What would have to happen to make you shout at the top of your Facebook lungs, “THE SKY IS FALLING!”?
Has it happened already?
I opened my Facebook feed twice yesterday. I was online no more than 35 seconds, just long enough to realize people feel wounded. Our eyes are focused solidly on this world, and in exchange, we are turning into a people who are confused, depressed, worried or even terrified. Even people who are happy with how the election turned out seem to have those feelings.
Our worldly perspective is threatening to snuff out the light of love that shines in each one of us.
A tiny story tucked into a book written by a Minnesota man has changed the way I look at times of turmoil and uncertainty.
The book is called Not By Site. The author, Jon Bloom, retells 35 Bible stories by imagining the thoughts and feelings of people we find in the Bible and those people who were perhaps at the scene that nobody ever talks about.
While reading the book, my mind started to formulate and grab hold of the character I yearn to be: the 13th disciple. Long after I put the book down, I continued to create and visualize this character for myself.
In my mind, the 13th disciple is the one who is unrelentingly positive. She is the one who continues to let Jesus sleep in the boat during the storm because she just knows God has her back.
She is the one who steps into the hurt of others, walking the adulteress home and drying her tears of shame when the men finally drop their stones.
She is the one who gathers the hungry doubters by saying, “Come quickly! Jesus is about to feed a stadium full of people with five loaves of bread and two fish!”
She is the one who is certain God is control today. She can’t help but shout at the top of her Facebook lungs, “Hurry! Come check this out! God is about to do something amazing!”
That’s who I want to be. I want to be the person who is so certain that God is working in our lives and in our world that she can’t help but tell others.
I don’t rise and fall with a president, I stand with a King. I am the 13th disciple. You can be one, too.
