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| Friday mornings are great. |
It was another fun Friday morning at Founders Park! Along with doughnuts we had a leader bring 80 hash-browns from McDonalds... call it training for Eat the Menu on Sunday night! The kids went crazy over the hash-browns and some of them had a few more than I would have eaten.
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| Shane and Griffin get ready for Sunday night |
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| Brennan is pumped for Eat the Menu |
The game was a relay race. Kids got in 4 teams, lined up, and raced to see which team could blow up and pop the most balloons. As always, there was a catch. First, the balloons had to be passed down the line alternating over the head and under the legs. Secondly, once they got to the front of the line, the person there had to put on an oversized sweatshirt, stuff the balloon into it, and then hug the person next to them until the balloon popped. Sometimes this didn't work and kids resorted to jumping on the ground in a belly-flop like way to pop the balloon... it was pretty funny.
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| Its all about the love |
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| Maddie getting things done |
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| Passing the balloon |
After the game we broke up into smallish groups and got into the story of Jesus and Lazarus. Its found in the Bible in the New Testament book of John 11:1-44.
In this story a man named Lazarus gets deathly sick. He and his sisters are very dear friends of Jesus. Their house seems to be a place of retreat for Jesus, a home base of sorts, and Mary and Martha constantly come into the story of Jesus in the Gospels. All this to say, they were very close friends of Jesus.
As soon as Lazarus gets sick, the sisters send word to Jesus, hoping, I think its safe to say expecting, Jesus to come quickly and heal their brother. Even the phrase they gave the messenger, "Lord, the one you love is sick," points to the closeness of this family and Jesus, but Jesus didn't leave, he didn't drop everything to come to his friends' aid... he stayed where he was, for two days.
After two days, Jesus tells his disciples that its time to go back and help Lazarus. The disciples weren't very excited about this because the last time they were there a group tried to kill Jesus, and there were people there still planning how they could kill Jesus. The disciples don't understand why they need to go back until Jesus tells them plainly that Lazarus is dead, then they finally realize that Jesus is serious, and, a disciple normally known as "doubting Thomas" rallies the others saying, "Let us also go, that we may die with him."
When Jesus gets to the place where he normally seems to find refuge, there is anything but. The place is charged with emotion. Lazarus has been dead for four days, and people are gathered everywhere mourning his death. When Martha and then Mary hear that Jesus is there, they each run out to him at different times and say the same thing, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died!"
I cannot imagine the emotions here. What must it have been like for them as they watched their brother die, waiting, hoping that Jesus would walk through the door and make everything right. What must it have been for them as they watched Lazarus getting worse and still no sign of Jesus. What must it have been for them as they watched Lazarus take his last breath... and still no Jesus. There is sadness, anger, confusion, and despair in their statement to Jesus, " if you had been here, my brother would not have died." This is not a statement of faith, but of a broken heart.
The response? "Jesus wept."
Jesus did not correct, shame, explain himself, try to minimize their emotions... he broke down. John used some pretty strong language here to say that Jesus broke down. He did just let a tear or two pop out, he was deeply moved with emotion. He didn't minimize anything, he entered into it. He joined in the weeping, in the hurt, in the sadness.
There are so many times I question God when I am hurt, when life seems to be coming apart at the seems, when I lose something or someone close. The temptation is to just put on a good face and pretend that nothing is bothering me. I try to be strong, and while there is nothing wrong with this, and there are times when this is the right thing to do, I don't have to do this with Jesus. I can come to him angry, sad, wounded, frustrated, and clearly questioning... and he doesn't shame, he joins me where I am. He feels my hurt, and he comes alongside me in it. I don't have to pretend around him, I can be undone at his feet.
The story doesn't end here. Jesus tells the sisters to open up the grave, and, again, Martha questions Jesus saying, "by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there for four days." Jesus tells her that if she believes, she will see the glory of God. So they remove the stone, Jesus prays out loud to his Father, and then calls Lazarus to come out of the grave... and he does! After being dead for FOUR DAYS Lazarus walks out of the grave. Lazarus doesn't come to life like a zombie, but back to full life. The Bible goes on to say that people start planning to kill Lazarus too because he is a sign that Jesus is God.
Jesus did come, and he did heal, just not in the timeframe or in the way expected... there was a bigger story happening here, one that would have effects that would change the lives of countless people for thousands of years.
God does not always do things the way we want, or the way we think he should in order to prove himself. He does things his way... but we can still ask, and we can still question. The important thing is that we go to him, not away from him. He can handle our emotion, he can handle our questioning, he knows us completely anyway so there is nothing we can hide from him. As we go to him our faith will grow, we will begin to know and trust that he really is as good as he says, and we will come to know that he truly is a wonderfully powerful and loving God.
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