Devotional 4-16-11

Atomic Batteries to Power
Turbines to Speed

As a boy of the 60’s we loved to hear those words. That meant that Batman and Robin were on their way to Wham, Pow, Zonk some bad guys. We are Easter people and we are about to enter “our time”. Once during a discussion about the star in the east, the magi and the virgin birth, I heard a minister say, “Come to Christmas by way of Easter. If you believe that Jesus came, died and rose AND He did it all for you, then Christmas is easy.” We are Easter people. As this beautiful season unfolds we are reminded of life anew. By the flowers and trees greening around us. By the warm sun on our faces. By the breeze in our hair not forming icicles in its wake. We are also charged up and with utility belts firmly buckled on are ready to go Wham, Pow, Zonk some sin. We will see people at Easter who haven’t been to church for a while. We will want them to know all that they have missed. We will want to immediately immerse them into our world – our church. I know I will. Early vacationers to the eastern shoreline learn as they emerge from a dark, cold winter and run scantily clad, into the surf, unaware of what awaits - they get scorched by the sun. As our friends return to church, perhaps following a long, dark period and run to the Son for warmth, let’s not scorch them with a chronology of exactly how long it has been since we saw them last or a needs list -- you need to come to our Sunday School class, you need to come to early church, you need to join this committee, you need… (Possibly the single best word to distance me from as task).

When Jesus traveled, he walked. No 24-valve, dual overhead cam, high horsepower chariot. Hurry was not on the agenda. “Jesus, come quick. There’s this dead guy.” Still no hurry. “Jesus, come quick. There’s this guy’s daughter -- she’s sick.” So much not in a hurry we get the story headlined in our Bibles – ‘The miracle on the way to a miracle.’ When He spoke, he didn’t use a hi-amp microphone. He spoke softly. He talked the talk and walked the walk, showing us how to live by his actions. And when the road was ended, He showed us, slowly and quietly, how much we are loved -- “It is finished.”

When we see our friends, let them see and hear the Son through us.

Steve Matthews