Highly

She went on and on for a full 45 minutes, rarely, it seemed, taking a breath. And our walking simply encouraged her to follow us up and down the streets continuing her ramblings.

The president of our denomination was in town that Sunday afternoon so we spent the time between the end of our youth activities and the start of the evening service by walking around the neighborhood. We visited with people and I pointed out different places where the impact of the ministry was showing tangible results.

She accompanied us on the whole tour. Throughout she walk she told of all the wonderful things I'd done for her, her children, her grandchildren, and the whole neighborhood. She told elaborate stories in graphic detail. Never more than a few inches away from our church's leader, he got quite an earful of how wonderful I was.

And not one syllable of it was true.

Yes, the whole congregation had invested in this family for several years and in a variety of ways: funerals, camps, emergency food assistance, hospital ministries, baptisms & confirmations, baby blessings ---- the list goes on. They had been active in the church and were grateful for it's presence.

But the stories! They weren't even close to accurate. That's a good thing, too, as some of what she said I did was in clear violation of the church's basic policies & procedures and, for that matter, questionably legal. It's not exactly what I want being told about me.

Still, it was her testimony and her praise without ceasing that was clearly on display that afternoon.

When we finally stepped into my house and she went on her way, the President turned to me, smiled, and said, "Well, she certainly thinks highly of you."

Based on the previous hour, that was the day's understatement.

I so wish I was more like her. Not in the "creativity" of her stories but in her unabashed thankfulness.

God has invested a lot in me over the years in such a variety of ways: temporal, eternal, spiritual, physical ---- more than I can even begin to recognize. Yet my praise pales in relation to who He is. His blessings are so abundant I hardly know what to even be thankful for.

Plus I'm quite certain that I've been oblivious to the vast majority of blessings, too. My testimonies of Him probably miss the point of what He was doing more often than not and may not be exactly what He wants said about Himself to others.

I hope as I try to follow Him around I can do more than just asking Him about what needs to be done or for blessing for myself and others. I hope through my praise and thanksgiving He will know that I certainly think highly of Him.

Lord, Your are worthy of all praise!

Donkeys

We were reading the story of Palm Sunday together with some teenage boys. The kids had just read how Jesus had sent some disciples into the village to get a donkey for him to ride. When we read that they had put some clothes on the back of the donkey before Jesus got on, the group leader asked, "Why do you think they did that?"

Without hesitation and in all seriousness, one of the boys honestly answered, "So no one would know that it was the one they had just stolen." The others all agreed.

That was NOT the answer I was expecting.

I would have probably answered that the disciples put some of their clothes on the donkey to make something like a saddle for Jesus or to somehow honor Him. The thought of the disciples trying to disguise that donkey had never crossed my mind.

But the disguise made sense in the context of the kids' world and my ideas made sense in the context of my world. The fact of the matter is, though, that we were both probably wrong.

I will never fully understand the context of the stories of ancient Palestine. I can read about it. I can study it. I can travel to modern Israel (hopefully someday!). I can try really really really hard and I can get better at interpreting scripture because of my efforts. I can become quite knowledgeable of the context and through that I can gain deeper insights into the text.

Still, I will never fully experience (much less understand) the context of the stories of Jesus because I'm a relatively affluent white man in the USA 2000 years after all these events took place. I would guess that my understandings would sound even more off base to the original hearers than the kids' idea of eluding authorities by disguising a donkey sounded to me.

Yet, somewhere in the midst of my lack there is Truth. Truth seeks to reveal Himself through the text. And as His people gather around the text for serious study, when they bring with them enough humility to know that they will never really understand even a syllable without the Spirit's help, Truth is revealed despite our context. It comes humbly as it rides in on a donkey. (Matthew 21:5b)

And I'm not so sure why that donkey has some clothes laid on its back.

Lord, humble me with your Word. Help me welcome the Truth from it that You give into my life.