I was at the square yesterday afternoon and I had just finished a guitar lesson- which was one of my new adventures and so far I'm sticking with it!- and since my kiddos were in the sweet care of Joey's "Favorite Grown-Up" (my Aunt), I thought I would go to Cool Beans and get a few things done.
And because it's me, and I have a knack for this kind of thing, I grabbed a box of envelopes when I meant to grab notecards, so I couldn't work on what I had planned. No worries though, I had already bought my hot tea so I wasn't going anywhere fast!
I pulled out a book instead.
I'm reading "Rediscovering Jesus" by Matthew Kelly. It's a devotional, so there's only a little bit to read each day. I'll tell you more about it later, but I'm only on day 4 or 5 right now! The part that I read was about "The Jesus Question." Basically, it's from Mattheww 16:15, when Jesus asked his deciples, "But who do you say that I am?" Kelly says that this question is unavoidable- that everyone will have to answer it in some way, and that even if they think they're "ignoring" the question, they're choosing to ignore Jesus, which- in a way- is their own [pitiful] answer to the question. Kelly says that Jesus is everywhere. Entirely unavoidable.
As I finished up the chapter, I kind of challenged that. I mean, I was sitting in a public coffee shop. Hobby Lobby is one thing, but most other public places don't display even the tiniest hint of christianity, let alone Jesus. I looked around to see if I was right.
I saw a ton of things that REALLY speaks volumes about our culture, and I wrote all these things down under the heading Looking for signs of Jesus... A framed dollar bill on the wall, an ATM machine, clever signs about coffee/chocolate/caffeine, lots of art (paintings, photography, wall hangings), newspapers, and they even had a psychic there offering tarot readings! The closest thing I saw to Jesus was a St. Patrick's Day banner with little four leaf clovers on it.
I came to the conclusion that our ONLY chance to see Jesus when we're out in public like that...
is IN EACH OTHER! We have to treat others like Jesus would have. We have to love them. THEN we will start to be able to see Jesus everywhere we go!
A short but sweet little lesson, I thought. I was pretty content with myself for having come up with this.
As I packed up, I realized I had overlooked a bookshelf, and decided to walk past it on the way out to see if there was a Bible. I figured that was my best shot at finding a physical "sign" of Jesus.... NOPE. Nothing. No Bible, no religious books, no spiritual books... that I saw. There's a chance I could have missed one or two as I was speed-reading through the book titles.
But not a CHANCE in H-E-double-hockey-sticks that I could have missed what I saw next. On the very top shelf, laying flat on the surface was a great big Slap In The Face. A HUGE wake-up call, that I wasn't expecting... not in the least!
A loud and clear "Yes, Emily. Even in Cool Beans, on your beloved Medina Square, I am here."
A lonely, but purposeful card that someone had left earlier...
This.
My mini-miracle.
And you know, THANK GOD I was wrong about not finding Jesus there.
THANK GOD for this reminder, just for me, that He is everywhere I go.
And THANK GOD for still loving doubters like me.
And you know, THANK GOD I was wrong about not finding Jesus there.
THANK GOD for this reminder, just for me, that He is everywhere I go.
And THANK GOD for still loving doubters like me.
