Even after 56 years as a believer, God can still amaze me.
Last week I worked at the home of Jim Hildebrandt. He and his brother flooded in Hurricane Ian and we rebuilt their home. We had planned to paint the exterior of his duplex last year, but Hurricane Milton flooded him again and it was not until last week that we started prepping to paint.
A couple of days into the project we were joined by another resident of the community. We had done some work on Jack’s house almost three years earlier. (For privacy, Jack is not his real name. For the same reason I’m not posting a picture of him. “Beginnings are the most delicate of times.”) Several staff members had stayed in touch with Jack and shared with him about many things, but especially about Jesus. Jack used to be a painter, so when he heard we were painting Jim’s house he came to help.
As lunch time, as I usually do, I asked the team a question. In this case it was “When have you seen God do something amazing.” We went around the circle and there were several good stories about God’s work. When we got to Jack I just asked him “How about you?” He started to talk about his life, how he had grown up as a Catholic, but didn’t stick with it. Since Crisis Response had been in the community he’d been thinking about God a lot and had concluded that there was a creator God. He’d also been thinking about Jesus and “what he had done.”
The funny part of this story is that Jack had one bad ear and the other wasn’t bad either. He’d had real trouble hearing me, and I was on his bad side. So I said nothing while two of the volunteer team members explored what he understood and what his hesitations were. They clarified the Gospel of grace, and finally one of them said “Is there anything stopping you from putting your faith in Jesus right now.” Jack thought a while and then said “No.” So the team member led him in a prayer of faith.
Yay! (Luke 15:10)
I can’t include a picture of Jack, but this is me grinning as he approached the moment of faith in Christ.
The other fun part of this story is that on Monday, the day before this happened, I had done a devotional for the team which emphasized expectations. Sometimes volunteers have unrealistic expectations of a “missions trip” and they need to be prepared for it to be different than they’d hoped. But my point was that sometimes our expectations are exceeded: God does more than we ask or think. I used verses like Matthew 12:22-23 and Mark 1:21-22 and a few others:
Matthew 12:22–23 Then a demon-oppressed man who was blind and mute was brought to him, and he healed him, so that the man spoke and saw. 23And all the people were amazed, and said, “Can this be the Son of David?”
Mark 1:21–22 And they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath he entered the synagogue and was teaching. 22And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes.
These verses show that the disciples and the crowds were amazed and astonished at what Jesus did and taught. This amazement led them to a higher estimation of Jesus. He was exalted in their eyes.
That’s what happened when Jack came to faith in Jesus. I was amazed, though maybe I shouldn’t have been, and Jesus was further elevated in my mind and heart, which he certainly should have been. I hope this post gives you some of that same experience.