Sometimes I can’t help but laugh at people. People are just downright funny… sometimes. I think people are funny when they aren’t even trying to be funny. Like here is this guy… I couldn’t help but laugh about this guy…
Yeah, he’s relaxed alright. You know his wife is perusing the racks in J.C. Penny or something and I can only imagine that his dollar got spent a long time ago. Conked out on the massage chairs… CLASSIC! I was walking through the mall with Tiffany when I spotted him. I started laughing immediately. I couldn’t help but covertly take a picture of this dude… You know how it goes.
Like I said… People are funny. I was reading this morning from Acts 12 and I got to laughing again. Believe me, I think that the Apostles were some pretty intense people… but man sometimes those guys just didn’t get it. I’m reading in Acts 12 and I come to verse 11 and it says this… “When Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I know for sure that the Lord has sent forth His angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.”
DUH! I MEAN SERIOUSLY! WHAT ELSE WOULD IT TAKE TO HELP YOU REALIZE THIS ONE!
Let’s have a simple review… So Peter is arrested after James the brother of John has been executed. Likely Pete’s fate is the same as James’. I don’t think that King Herod was arranging some bonding time. He was serious. So Peter is in jail chained to two guards, waiting for the big moment.
Hmm… Now I know for sure? Here’s the progression as I see it…
You couldn’t tell that God was involved here from any of these steps?
- An angel appears… (I’d love to have an angel appear to me… that would be proof in the pudding for me…)
- The angel pokes Peter in the side waking him up… (This has happened to me… I must admit. Except my angel’s name isn’t Gabriel, or Michael, it’s Tiffany…)
- The Angel says put your shoes on… (implying, YOU’RE GONNA NEED THEM)
- Oh yeah, and when your done with your shoes, put your cloak on… (It’s cold outside fool! Don’t catch a cold…)
- The chains fell off his hands… (Seriously, that would be something that would be a good addition to David Blane’s stunts.)
- Leaving the two guards who you were just chained to…
- Leaving the guarded cell that you were just occupying
- Seeing the cities iron gates open up for you
- Walking through an empty street with an angel
At what step do you think it would be pretty obvious that this was a God thing… Don’t you just want to laugh at Pete when he comes up with a statement like, “Hmm… Now I know for sure that the Lord has sent me His angel and rescued me.” Oh yeah… Good work Pete! Way to be super discerning. (Sarcastic overtones implied)
We can laugh at this, and Luke may have even included it because he knew that it was funny. However, does this look like your life even a little bit? How obvious does God need to be before we acknowledge His divine, loving, crazy, abnormal, from time to time covert, sometimes overt, intense, life changing work in our lives. Seriously though… I’m that guy. I am that guy in Acts who goes, duh… I just got out of the King’s severely guarded jail. It must have been a God thing.
Can you recall moments in life like this?
The birth of my children were both like this. The very first time I held my children in my arms I said, “God you have made this. How amazing you are! I am humbled and dumbstruck that you would choose me to be the earthly daddy to this precious little life.” This was clearly a God moment.
I can recall times of God moving me so that I would be spared pain, rejection, anger, disappointment, and many other things. In the moment I questioned if God was in it, and months later looking back I saw that God was not only in it, but He was weaving all the situations together to protect me, shield me, love me, lead me, use me, and be honored through me.
Can you recall moments in life like this? Or are we so deaf and dumb, visionless and senseless that we can’t embrace what God is doing in our lives?
Tune in… Investigate… Explore… Probe… Chase after the God who is Chasing after YOU!
~Peter
2 Comments
For me it was getting to know Sarah, dating her and then marrying her. These steps I could definately see God working through my life. I would say as well that there are many instances where I am too blind, deaf, dumb to see God’s hand. Those moments show me how Big God is. “His Ways are higher than my ways.”
oh by the way the picture… Funny, but sad… To think that they guy was that tired and yet still drove to the mall. The tired man really loves his wife. If the wife would have reciprecated that love she would have let him sleep at home… you should submit the photo to the company selling the massages, with the caption “It worked for this guy…”