September 2001 Table of Contents

Food For Thought
A Call To The Forgotten Obvious

By Derric Johnson

Some people just don't get it. I mean they don't get it at all! The obvious seems to rise up and smack them in the face... and they still don't get it. Last Thursday I was at the airport checking in at the gate when an airport employee asked, "Has anyone put any thing in your baggage without your knowledge?"

To which I replied, "If it was without my knowledge, how would I know? He smiled knowingly and nodded, "That's why we ask." Didn't get it, did he?

And then there was the time I was signing the receipt for my credit card purchase when the young lady noticed I had not yet signed my name on the back of the new credit card. She informed me that she could not complete the transaction unless the card was signed. When I asked why, she explained that it was necessary to compare it to the signature I had just made on the receipt. So I signed the credit card right there in front of her. She carefully compared the signature to the one I had just signed on the receipt, looked up, smiled and said, "Fortunately... they match." She didn't get it either.

Not long ago all our office phones went dead and our secretary had to contact the telephone repair people. They promised to be out between 8:00 A.M. and 7:00 P.M. When she asked if they could give her a smaller time window, the pleasant gentleman asked, "Would you like us to call before we come?" She replied that she didn't see how he would manage to do that, since our phones weren't working. He also requested that we report future outages by e-mail. (Now... does YOUR e-mail work without a telephone line?) Some people are just oblivious to the obvious.

Like the insurance man who wants you to pay now so that when you're dead... you won't have anything to worry about.

Or the lawyer who prepares a 10,000 word document... and calls it a brief.

Or the statistician who believes that if you put your head in a furnace and your feet in a bucket of ice water... you should feel reasonably comfortable.

Did you ever encounter this list of altered maxims... fourth-grade endings to famous beginnings?
   The grass is always greener... when you leave the sprinkler on.
   A rolling stone... plays the guitar.
   A bird in the hand... is a real mess.

Somebody didn't get it. Either we had it right... or, maybe, they hit the obvious truths. No matter what... as my high school Trig teacher used to say, "It always pays to think it through."

It could be that the biggest group of "didn't-get-it-ers" was the twelve disciples who followed Jesus. They consistently misunderstood who he was and what he wanted from them. Bickering and arguing was the menu for the day most of the time. Each one of them had his own agenda... John with his dreams, Peter with his pragmatism and Judas with his kingdom-wish. They were at odds with each other and with His Master Plan.

For instance, at the Last Supper, when Jesus served them bread and wine and then admonished them to "do this in remembrance of me"... they didn't get it. At least not the whole picture. Actually, how could they? Calvary was still in the future for them. They neither understood and accepted the concept of Jesus dying for the sins of the world. In fact, every time He brought it up, they argued with Him.

Remember Peter? "Lord, I won't let you die. I'm with you to the end. Stick with me. I'll protect you." And he tried to prove that in the Garden of Gethsemane when he swung his sword at the head of Malchus, getting close enough to cut off his ear.

You understand perfectly the symbol of the broken bread (His body broken for you) and the juice from the crushed grape (His blood shed for you). You understand it because it's proven and accepted history. To those disciples... it made no sense at all. His efficacious death was clothed in mysterious misunderstanding.

So when Jesus said, "Do this in remembrance of me," (every time you eat, remember Me) what did they comprehend. The bread and the wine... what could those clues mean?

Think back to the very first miracle Jesus ever did. John records it in the second chapter of his gospel... Jesus turned water into wine... a triumph of divine intervention over human distress.

(I've often thought how much more appropriate it would have been had Jesus turned wine into water... it sure would have helped a lot of preachers get more sermons from that text. Or maybe the marriage hosts could have run out of wedding cake. Rocks to cake would be a neat trick.)

Nevertheless, we have the story as John gives it... water into wine. But the thing for us to recall is what that event did for the disciples. What did Jesus want them to remember every time they drink. I think it had to be the outcome of that miracle... the long lasting result of memory.

What really significant that happened that day? Ultimately, the people would get thirsty again. The party would end and life would proceed as usual. So what one thing rose up in the disciples' memories. John puts it succinctly... "the disciples believed in Him" (John 2:11). That's it... it stimulated their faith!

