The story continues...I'm still working on the pondless waterfall in our front yard. I shared this project with you two weeks ago in Playin' In the Dirt. Since then I've had to rework sections of the stream three different times because we were losing too much water. I am now an expert on evaporation rates and excessive splash, two causes of water loss. This morning I tore the whole thing apart and I'm starting over.

Maria and I have been playing in the dirt a lot recently. First we replaced our French drain and then we embarked on a creative project intended to change the entire look of our front yard. My brother Jeffrey and I installed a new front step.

While driving home from a visit with Joshua, our youngest son, we were surprised at how light the traffic was as we traveled through the city of Chicago on a Wednesday morning. As the trip continued I became aware of how few passenger cars were on the road. Truck traffic was the same but their presence only made the lack of cars more obvious. Things were different. One thing that hadn't changed were the numerous construction sites along our route. The ever present orange barrels and flashing merger signs were always preceded by one sign in particular:

With lots of time on my hands I decided to tackle a task I'd been putting off for months. A little background will provide context for an unexpected blessing. I began blogging almost ten years ago. Initially, I used a small email list at the church I was working at to share my reflections of the weekly Gospel. The list slowly grew as I gathered email addresses from attendees at our adult education sessions. When an illness forced me to quit my church job six years ago I continued blogging on my website. As I neared the completion of my book, Our Journey WITH God , I decided to pause my blogging to focus on finishing the book. Once the book went into production I turned my attention to this, my newly rebranded website - www.joekillian.com . The rebranding left me with over 150 blog entries on my old website. I was paying monthly for the old website for the sole purpose of archiving the tens of thousands of words until I transferred them to the new website. In the midst of that tedious, and at times frustrating slow process I experienced an incredible blessing. After reading dozens of my reflections, rooted in scripture, I came to realize that almost all of them brought me peace and comfort in this challenging time. The reason is simple, God is at the center of it all. Even if you don't read a single blog entry on my website I encourage you to take the time to watch this video of Ryan Stephenson's Eye of the Storm. God is present in all things, especially in the eye of the storm––where He remains in control!

Have you ever had a phrase keep forcing its way into your consciousness? Lately, "do what you love" has done that with me. "Do what you love and love what you do." Sounds good, right? Or how about "Do what you love and never work a day in your life." There is even a book titled, Do What You Love and the Money Will Follow . My Google search also produced, “Doing what you love is where happiness lives.” Wonderful sentiment but is it realistic that we can follow our desires to contentment, financial success and happiness? The website that charged $233 for an online course sure seemed to think so. Here is the banner for that course. Do What You Love: The life-changing e-course. Design your life the way you want to live it! As I looked through the outline of the course something immediately struck me. The first section of it was titled, Choose Your Destination. In other words, begin with the end in mind. I'm not suggesting that you take this course; no, my advice is quite the opposite. Instead of beginning with the end in mind begin with the beginning in mind. “Let us make them in our image, after our likeness.” The Our section of Our Journey WITH God begins with this all-important passage from Genesis. When we embrace the deeply profound significance of this verse we begin a journey to knowing who God is, which leads to knowing who we truly are. First and foremost, we were created uniquely. Being precedes doing. In understanding who God created us to be we then discover our divine purpose. While doing what you love might make you happy, being who you are impacts the world as God planned for you. Take this phrase with you today, “Be who you were created to be.”

In the first week of selling Our Journey WITH God , I noticed on the dashboard of my online book store that there were 14 abandoned carts. My first reaction was, "Oh no! How do I get in touch with those people to make sure they get their book?" A part of me wanted to "run through the store" to reconnect the abandoned carts with their owners. After laughing at the notion of chasing virtual cart owners around a digital store a thought occurred to me. How must God feel when we "abandon" Him? Even with the best of intentions to spend time with God we allow all sorts of distractions and wanderings to draw us away from Him. Depending on the circumstances of our day we may return to Him or rush off into something altogether different. In fact, the longer I reflect on this the more I recognize how frequently I allow this to happen. "Gosh, I'm really sorry, Lord. Please help me to get reoriented toward you so I can figure out where you're leading me on my journey today." A simple prayer like that helps me immensely. I find that God's Spirit helps me to return to Him. And in those moments I no longer feel distracted and adrift because the God of the universe is there waiting to embrace me. "Thank you, Lord, for never abandoning me."

