Regular Joe's

Then a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and a voice came from the cloud: “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!”  Mark 9:7

One of the great philosophers of our time gave us the following instruction.  “Leave a tender moment alone.” Billy Joel, 1984

I speak at a lot of youth camps and I especially love Junior High Camps.  A common trait of these camps is that after a session, where we will have had some pretty fantastic worship through song, a message that God uses to connect with these kids and a time of commitment and prayer, no one knows how to act.  With all the awkwardness of a toilet paper stuck to the bottom of your shoe, these sessions will end and kids will not know how to leave a tender moment alone.  Usually I summarize it like this. (speaking as a kid)  “I just entered the presence of God, heard him speak to me for the first time, lets go wrestle.”

Imaging being next to Jesus when he lived here on the earth.  What would it be like to stand next to Him as He raised Lazarus from the dead?  Think about how incredible it would be to listen to His very own voice as He spoke in the temple.  Wow!  Now let your imagination go a bit further.  You are a Regular Joe.  You have a small fishing business and you are repairing your nets on the shore of the sea when Jesus walks up to you and says, “Follow me.”  You drop your nets and for the next season of your life, you sit in the front row of everything Jesus does and says.  All the miracles, teaching, the private conversations…  You are on the inside circle.

Then Jesus invites you and two others to come with Him to a secluded place.  While there, the skies open, Jesus takes on a radiant stature and right next to him appear the two greatest people in your history books, Moses and Elijah.  You watch as Jesus and Moses and Elijah chat.  Umm… Uh… If it were me I would shout “OH MY GOD!” and mean it.

Peter, who never met a tender moment that didn’t need his input, starts talking.  “Jesus it is a good thing were here… Lets build a shelter, no lets build three.  One for you, one for Moses and One for Elijah.” (the bible says that he just had no idea what to say and since he was afraid, he just started talking.)   Just then a voice from heaven says…  “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!” God the Father just told Peter… shush.  Leave this moment alone.  It needs no improvement; it does not need your input… LISTEN PETER!

Very often Jesus finished his teaching with a similar instruction.  Who ever has ears to hear… Let him hear. The point being that God has much to say and is very good at saying it.  Were just not always that good at listening, we hijack a tender moment. .  Daily, God speaks to us through His Spirit, His word, His people.  Daily, I run off at the mouth or get going another direction.  Like Peter, I fill the tender moment with words.   Today, try this.  Listen.  Listen to God’s Spirit.  Listen to God through His word.  Listen to God through His people.  And then when He speaks… leave a tender moment alone… just soak it in. “LISTEN! TO HIM”.

Random Act of Kindness: Invite someone to coffee, lunch or dinner.  Ask them questions and then sit back and listen.