Let's call this my warning label: I wrote this after watching a cheesily inspirational movie (The Blind Side) at midnight.
Scene 1:
There's this totally hot celebrity, of sorts, and he is just chillaxin' with a few of his peeps and some paparazzi is following him taking pictures like mad. They are strolling down Hollywood Boulevard (or some other place like that) and out of no where this disgusting vile looking man pops out! He's got these oozing pussy scabs just covering his body and the crowds they all scream in disgust and take off (or look the other way or something). Now the diseased man falls down at this celebrities feet and says "you can heal me." Now the celebrity looks at the man and touches his shoulder and says "you are healed." And suddenly the man's flesh begins to heal and it's like the disease is rewinding itself, the puss oozing backwards, the scabs... un-scabbing, and the next thing you know this healthy handsome young man is at the celebrity's feet. Now the celebrity says "shhh run along and give thanks, but don't tell anyone but the priests." (Matthew 8:1-4)
Scene 2:
Sitting off to the side, in an alley way sit two blind beggars. Once more our celebrity and his crowd of followers come strolling past. The two cry out "Have mercy on us!" But this time the crowd shoos them away, who is their celebrity to be associating with such filth! But now the two beggars are even more persistent and their cries are louder than that of the crowds (I like to think that celebrities exist in this world of hushed silences sometimes) and once more they scream "Have mercy on us!" Finally the celebrity stops and he asks "What do you want from me? What could I do for you?" The two beggars, now commanding the entire attention of the crowd say in unison "we want you to give us our sight." So the celebrity touched their eyes and PRESTO prehistoric contacts! So the two men stood up and joined in with the hushed crowd supporters. (Matthew 20: 29-34)
Scene 3:
Now once more our celebrity is surrounded by people, everyone is pressing in on him, jostling and pushing him just to get a glimpse. One very brave (or very foolish) woman pushes her way through the crowd trying to reach the celebrity. She had been bleeding for twelve whole years and no amount of priests or doctors had been able to help, she was getting desperate. So she drew close to our famous friend and very gently she brushes his cloak, sinking back into the crowd as she feels her body mending. Now our celebrity, a very wise and self-aware man, whips around and asks "who touched me?" Everyone jumps back, and finally one of his close friend whispers in one of those supposedly-soothing-but-really-condescending-with-implications-hinting-at-your-sanity-or-lack-there-of "uhh... dude we are in a crowd of people, anyone could have bumped you...." But the celebrity says "uh-uh I know what I felt, who touched me?" The woman has been watching all of this, terrified, trying to decide if he could really know or if she oughta just book it outta there. Finally she moves forward and trembling and falls at his feet, in a quivering voice she explains in front of everyone what she had gone through and that she had merely sought healing. The celebrity looks down at her and says "Your faith has healed you. Go in peace." (Luke 8:42-48)
What do all these things have in common?!?! Aside from the whole healing, Jesus, bible thing? These people expected miracles. In scene one the leper says to Jesus 'I know you have the ability, I know that it is perfectly within your capabilities to heal me, so are you willing?" In scene two, after the blind men have Jesus's attention they pray boldly (extra points for bringing in an old blog reference?!?!) and they lay it out on the table and say 'give us our sight.' They know full and well that He is perfectly capable and they don't dilly-dally around with hoping for's and wishing on's – they simply expect Him to answer. In scene three, the woman doesn't even want to speak to Jesus, she just wants to touch Him, why?!?! Because she knows that merely touching Him will heal her.
There are a million and one ways to make a wish (wishing on a shooting star, 11:11, and blowing out birthday candles to name a few) and when you "hope for" something it could be a broad range of things... perhaps you are hoping for a large tax return, or prince (or princess) charming, perhaps you hope to play pro-four square or you hope to get into Harvard. Now-a-days hope is almost as general as a wish, but what I've found is those kinds of hopes and dreams and wishes only sometimes come true, let's be honest when was the last time kissing that frog turned him into prince charming?!?! The yield just isn't very high.
So part two: when expecting miracles, evaluate. Expecting a frog to morph into a prince probably isn't going to yield anything better than hope, in fact chances are the number of little jumpy fellows you are kissing is probably gonna drastically increase (okay so it got hit by a car, what's a little bit of guts to the luscious locks of McDreamy?!?). Instead my challenge to you is evaluate what you really and truly need in your life. Now I know this seems a little contradictory, evaluation is about realism and miracles... well you may not have noticed but miracles aren't... but part of the amazing thing about all the miracles that Jesus performed is that they were need based. In my studies of the bible, Jesus never gives anyone the golden ticket to tour the Willy Wonka candy factory (mmmm chocolate river), He never spills the secret of who's going to dominate in the gladiator arena, no! All of His miracles are, first and foremost, practical (okay so maybe the whole walking on water thing was kind of showing off, but He had to get to the boat somehow, if you were God of the universe wouldn't you show off too?). Water to wine for some poor family friends = practical. Healing of lepers = practical. Healing of the blind, mute, deaf, dumb, demon possessed, and paralyzed = all very practical. All of these people had genuine needs, needs that they expected Jesus to meet. So what I'm saying is... be practical but expect miracles. Don't ask God to fill things in your life that aren't genuine (like Zac Effron learning how to sing) but expect him to answer those prayers which really do have a place (like finding money for groceries).
So... that's it... expect miracles for all them practical prayers. = )
p.s. I'll try to keep these things shorter in the future... and less tangent filled. = D
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