's how God likes to roll with me. But I do know that he has told me to get up--and I am.
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