Do you have doubts? Me too. We all do about one thing or another. Why is that? Did you know that the very first thing Satan said in the Book of Genesis was intended to create doubt? He said to Eve, "Did God really say?" Doubt has been a part of our common human condition since the beginning of time. We read about doubt throughout the Bible. In the New Testament, we frequently read about the disciples' doubt. In this week's Gospel, it appears at a significant moment in time. The eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had ordered them. When they all saw him, they worshiped, but they doubted. Then Jesus approached and said to them, "All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age." Matthew 28:16-20 In this case, the disciples' doubt occurs concurrently with their worship. How is that possible? When the resurrected Jesus appears their first response is to worship Him. And then they doubt. Jesus' response to their worship and doubt? As God, He commissions them to "go" and do for God. Then Jesus concludes with a statement that leaves no doubt. "And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age." Doubt originated in the Garden of Eden. Doubt is the human part of our relationship with God. But as we see here in Jesus' concluding statement, there is no doubt in God. He is always and forever with us. If we are honest with ourselves, it is natural to doubt that things are going to work out the way we want. What do we do with our doubts? We must rely on the words of Jesus, "I am with you always, until the end of the age." That leaves no doubt!

It has only happened three times in my entire life. The first time I held each one of our children my heart nearly jumped from my chest. In looking at photos from those days in the hospital I re-live a little bit of that feeling. While I still love Joey, Sarah and Joshua deeply, there was something about that first time that was truly unique. Just how much love are we capable of? This week's Gospel explores the depths of love. Jesus said to his disciples: "As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and remain in his love. "I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy might be complete. This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father. It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you. This I command you: love one another." John 15:9-17 Jesus, at the Last Supper, is on a mission. This time with His disciples is special. It will only happen once. He knows what's coming but His disciples are unaware. Jesus wants to make sure that they really understand His message. Jesus uses His most important, deepest relationship to explain His point. Jesus speaks of the love that exists between He and His Father, the kind of love that surpasses all others. Recently I have been putting a lot of time into writing my book. It has been four and a half years since I started and I just finished the draft of the first section last night. Here is an excerpt from the book that I believe describes this love that Jesus is talking about: God lovingly created us desiring that we would freely choose to identify with Him and belong to His family. It seemed like a “perfect” plan except that free will opens the door to choosing to disobey God. Why would God allow us to choose if our choices might end in death? In a word, the answer is love. I’m not sure I understood the true reason behind God’s decision to do this until I became a father. Inherent in a child’s willful behavior we see the incredible choice that God the Father made to allow us to choose. Only a God who embodied unconditional, unlimited love could allow His creation to freely choose to reject Him over and over. This is where we understand why God would risk our disobedience and rejection. God lets us choose because He wants us to choose Him, out of love. (From Our Journey With God) We will love one another when we learn to remain in God's incredible, unconditional, sacrificial love!

I really didn't want to leave. I've always said I've wanted to live in a place like this so leaving was tough. This past weekend for Maria's birthday we went to stay with our friends Jan and Andy at their beautiful home at Lake James in North Carolina. Here is the view from their boat dock.

When I read this week's Gospel I realized that I needed to share with you what I'm going through in spite of the fact that it's very personal. My recent struggles are deeply personal and they are getting in the way of what I know to be true. I'm in a strange place and I'm not sure what to do or where to go. It feels like I'm taking one step forward followed by two steps back. For example, we went to a concert last Friday night. Chris Tomlin and Matt Maher headlined the Worship Night in America show. It was wonderful. I truly felt God's presence and my spirit was lifted in spite of my recent struggles. However, three days later I'm back in my funk. Why does this happen? Is my answer in the Gospel? The two disciples recounted what had taken place on the way, and how Jesus was made known to them in the breaking of bread. While they were still speaking about this, he stood in their midst and said to them, "Peace be with you." But they were startled and terrified and thought that they were seeing a ghost. Then he said to them, "Why are you troubled? And why do questions arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see I have." And as he said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While they were still incredulous for joy and were amazed, he asked them, "Have you anything here to eat?" They gave him a piece of baked fish; he took it and ate it in front of them. He said to them, "These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled." Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. And he said to them, "Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things." Luke 24:35-48 Even though they experienced Jesus' presence and their "hearts had been burning within them" the disciples still struggled. They were troubled and had questions in their hearts. Jesus proved to the disciples that He was present with them in body. Not only did Jesus show them HIs scars but He also ate fish to demonstrate His physical presence. Once He established this Jesus spoke truth. In a few sentences, He brought clarity to everything that had happened, was happening and if we read further what was to happen. (The coming of the Holy Spirit... "And [behold] I am sending the promise of my Father...") The answer to our struggles, doubts and fears are always found in Jesus. I'm not being flippant. If we listen to what He said to the disciples in this Gospel passage, Jesus' coming, suffering, death and resurrection applies to all of humanity's ills. You and I are no different. As I wrote these words today Jesus helped me to understand the why of my struggles. More importantly, He showed Himself to me in His Words (read the Gospel above) and in them, I have found the peace that has escaped me for some time. "I am a witness to these things!"

