I'm sorry, did you say something?

In the story of Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1-10), we find a short tax collector who wanted to see this Jesus guy coming into his area. But since Zacchaeus was so short, he had to jump into a tree in order to see over the crowds. Now that right there is making an effort to see someone. And, coincidentally, it was a good enough effort to get Jesus to surprisingly dine with Zacchaeus that night.

Earlier in Scripture, in Genesis 18:1-15, we find God visiting Abraham. As soon as Abraham sees the three men coming, he jumps up and offers them hospitality. But when he brings the “hospitality”, he brings more than he had originally offered. In return, Abraham hears that he and his wife (both old of age) are to have a child.

Both men (whether knowing it or not) jumped at an occasion to be with God. And in return they were blessed greatly. How often are you offered a chance to be with God? Do you often take it or turn it down? After reading these two passages and praying on them, I couldn’t help but ask myself those questions. So many times to I hear the call to prayer and ignore it to do something else. Unfortunately, I have no clue as to what I am missing out on when I do not heed that random call to prayer. For all I know, God could be planning something completely magnificent! But how will I ever know for sure if I do not heed that call to prayer?

God! God! He's our man! If He can't do it, no one can!!

“Is anything too wonderful for the Lord?”

This is what is asked Abraham and Sarah after they are told that Sarah is to have a baby at an older age. In response, Sarah laughs. But is anything too wonderful, too hard for the Lord?

Many times I see or hear people who think that they are so messed up not even God can help them. They have driven themselves so deep into an addiction or into a sin that not even God can get them out of. They don’t have the strength or the will to come out. But is this really an impossible task for God?

Do you ever look at the Saints or even just scripture and ask this? Nothing is impossible for God. Hackneyed? Sure. But is it true? Of course it is. If you don’t believe me, just read the Bible or look at the Saints. Before they were saints, Paul was a killer, Augustine got around, and Francis was a party animal. O yeah, and who was Jesus’ biological father? HE DIDN’T HAVE ONE… Now tell me that someone’s life of sin cannot be fixed.

What? Where?

Just recently I gave a little talk on discernment and prayer. At the time, I saw it as us simply finding our way through life, looking for the reason that we are here. Simply, what is my calling in life? What job am I called to do? We are all called to something, whether it is being a priest or religious, doctor, nurse, teacher, police officer, politician, or something else. And it is through prayer and a close relationship with God that we are able to stay ordered towards what is good and make the right decisions.

Oh, but it is so much more than that. As Psalm 139 shows, God knows me more than I know myself. He created me and knew me even before he formed me in my mother’s womb. He knows all my thoughts and feelings. He knows what I am going to say before I even say it. He is in my innermost core as my existence is dependent upon him. Nothing can ever separate me from him completely. In fact, my soul, my complete self, can only be totally consumed by God and nothing else.

Discernment is not simply staying ordered towards God so that I make the right decision. Rather, it is coming to find God’s thoughts which show me the way to take. God knows where I am to go. He just wants to show me the way. But how can he show me the way if I do not open the door and let him in? “How precious to me are your thoughts, O God” (Ps 139:17). God is constantly thinking of me and where I should go. So why should his thoughts not be precious to me? Why should they not be more precious to me than anything in the world?

But this isn’t just for me; it is for everyone. What is the most precious thing to you?