pjmoonblogs.com

I remember when the iPhone first came out and they were over $600. I remember that day, because my brother was one of the millions that stood in line for hours to get one of these fancy new phones. But the thing that I can never get out of my head was when I happened to turn on the news that night. The headline said, "Man shot with BB gun for an iPhone." I almost had to shake my head and rub my eyes to make sure that I was reading it correctly. Sure enough, a man had wanted one so bad that he took out his BB gun from his car, shot a man, and took his iPhone. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I mean this man would do whatever it took to get that phone, and he did.

Now I know that this story is absurd, but it got me thinking about a story in the bible. Mark 2 talks about a story of two guys that had a friend who was crippled. As Jesus was coming to town to speak, the crowd gathered to meet Jesus. These guys knew that this was their only chance to get their friend healed. So they pushed through the crowd with their friend and then still couldn't get to Jesus. So they went on the roof and cut a hole and dropped their friend in front of Jesus. And Jesus healed the man because of his friends faith. I mean can you just see Jesus teaching and then all of a sudden debris from the ceiling starts falling on His head and this man gets put right at his feet.

Anyway, you know the thing I love about this story is that these guys did whatever it took to get their friend to the feet of Jesus. When you look at this story, it relates so well to what is going on today... See in this story, the crowds gathered together to hear from Jesus, and in the same manner, the crowds gather to church to experience the same thing. But what convicted my heart was the attitude of these 2 guys. They knew that they had to get their friend to the feet of Jesus and there wasn't anything that was going to get in the way. See the reality is, there is always going to be an obstacle, you will always have a choice, and God's promises will always prove true. I think for many of us, we have friends that we know need to experience God's love, or God's Grace, or healing or forgiveness, but we let excuses and obstacles keep them from experiencing God. God is always faithful to show up when we have faith, but are we willing to do whatever it takes to get the ones we love to the feet of Jesus? What can we do to get our friends to the feet of Jesus? It's amazing to me what people do to get the latest and greatest thing, and even more amazing to me what people don't do to help others experience the living God. People are worth so much more than iPhones and BB guns