I recently read a book about God and the human brain. In the book, researchers asked people what they thought God looked like. The question produced a lengthy pause in most adults. This was significant to the neuroscientist because it meant that a great deal of neurological activity was taking place as different parts of the brain attempted to put into words a concept that defies the parameters of language for many people. In this week's Gospel, we hear about someone who surely wrestled with a description of what God looked like. Jesus said to Nicodemus: “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the verdict, that the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light, because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come toward the light, so that his works might not be exposed. But whoever lives the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God. John 3:14-21 Nicodemus receives multiple images for God in his conversation with Jesus. The first is of the Son of Man, then he hears of God as a loving Father. Next, Jesus describes God as light coming into the world. What a profound experience this must have been for Nicodemus. What must his brain have been experiencing as Jesus' descriptions challenged his previous images of God? When you read this Gospel what does God look like to you? I imagine two images. One is of Jesus suffering unbearably on the cross. That image comes in a variety of forms as I recollect everything from various crucifixes and paintings I've seen to the brutally graphic depiction of the crucifixion in the movie The Passion of the Christ by Mel Gibson. The second image I imagine is more vague. In fact, I struggle to even explore it because I can't fathom its depth. As a father, my brain can't even begin to grasp what God the Father saw as life ebbed away from the body of His beloved Son. What does God look like? I can't think of a better answer than, "God so loved the world..."

Flu shots begin months before the season hits in hopes of keeping things under control. In spite of this, we find ourselves in the midst of one of the worst flu seasons on record. We take all kinds of additional precautions to stay healthy. I found this to be an interesting parallel to this week's Gospel. A leper came to Jesus and kneeling down begged him and said, "If you wish, you can make me clean." Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand, touched him, and said to him, "I do will it. Be made clean." The leprosy left him immediately, and he was made clean. Then, warning him sternly, he dismissed him at once. He said to him, "See that you tell no one anything, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed; that will be proof for them." The man went away and began to publicize the whole matter. He spread the report abroad so that it was impossible for Jesus to enter a town openly. He remained outside in deserted places, and people kept coming to him from everywhere. Mark 1:40-45 Lepers were complete outcasts in Jesus' time. In the Book of Leviticus we hear, "He shall dwell apart, making his abode outside the camp." Much of Leviticus is oriented towards living in ways that allowed for people to stay healthy. In biblical times separation was the only truly effective way to control an infectious disease. People would go out of their way to avoid the lepers who were required to announce themselves as unclean. That is why Jesus touching the leper was so astonishing. It appeared that Jesus was throwing caution to the wind. The leper sought out Jesus. The leper's enthusiasm for his healing created a frenzy that forced Jesus to remain separated from the towns in which He wanted to minister. Think about the irony of that. People needed to come to Jesus instead of Him coming to them. The same is true today. People need the spiritual healing that Jesus brings but if we don't present Him as the "cure" how are they going to find Him? In knowing Jesus, we have what the world needs! The question is, are we enthusiastically pronouncing it to others?

