Luke 17:20-25 Flashes of Brilliance

Luke 17: 20-25 Flashes of Brilliance

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Lord, you taught me how to shine: to keep myself close to you. What a beautiful day I had yesterday. May the Lord in his goodness renew my spirit and keep me close to Him. In the morning, I carried my cross horribly. After completing my meditation I fell into temptation – argument, conflict and judgment. How I can fall! Not only once, or twice but three times! How important it is to live what you preach! How useless I felt and sick to my stomach I became. But that was not enough for you. You harvest what you plant. And so, the day of disgrace continued until a young man came into my office complaining about some problems he had. A twenty-five year old getting his life back in order and on good terms with the Lord. Here, I saw my opportunity to escape from frustration and sin and to place myself in grace. He needed help and I was there for him. It was the perfect time, perfect place, and perfect grace!

I was complaining and he was complaining. How unfortunate life is, so many hurdles to overcome and so many valleys to get out of. Today, no one was there to listen, understand and help. So he came to talk to me. Not thinking of getting anywhere fast, he was shocked when I told him that I would take him where ever he needed to go. It was a simple task and I was more than happy to help. It is said that man’s best friend is a dog and an ATM machine. But life is better than that. With the Lord, you can always be sure to get more than what you ask for. And so, we complain more than we should.

We drove, we arrived and we accomplished our task. But as I was accomplishing my good deed for the day, it became necessary to visit a home where there was a sick child. The little boy was in bed and was obviously sick. There was a feeding tube placed in his nose and a pale look on his face. I asked the mom and she told me and showed me the tumor that was in his tiny little leg. Although he was sick, he was a beautiful baby boy, no more than six.

I blessed the child and became aware that soon he would lose his leg. The mom was concerned, like all loving moms, but the question the child raised was even more concerning. “Mommy, I know they will cut my leg off. But mommy…How will they put it back on?” Here was a question that not even Einstein could answer. Or better still, that Einstein should never answer. Some things must be left to God. As Isaac asked his father, “Daddy, where is the animal for the sacrifice?” What could the poor man say except, “God will provide.” And so he did, without him even knowing it. The Lord did provide by giving us His son. Wow! Better than expected, much more than the response from an ATM machine, and better than a dog responding to our commands. The Lord teaches us that His Love conquers all.

We got back into the car and my young son was nearly in tears. How could I complain all day long? How could I be so selfish? How tiny my problems are compared to this little boy. Amen. I too had my epiphany: “The Kingdom of God cannot be observed, for behold, the Kingdom of God is among you.” By God's grace, the two of us were in the perfect place, at the perfect time and received the perfect grace. We had a chance to meet with baby Jesus who would give us a portion of his passion and fill us with his grace to battle the day's temptations that would come our way. “Just like lightning flashes and lights up the sky, so will the Son of Man be in his day. But first he must suffer greatly and be rejected."