to be known...

I was watching a youtube video of a woman. She illustrates the story of the woman at the well that is written in John 4. A story about a woman who believes she is unworthy to be in the presence of Jesus and tells Him she is no fit to give Him a drink. He looks into her eyes and tells her He knows her and describes to her a place where she can drink water that is everlasting; a water that will quench her thirst... a drink that will satisify her soul. When she realizes the man that she is encountering, she wants everyone to know. She can't keep it to herself; the message is too powerful to not tell anyone. She discovers a fire that has been lit inside of her; a passion to spread the good news. Tonight I was sitting in Brookies room with about 10 girls and we were talking about the things that were going on in our lives and the lives of our friends. We began to speak about the ways we are seeing God move within our friendships with our sorority sisters, our guy friends, our roommates and people we have never even met. We also talked about the areas of our lives that we are expecting to see Jesus intervene. Because we have seen it first hand, we are convinced that God has the power to transform anything we ask Him to... At the beginning of spring break my roommate Rachael was staying at my house with me and my family because her parents were out of town. She has had some issues with her hearing, so she had gone to the doctor to have some tests done. The doctors had diagnosed her with a hearing problem that was going to result in her having hearing aids for the rest of her life; keep in mind, she is 18. (sidenote: the poor girl has all kinds of health issues. she was once told that she would live the rest of her life sitting in a wheel chair, but by the power of faith and the grace of God she gets to enjoy the simplicity of skipping.) Anyway, we had just gotten home from getting her blood drawn so they could run some tests, and Barb and Craig (my parents) were sitting on their bed when we walked in. We told them the story of the doctors concerns, and Craig was quick to suggest we lay hands on her ears and pray for her to be healed. This past weekend Rachael had to go back home to have more tests done; the results of her tests showed that her hearing was equivelent to the hearing of any perfectly well 18 year old; elimating the need for hearing aids. The doctor was blown away, certain that what the results said was impossible. Jesus had something different to say about it. How cool is it that Jesus knew everything about the samaritan woman who He found at the well? He knew she would be there; He knew she didn't have a husband. He knew she had been married five times, and that she was currently living with a man she was not married to. He knew she was a sinner, and he looked into her eyes and offered her hope. He offered her something solid, something distinct that she would never forget. The woman is an illustration of all of us. Do you ever have one of those days, or weeks, when you feel like your actions are completely out of character? Or you get stuck into a lifestyle for so long that no one believes that you can change for the better? Have you ever been with a group of people who refuse to believe the best for others... and constantly talk about "reality"? It has to stop. In order to be the body of Christ we have to stick together. We must call forth the good in people, and encourage each other to be the best we can be. We are brothers and sisters, and we are only as strong as our weakest member. It is time that we act in a way that draws people to us. We have the gift of eternal life, and it's crucial that we give it away. When we wear the name of Jesus, we are constantly selling him to the world around us by what we say, do, watch... Believe the best for people. Pursue people in a way that you're seeing who they are, not what they do. Be vulnerable. Let people see you. We were created for community. Ask God to intervene, and then watch Him. Through you, His power is spread throughout the world, and He is made even more famous. I once read something that said, "God welcomes us to punctuate our faith with as many exclamation points as question marks. Be careful with the quotation marks." How are you selling Jesus? His message is a message of furious and redeeming Love. Once you encounter Jesus, you can't escape Him. The torch has been lit; spread the fire.