It amazes me how many different ways that God speaks to me. (When I'm paying attention!) From the morning's sunrise to the song on the radio to the smile from my beautiful wife Maria, I try to hear God as often as possible. As the sun rose this morning, HIs message came to me through a book I am reading on discipleship. Not only was this book speaking of Jesus' calling of His disciples (This week's Gospel) but it also referred to another book I read years ago. So what is God saying? After John had been arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God: "This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the Gospel." As he passed by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting their nets into the sea; they were fishermen. Jesus said to them, "Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men." Then they abandoned their nets and followed him. He walked along a little farther and saw James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They too were in a boat mending their nets. Then he called them. So they left their father Zebedee in the boat along with the hired men and followed him. Mark 1:14-20 In his telling of Jesus' calling of His disciples, Mark's style comes through. His Gospel version is fast-moving and action-packed. Jesus calls and the disciples respond, leaving everything behind. Before long the disciples were watching as Jesus heals a demoniac, Simon's mother-in-law and as Mark continues, "He cured many who were sick with various diseases, and he drove out many demons..." All of this happened before the end of Mark's first chapter. Sometimes we read these passages and wonder why things aren't moving more quickly on our journey with God. I know I often hope God will heal and move mountains and bring peace...NOW! But the reality is that we need to grow in our relationship with God, continually. Jesus calls us all to follow Him. That means that we must accept that being a disciple of Christ requires that we leave the world behind us. As the the disciples did, we must spend time with Jesus getting to know Him better. Through our relationship with Him we become a part of Jesus' time of fulfillment, bringing His Kingdom to the world. Will you respond to His call today? "Come after me..."

19 years ago as I was beginning to open up to God's call on my life He used a particular verse to get my attention. Over a period of several days this verse popped up in three different places. When it happened the third time I thought, "Hmmm, maybe I should pay attention to this." Wanna know what it was? You'll have to wait for it. In the Gospel we have a story that is similar in content and meaning to that verse I received: Jesus told his disciples this parable: "The kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones, when taking their lamps, brought no oil with them, but the wise brought flasks of oil with their lamps. Since the bridegroom was long delayed, they all became drowsy and fell asleep. At midnight, there was a cry, 'Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!' Then all those virgins got up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.' But the wise ones replied, 'No, for there may not be enough for us and you. Go instead to the merchants and buy some for yourselves.' While they went off to buy it, the bridegroom came and those who were ready went into the wedding feast with him. Then the door was locked. Afterwards the other virgins came and said, 'Lord, Lord, open the door for us!' But he said in reply, 'Amen, I say to you, I do not know you.' Therefore, stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour." Matthew 25:1-13 Foolish and wise. Jesus makes it clear from the start who the winners and losers were going to be in this parable. Surely the disciples all felt that they were wise and would "bring their oil" with them so they could enter into the wedding feast. As Jesus proceeded through the parable He makes it clear as to why they need to be prepared. "...the bridegroom came and those who were ready went into the wedding feast with him." The wise were prepared ahead of time for his coming. The foolish, who were not prepared, found a locked door. Imagine finding the door to the Kingdom of Heaven locked! Yikes! I don't know about you, but that scares the bejeepers out of me. How do I know that I'll be ready? We find the answer in Jesus' response to the foolish. "I do not know you." Entrance to the wedding feast is gained by knowing the bridegroom. In other words, the door to the Kingdom of Heaven is opened for us by the bridegroom because He knows us. The message of this Gospel is that once we enter into that relationship with Him we recognize the need to be prepared and ready to meet Jesus, the Bridegroom, when He comes. That preparation is an ongoing, lifelong process and it requires nothing less of us than our whole body, soul and spirit seeking to know Jesus. Oh, I forgot, you've been waiting for that verse that God reached out to me nearly 20 years ago. It was from Thessalonians. In it Paul was praying that the disciples in Thessalonica would be "ready" for the return of the Bridegroom. My prayer for you today is the same: "May the God of peace himself make you perfectly holy and may you entirely, spirit, soul, and body, be preserved blameless for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Thessalonians 5:23

