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Month: January 2019

When Jesus Stopped!

Published by Jeff Kennon on January 30, 2019

For God so loved the world…that he stopped! In the Gospel of Mark, there is a story of a woman who had a blood issue (Mark 5:24-34). This “discharge of blood” had been a problem for her for 12 years or so. Most likely it was a hemorrhage which meant she would have also been considered “ceremonially unclean” (Leviticus 15:25-27) and therefore, would not have been permitted to participate in worship in the temple. And though she had exhausted all her resources, a cure could not be found. Bottom line, she felt hopeless!

She had heard of Jesus however. She had heard that he was healing people. So she began to think that if she could just get to Him, wholeness would come to her again. If she could, at the very least, just touch the bottom of his garment. If she could just grab a thread, then this 12-year malady would disappear.

So she goes after Jesus to get a touch. She probably thought no one would notice. And that’s most likely how she would have preferred it. The crowd was compacted around Jesus. Everyone was bumping into each other. No one would know. You can almost visualize her getting close behind Jesus and squeezing her arm through the crowd to brush her hand against Jesus’ cloak. That’s all she needed after all. Just a light touch.

Chances are, a small touch is all she got. But once again, that’s all she needed to be healed. One touch produced a miracle! She may have wanted to scream, but she didn’t want to draw attention to herself so she refrained. She may have even begun to weep. We don’t know what she did, but we do know what Jesus did. Her touch, though ever so small, made him stop. He realized something had happened and so he stopped, turned around, and began to ask who had touched him. Kind of a crazy question to ask in a crowd of people pressing around you. But this touch was different. It was a touch of faith. And Jesus knew it.

When Jesus turned around, this woman, now free from disease, came forward. She knew she was the cause of the abrupt halt. So, she fell in front of Jesus. And she did so in “fear and trembling.” After all, she was a woman and women were considered second class citizens in that culture. In addition, she knew that it was forbidden for someone like her, being deemed “ceremonially unclean” because of her disease, to touch a rabbi. Yet she confessed.

Now Jesus does what only Jesus can do at this point. Though the text does not say so, I think he takes her by the hand, helps her up and looks her in the eyes before he speaks most compassionately, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.” “Daughter!” He called her daughter. She’s not only physically healed, she’s now in the family.

Here’s the story of a desperate woman who sees her only hope of any healing coming from Jesus. As a result, she breaks a few social and religious customs and touches him. After all, she is desperate. And desperate people will do almost anything. They aren’t worried about rules or customs. They are at the bottom and have nothing to lose. When you are flat on your back and are without hope, there is nothing too extreme that you will not do to find relief.

This woman was as needy as you can get. And Jesus was her only hope. She knew he healed others so why not her? And Jesus came through in Jesus-like fashion. He healed! He restored! He stopped!

He stopped! With the crowd all around him while walking to a synagogue ruler’s house to heal a little girl, Jesus stopped. Jesus, who no doubt had many demands upon him and questions asked of him, stopped. Jesus, God in the flesh, the one in whom all things were created, stopped.

This is our God! This is our creator. He is personal. He is present. And he overlooks no one. We may feel we are just another cog in the wheel or just another face in the crowd, but Jesus stopped. He meets us where we are and  in whatever condition we find ourselves. As he comes to us and as we reach out to him, he does not parade by for Jesus has come to “seek and save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10).

For God so loved the world…that he stopped!

Photo by Fernando Venzano on Unsplash

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New Goals? New Habits? Making Progress?

Published by Jeff Kennon on January 23, 2019

It’s 2019! Happy New Year! I hope it’s not too late to wish such merriment. So as this year has been morphing into full-bloom, I made a discovery. I did not post anything on this site in 2018. It’s not that I didn’t have goals or desires to do so. In fact, if you dust off my last post, I admitted that I was trying to find some type of rhythm to my blogging/writing life. My goal? To obviously get into some type of schedule. My results? I’d rather not talk about them.

Now don’t judge me too quickly. I’m sure most of you have set goals and not completed them. Or must I remind you of your own past resolutions to exercise, eat healthy, read your Bible daily, etc…. I’m not saying you didn’t do these things, I hope you did. But it’s not easy! I feel the pain of those who struggle in reaching a goal, but want to encourage you to think about goals a bit differently. So what am I trying to say in the first post So what am I getting at with this first post in over 18 months?

During my renewed fervor to begin writing on this site again, I began reading Atomic Habits by James Clear. It’s a book in which he not only relies upon research, but upon his personal experience as well. He conclude the following in regards to reaching goals…

  • If you want better results, then forget about setting goals. Focus on your system instead
  • You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.

Clear is not saying we shouldn’t have goals. They are crucial in helping determine the direction we need to head. But if you want to make progress, for him, it’s all about daily habits. For example, if I want to read 10 books this year, that won’t happen unless I develop a habit of reading a certain amount of minutes each day. Clear gives quite a bit more info in his book about the value of habits and how to develop them. I suggest you pick up a copy of his book.

So I do have a goal for writing and sharing content this coming year. But more importantly, I am working on developing some daily habits. I hope those who read some of the content on this site will benefit from them. And if you wish, feel free to ask me how it’s going!

Before I wrap up this confessional-like post, I would be amiss if I didn’t ask you about your goals or resolutions for the coming year? If you are already struggling with them, that’s ok! However, I suggest you begin to think about making some daily habits. It’s one thing to say you’re going to begin praying for your co-workers this year, and quite another to make it a habit of praying for them each day before you turn your car off and enter the office.

I pray you press on! And like I’m doing with this blog, don’t think too grandiose. Think simply! Start small. For me and this blog, this means two posts a week. One will be something I’ve composed (not too long) and another will be a quote from something I’m reading.

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