In the Zone

One night, as I was walking my dog, I saw flames shoot across the sky.  That night, we were due to have one of the biggest meteor showers in a long time.  It wasn't supposed to start until the wee hours of morning, but here it was, close to 1 a.m., and I'm walking a dog.  I looked up, hoping to catch an early falling star.  What I saw were streaks of orange, then green, then orange again, as fireballs, one at a time, filled the sky.  It was awesome to behold. I had never seen anything like that.  I haven't seen anything like it since.  It was amazing.  If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn't believe it. That's kind of like Saul.  He was on his way to Damascus, when suddenly his trip was interrupted.  We read in Acts 9 that a great light appeared in the sky and Jesus himself spoke to Saul.  No one else around Saul saw the light, but Saul did. Three days later, blind, alone and fasting, a man named Ananias laid his hand...

In America, we love comeback stories.  We love to give people second chances. Michael Vick, convicted in a dog-fighting ring, served almost two years in federal prison, missed three seasons of football, and came back to successfully start at quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles. Robert Downey, Jr.'s acting career was derailed due to alcoholism and drug abuse.  After finally gaining sobriety, he starred in Iron Man and is now one of the hottest actors in the industry. We celebrate second chances in America.  We make movies about them.  Why do you think "Rocky" is so popular.  It's about a second chance. In the Bible, Jesus gave Lazarus a second chance at life - quite literally.  John 11 says Lazarus had been dead four days by the time Jesus arrived in Bethany.  Martha was even afraid to remove the stone on the grave because the stench would be horrible.  Instead, Jesus called Lazarus out of the tomb, and he hobbled out in grave clot...

Jesus was not a convential man. Often, when Jesus taught, he challenged the status quo.  He also liked to use object lessons and parables to illustrate his points about faith and a relationship with God. One night after dinner, during the last week of his life before the resurrection, he finished eating, took off his outer garment, grabbed a towel and started to wash the disciples' feet. Stunned, Peter protested, but Jesus said it had to be done.  He had to allow Jesus, his rabbi, his teacher, his Lord, to become a servant and wash Peter's dirty, worn feet.  So he did.  Jesus washed all their feet that night.  Then he said:  You need to do this too. Too often in Christianity today, there is an attitude of moral superiority.  We love to build beautiful church buildings, boast of our attendance, brag about our programs and talk about the money we give.  At the same time, we turn our nose up to the alcoholics and drug addicts and homeless and...

As you study John the Baptist, you realize how radical the guy was. He ate locusts and honey.  Yes, he ate bugs.  He dressed in camel's hair - not exactly a fashion statement of the day.  He ministered out of town, not in the city where the most people were, and he antagonized the religious elite.  He even called the religious leaders of his days a brood of vipers because they were poisoning the souls of the people. This guy was a radical and rebel.  He didn't do conventional things.  In fact, he preached a controversial message. He preached the Messiah was coming and that the Jewish people were not ready to meet him.  That was the point of his baptism.  He baptized people to symbolize they were "Coming back" to God so they'd be ready when Messiah entered the scene.  Baptism was usually reserved for Gentiles who wanted to convert to Judiasm.  They would be baptized to show they wanted to worship Yahweh.  So, with John baptiz...