. . . and then a connection.
This morning I listened to a favorite teacher tell her story. It’s a story I knew a little about, but as she spoke, much less than I thought.
It was about a life dedicated to God. She’s a talented and motivational speaker. Her extraordinary love for Jesus is nothing less than inspiring.
It was two years ago that I listened to Nicole Bullock for the first time. Then, it took about a year before I found her again and I have been a follower ever since. Today, that gap was explained in more detail than I probably wanted.
Lupus struck her shortly after my virtual introduction and for this woman of God; things were as serious as possible for quite some time. Her loss of mobility and speech was devastating. The inability to be who she was with her children and her calling as a pastor must have been unbearable.
She recovered. Mostly. But she never gave up on her mission to teach.
Today, she turned to John 5: 1-15, the Parable of the Man lying on his mat beside the pool of Bethesda. She talked about how Jesus asked the man, “Do you want to be healed?” She talked about his answer and what Jesus was really asking of him - of us. Simply stated, it boils down to, “Take up your mat and walk.” Then, as a way to show us what this means, she connected this parable physically and emotionally to her personal story.
A miracle and after 38 years, a biblical man was cured. But I learned today that it isn’t all about the healing. It’s also about picking up your mat and carrying this mat with you while remembering and talking about the One who healed you. It’s about standing up when you can’t. It’s about moving forward with the plan God provides when it’s the last thing you want to do. It’s about living with God’s promise - the life He would like you to have.
Then I watched the film, Tracers. An interesting narrative was revealed as the story wrapped around scenes of parkour. Par-what?
Serious practice is required along with strength, stamina and some gene probably called “daring”. None of these things apply to me. Examples of the results, should I even attempt this activity, can be found briefly demonstrated mid-stream.
Within a few hours, two things appearing to have nothing in common have nevertheless been joined together and both of my brain hemispheres are involved.
Make no mistake; I will never attempt parkour. Never!
But, based on the first video today, I do want to grow in my relationship with Jesus. I do want to take the spoils that life provides and defeat them by standing up. I do want to take up my mat and walk.
This will also take serious practice. It will take strength, stamina and some gene called ‘faith, with a dose of trust’. It’s a bigger gene than daring, I think. But I believe that I have it. I believe you do too.
This means that if I do my part by exercising in spiritual ways, sticking with it while gathering strength and stamina, I can parkour WITH Jesus. It’s the way He wants us to live! It’s called abundant life.
I can spin, jump, twist and land while bouncing to the next narrow plane too. And my mat won’t get in the way because the mat becomes part of the way.
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