Then just a few pages later, and with one miracle in between, (chapter 6) John records the account of the feeding of 5000 men plus whatever women and children were there. Late in the day with no food available, it was highly possible that many of those attendees would have a hard time making it home. Andrew found a small boy with a sack lunch... five pieces of bread and two hunks of fish. Jesus took that offering, gave thanks to His Father for it and then proceeded to break the loaves and fish, feeding all the people with twelve baskets full left over. An absolutely astounding event! But looking at it in retrospect, what lasting impact did that miracle have? All the people got hungry the next day... all over again. On that miraculous mountain, no disciples were called to follow Jesus, no blind people were caused to see or lame people healed. So what really happened that day that touched eternity? Here it is... the disciples said, "Truly, this is the prophet sent from God." Did you get that? It stimulated their faith... and they believed in Him!

So when Jesus said, "Every time you eat... remember me," He is really calling on them to believe. He is saying, "If you can't understand Calvary yet... just go back to the beginning when you saw the changing of water into wine and the feeding of the multitude on the mountain. Get back to the basic... and just believe!"

Faith is not belief without proof...
it is trust without reservation.

Faith sees the invisible...
Believes the incredible...
Receives the impossible!

Faith is taking small steps...
knowing they lead to bigger ones.

Faith is looking beyond what is...
and trusting for what will be.

Faith is holding on when you want to let go...
and letting go when you want to hold on.

Faith is believing all things are possible
in the midst of impossibilities.

When we walk to the edge of all the light we have and take that step into the darkness of the unknown, we must believe that one of two things will happen... there will be something solid for us to stand on, or God will teach us how to fly.

During the filming of BEN HUR, Charlton Heston was having a hard time mastering the technique of chariot riding. He came to Cecil B. DeMille and said, "There is no way I can learn this. You need to rewrite the script."

DeMille growled, "The chariot race is imperative to the story. Take three more weeks of training... and learn how!"

After those mandated 21 days, Heston returned and said, "I've learned how to keep my balance in the chariot... but there's no way I can win the race."

DeMille looked at him and smiled, "You're the rider... I'm the director. You keep your balance... I'll see to it that you win the race!"

Maybe we should sing together more often...

Only believe, only believe,
All things are possible,
Only believe;
Only believe, only believe,
All things are possible,
Only believe.

Have Faith

Doubt sees the obstacles...
Faith sees the way!

Doubt sees the darkest night...
Faith sees the day!

Doubt dreads to take a step...
Faith soars on high!

Doubt questions, "Who believes?"
Faith answers, "I!"

Set The Sail

When Hudson Taylor went to China, he made the voyage on a sailing ship. As it neared the channel between the southern Malay Peninsula and the island of Sumatra, the missionary heard an urgent knock on his stateroom door. He opened it, and there stood the captain of the ship.

"Mr. Taylor," he said, "we have no wind. We are drifting toward an island where the people are heathen, and I fear, cannibalistic."

"What can I do?"

"I understand that you believe in God. I want you to pray for wind."

"All right, Captain, I will, but you must set the sail."

"Why, that's ridiculous! There's not even the slightest breeze. Besides... my sailors will think I'm crazy"

Nevertheless, the captain finally greed. Forty-five minutes later he returned and found the missionary still on his knees. "You can stop praying now. We've got more wind than we know what to do with!"

I Will Not Doubt

I will not doubt! Though all my ships at sea
Come drifting home with broken masts and sails.
I will believe the hand that never fails
From seeming evil to work His good in me.
And though I weep because the sails are tattered,
Still will I cry, while my best hopes lie shattered
"I trust in Thee!

I will not doubt! Though all my prayers return
Unanswered from the still white realm above;
I will believe it is an all-wise love
Which hath refused the things for which I yearn,
And though at times I cannot keep from grieving,
Undimmed shall burn!

I will not doubt! Though sorrows fall like rain
And troubles swarm like bees about a hive;
I will believe the heights for which I strive
Are only gained through anguish and by pain.
And though I groan and tremble beneath the crosses
Yet shall I see, through my severest losses,
The greater gain!

I will not doubt! Well anchored is my faith,
Like some staunch ship my soul braves every gale,
So strong its courage that it shall not quail
To breast the mighty unknown sea of death!
O may I cry, when body parts with spirit,
"I do not doubt!" So listening worlds may hear it
With my last breath.

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