Dear Family ~ I hope you all had a great weekend! Monday is here with the gift of another day of new opportunity. As always, I want to begin this day by listening for my Father. Our brother Mark is telling the story today of when the disciples and Jesus went to Jericho and as they were leaving with a large crowd, a blind man sitting on the roadside begging, hears that Jesus was near. How about that? It seems he had his listening ears on, too! He knew Jesus offered hope to his life and he began to shout “Jesus, have mercy on me!” Many rebuked him and basically told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more – Son of David, have mercy on me!” This man, as it is for many of us today, had those who voice opposition and seek to squelch our pursuit of Jesus. I find it admirable that this man didn’t listen to them and he was determined not to miss out on the blessing of seeking Jesus for His life! Hee, hee! I have to snicker here because I can imagine that if I was there, I’d be encouraging him “keep going for Jesus, dude!!!” I’m so glad he did! Well, what happens next sure blesses this cowgirl. Marks says Jesus stopped. In other words, when one who has faith in Jesus calls out to Him, He stops and zooms in to listen to His child. I don’t know about you, but that comforts me as one of His children to know He listens when He hears my voice! “Call him,” he said to those with Him. So the people following Jesus said to the blind man “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you!” Just like this man, when we have determination in seeking Jesus, we receive cheer and encouragement to stand and sometimes that cheer and encouragement is spoken to us through others who follow Him. Also, just as Jesus called him, each of us are called by Jesus. When you hear the call on your life, it is a precious gift and mine made me react the same way as this blind man did, in that once he received his call and his mind zoomed in on pursuing Jesus, he threw his cloak aside. He didn’t just set it aside, he THREW it aside meaning he had enthusiasm in the choice of doing so! Ya know, some things that are once valuable before the call of Christ lose their importance after Christ’s call. Jesus’ Words can be real life changers and we see this here as Jesus asked the man: What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man had a heart that wanted the vision for his life that Jesus could give Him and he told Jesus his desire when he said “Rabbi, I want to see!” “Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you!” The blind man not only received his physical sight as a result of his faith to seek Jesus, but he also received the vision for the direction he was to take in life. Mark says that immediately (without delay) he received sight and followed Jesus along the road. I’m so proud of this man for choosing to follow Jesus along the road of life instead of going his own direction. I have to smile here as I can visualize myself along the side of this man as we dance and clap our hands down the road along with our other brothers and sisters, all following Jesus and singing “I see the light, I see the light, no more darkness, no more night. Now I’m so happy, no sorrow in sight – praise the Lord, I see the light! Whoohoo!!! It’s such a gift to be on the same road of Jesus with ya! It sure makes for a great day! Much love to ya’ll ~
Mk 10:46-52; Php 3:8; He 3:13
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