ACTS: “When God Moves…
”Super-Ordinary”
Week 11- Day 3
April 9, 2009
Acts 1:10-
“…when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11 “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”“Ella está con Jesus,” is all she said. ” She is with Jesus.” We couldn’t believe our eyes. There we were. A grieving family and their pastor standing over the body of a dearly loved sister and wife. We had just finished praying together behind the curtain at the ER. We opened our eyes and there was one more with us. We did not hear her enter, but she was there on the other side of the bed. She had grabbed hold of Peg’s hand and was stroking her arm. She looked up at us with an uncommon compassion. “Ella está con Jesus.” We were all confused and a little agitated at what seemd to be an intrusion on a very private moment. She just stood there. “Ella está con Jesus.” She stood about 5 feet tall. Her long brown hair draped over her red t-shirt. She had no identification. She wasn’t sent by the hospital, but she as sent. We just didn’t know it then.
After ushering the family out for a ‘family meeting’ in the hallway, I went back into the room. She was still there. She repeated herself, “Ella está con Jesus.” I responded in the affirmative then asked her name. She said, “Vanessa.” After a few moments of broken Spanish conversation, we left the room. She turned to the left and disappeared around a corner. I stood there baffled. Who was she? Why was she there? The only thing I knew about her was her name and her message. Vanessa- and words of comfort and affirmation- “Peg is with Jesus. Don’t worry.” Where did she come from? She didn’t have wings, not really, but her name did. Vanessa means, “Butterfly” in spanish. She did have an angelic message. Strange. She was so ordinary, yet so extraordinary. God does that. Uses the ordinary to do the extraordinary.
In this passage, two men appear with the disciples as they stare into the sky. “Why are you looking up there? He’s coming back. Don’t worry.”
We so often look for those grand ‘moments’ for evidence of God’s presence that we miss the power of the ordinary. Every day we are surrounded by ordinary people and just as often we dismiss them as ordinary, failing to see the extraordinary in them. God uses ordinary people to do His work. He shows up through the ordinary folks like our wives, husbands, kids, neighbors, co-workers, and even the stranger. Do you have eyes to see the extraordinary in the ordinary around you? Or are you too busy expecting the big things that you miss them altogether?
Is. 6.5
“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.”
Luke 1.26
In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”
Matthew 4.18-20
As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 19 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” 20 At once they left their nets and followed him.
REFLECTION
Look for God’s power today in the ordinary things. Ask God to give you eyes to see His grace in the things you usually take for granted.
PRAYER
My great and Heavenly Father, my eyes are so often looking for ‘grand events’ to know your presence. I find myself often plagued with doubt and skepticism as a result. Open my eyes that I might see your grace even in the ordinary things of this day. For your glory and praise, AMEN.
