“Barely Breathing” Blog #95
How can my day work when its filled with so much turmoil?
Why do things in my life get harder and harder to handle now?
When will I decide its time for me to bring in the “real help?”
“Oh normal day, let me be aware of what a treasure you are”. This was the caption on
my daily Calendar the morning the bottom fell out from under me. I was never prepared
for tragedy, no one is. Why does it often take something exremely painful in our life to
make us call out for HIS help? It shouldn’t have to be that drastic. Painful problems, life
threatening illness, as well as extreme sadness from the the loss of a relationship, bring us
to our knees - so to speak. However, now more than any time else in history we live in
such a secular society that faith has not only taken a back burner, it has fallen off the
shelf!
I started watching a newer series awhile ago - “The Chosen”. absolutely fascinating. The
series is one of the first of its kind in showing what the life of the man Jesus was like in
choosing and traveling with his disciples.. Not to mention the fact that all of these men
were relatively young. They had lives that were either single fishermen, newly married, a
tax collector, a soldier. Yet all had something in common, they were chosen to be
Disciples for our Lord. For more then three years the series goes through events that show
how and why these men were chosen. Why it was so important for Jesus, in wanting them
to see their faith. He told them story after story and did never-before-seen miracles, right
in front of them. Fascinating for me, to start to understand the “back story” of this
amazing man. Through the years of my own life, I never even gave it.a second thought
about the “man” Jesus. Absolutely had no clue as to his disciples. More than anything,
now it is possible to relate to hard, painful choices they each had to make. I never knew,
all the disciples wound up being martyred with the exception of John!
In knowing this over the years, this knowledge has helped me evolve so much better as a
Christian. Especially if I had been taught and learned more about the man Jesus, I could
have understood my own faith better. More importantly, appreciating how Jesus in the
end had to choose to remain man and not call on his divinity to save himself! Nobody
really talks about his life with these remarkable disciples. Seeing how necessary it is to
learn about believing and having permanent faith.
There is one particular scene in which Jesus tells the disciples he is going away for a bit
and he wants them to go in six different directions themselves. They are to go into the
country in pairs, to spread HIS word. More importantly he tells them “all the miracles you
have seen me do - you too can do. You will heal the sick, make the blind see, bring the
crippled back to health. Giving them anointing oil and telling them to go out and “take
nothing with them”. They doubted at first, but began seeing what happened when they
laid their hands on a sick person. James argued the most because he said to Jesus; “How
can I heal others when they see that I, as a crippled man, have not been healed? Jesus
told him, “Your time has not yet come”.
So often we give in and we give up before we are even aware of the healing that is
taking place inside of us!
Another disciple; Simon was married and he and his wife wanted to start a family. While
Simon was gone with the other disciples, his wife lost a baby. He was off in the desert, and
when he returned home, he became very angry at Jesus. He turned on Jesus as his anger
took over him. Then all the disciples (in a later scene) were in a boat on the water in a
terrible storm. Off in the distance they thought they saw a ghost walking on the water, it
was Jesus. Simon got out of the boat and began walking on the water toward Jesus, that
is, until he looked down, until he looked away, until he took his eyes off Jesus. Simon sunk
deep in the water. Jesus grabbed him, and Simon was barely breathing. “Oh ye of little
faith”, said Jesus. What does it take for us? How often are we barely breathing and cry
out for help?
Alone and afraid, feeling abandoned……I too, have felt hopelessly lost. These feelings are
real. I have never understood how people can look back at history and believe and
accept that Julius Caesar lived and the Romans lived and relics of the coliseums have
been found. Yet not believe that Jesus ever lived? There has been found and exists the
recovery of the Shroud of Turin which is the bloodstained burial cloth recovered from
Jesus’ tomb. His image is embedded deep upon this garment. Jesus said it all when he
spoke, “to believe and have faith without miracles, of seeing me, this is true faith”.
Leonardo Devinci painted the Sistine Chapel and also a magnificent portrait of the Head
of Christ from which he envisioned himself. There are stories and miracles and people
everywhere coming Into their faiths, their lives changed in an instant. Jesus is my life, my
hope and my every breath. I never want to be stranded alone, barely breathing again.
Can I take that deep breath and bring HIM into my heart today?
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