I can remember my Dad telling me stories of some of the experiences he had as an infantryman during WWII in Italy. He told of a day when they were moving across an open area that had been a vineyard at one time. They were spread out looking to make contact with German soldiers. He said there was a little structure that he thought might have covered a pump for irrigation. It was so small, he started to walk right by it. But he said “I
thought to myself, you couldn’t possibly fit a person in there...could you?” It had a little door on it and he said he walked up to it and with the barrel of his carbine, he flicked the door open and there looking straight at him was a German paratrooper! He motioned for the guy to get out and he said he was a pretty good sized man. He told me that he had almost ignored that little structure because he had decided that it couldn’t possibly hold a person. I’ve thought about that...how we sometimes have our own preconceived ideas about what can or can’t be, and don’t take the time or effort to test what we have chosen to believe. The Bible tells us that this Jesus was God...and yet became a man and lived among humans for a specific time in a specific place. And all for the purpose of dying a criminals death on a cross...sacrificing himself for us, his death for the death that we deserve. Yet so many of the human race say that just couldn’t happen. But they won’t take the time or effort to explore his life and his claims in the Bible, because they have decided that no one could be God among us...or even deciding that there isn’t even a God. It didn’t take all that time and there was limited risk for Dad to open that little structure in the field that day. He just decided he needed to not pass that up. For us humans, it doesn’t take incredible effort or even time to honestly explore the claims that the Bible makes that Jesus was a man, who at the same time was God. So don’t walk on by this one who claims to be the way, the truth and the life...and that no one comes to the Father except through him. You might think that impossible, but that same Bible says that nothing is impossible for God. One of the reasons that story is rooted in my memory is that the paratrooper was a pretty arrogant guy, even as a prisoner. Before he turned the soldier over to those who would take him back to interrogation, Dad took his knife and cut the insignia off his uniform...and it hangs in a shadow box on the wall in my study. A reminder to be careful what you choose to ignore in this life...you just don’t know what you will miss...
Here’s our Bible verse for today...
Philippians 2:6-11 NLT Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. (7) Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, (8) he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross. (9) Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, (10) that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, (11) and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Remember I’m praying for you!
PJ
thought to myself, you couldn’t possibly fit a person in there...could you?” It had a little door on it and he said he walked up to it and with the barrel of his carbine, he flicked the door open and there looking straight at him was a German paratrooper! He motioned for the guy to get out and he said he was a pretty good sized man. He told me that he had almost ignored that little structure because he had decided that it couldn’t possibly hold a person. I’ve thought about that...how we sometimes have our own preconceived ideas about what can or can’t be, and don’t take the time or effort to test what we have chosen to believe. The Bible tells us that this Jesus was God...and yet became a man and lived among humans for a specific time in a specific place. And all for the purpose of dying a criminals death on a cross...sacrificing himself for us, his death for the death that we deserve. Yet so many of the human race say that just couldn’t happen. But they won’t take the time or effort to explore his life and his claims in the Bible, because they have decided that no one could be God among us...or even deciding that there isn’t even a God. It didn’t take all that time and there was limited risk for Dad to open that little structure in the field that day. He just decided he needed to not pass that up. For us humans, it doesn’t take incredible effort or even time to honestly explore the claims that the Bible makes that Jesus was a man, who at the same time was God. So don’t walk on by this one who claims to be the way, the truth and the life...and that no one comes to the Father except through him. You might think that impossible, but that same Bible says that nothing is impossible for God. One of the reasons that story is rooted in my memory is that the paratrooper was a pretty arrogant guy, even as a prisoner. Before he turned the soldier over to those who would take him back to interrogation, Dad took his knife and cut the insignia off his uniform...and it hangs in a shadow box on the wall in my study. A reminder to be careful what you choose to ignore in this life...you just don’t know what you will miss...
Here’s our Bible verse for today...
Philippians 2:6-11 NLT Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. (7) Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, (8) he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross. (9) Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, (10) that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, (11) and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Remember I’m praying for you!
PJ