As I reflected on the meaning of this week's Gospel I couldn't help but compare how the whole concept of wedding invitations has evolved. Google 'wedding invitations' and you get 50,000,000 results in less than a second. I narrowed my search to 'wedding invitation etiquette' and there were only 1,650,000 results. Now that's more manageable! To my surprise there were almost as many results for 'wedding invitation responses'. This particular response from the Emily Post Institute caught my eye: "A guest’s first duty is to respond promptly to any wedding invitation." Responding to the invitation is where the Gospel gets interesting. Jesus again in reply spoke to the chief priests and elders of the people in parables, saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son. He dispatched his servants to summon the invited guests to the feast, but they refused to come. A second time he sent other servants, saying, 'Tell those invited: "Behold, I have prepared my banquet, my calves and fattened cattle are killed, and everything is ready; come to the feast."' Some ignored the invitation and went away, one to his farm, another to his business. The rest laid hold of his servants, mistreated them, and killed them. The king was enraged and sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. Then he said to his servants, 'The feast is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy to come. Go out, therefore, into the main roads and invite to the feast whomever you find.' The servants went out into the streets and gathered all they found, bad and good alike, and the hall was filled with guests. But when the king came in to meet the guests, he saw a man there not dressed in a wedding garment. The king said to him, 'My friend, how is it that you came in here without a wedding garment?' But he was reduced to silence. Then the king said to his attendants, 'Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.' Many are invited, but few are chosen." Matthew 22:1-14 The chief priests and the elders must have loved this parable. (insert sarcasm) Could they have been happy about the professed son of the King preaching at them with this story? The answer is in the verse that follows this passage. "Then the Pharisees* went off and plotted how they might entrap him in speech." Not only did they not get Jesus' message, they were turned off enough by it that they went away to plot against Him. They did this in spite of the fact that their decision to do so placed them squarely in the parable in less than a flattering way. The chief priests and elders don't just ignore the message as some ignored the invitation to the wedding feast. They behave more like those who "mistreat" the messenger. Eventually these same men are complicit in the killing of the King's Son as they shout "Crucify him!" They totally missed Jesus' point. Now there's an understatement! Where are you and I in this particular parable? Surely, we aren't plotting to mistreat and kill the King's servants. We aren't ignoring the King's invitation. Are we? What about the guest who comes to the wedding feast without a proper wedding garment? Jesus' parable is meant for all, just as the King's invitation is. We must prepare our "wedding garment", ourselves, to attend the feast. This is done each and every day. Accepting His invitation as a prepared guest makes us one of the chosen. Are you ready to attend?

We all have the opportunity to shine as we share the story of God's Kingdom with others. When we do so by relating everything back to Him beautiful things happen in His Kingdom. In the video link below I share my own parable that ties into this week's Gospel. Jesus proposed another parable to the crowds, saying: "The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man who sowed good seed in his field. While everyone was asleep his enemy came and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off. When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well. The slaves of the householder came to him and said, 'Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where have the weeds come from?' He answered, 'An enemy has done this.' His slaves said to him, 'Do you want us to go and pull them up?' He replied, 'No, if you pull up the weeds you might uproot the wheat along with them. Let them grow together until harvest; then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters, "First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning; but gather the wheat into my barn."'" He proposed another parable to them. "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a person took and sowed in a field. It is the smallest of all the seeds, yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants. It becomes a large bush, and the 'birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches.'" He spoke to them another parable. "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch was leavened." All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables. He spoke to them only in parables, to fulfill what had been said through the prophet: I will open my mouth in parables, I will announce what has lain hidden from the foundation of the world. Then, dismissing the crowds, he went into the house. His disciples approached him and said, "Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field." He said in reply, "He who sows good seed is the Son of Man, the field is the world, the good seed the children of the kingdom. The weeds are the children of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. Just as weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all who cause others to sin and all evildoers. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears ought to hear." Matthew 13:24-43

Pulling off a really good surprise is hard work. This past Monday was my birthday and Maria was being coy about what we were going to be doing that day. She told me to pack a bag and just be open. Even though I was tired from doing a lot of work around our house I took a deep breath and went along for the ride. We met Joshua, our youngest son, for lunch and here is what happened:

I couldn't possibly say it any better. Please take the time to watch the entire video.

Mark Victor Hansen shares this story in one of the Chicken Soup For the Soul books. In 1989 an 8.2 earthquake struck Armenia, killing over 30,000 people in less than four minutes. In the midst of utter devastation and chaos, a father left his wife securely at home and rushed to the school where his son was supposed to be, only to discover that the building had been flattened as a pancake. After the traumatic initial shock, this man remembered the promise he had made to his son: “No matter what, I’ll always be there for you!” And tears began to fill his eyes. As he looked at the pile of debris that once was the school, it looked hopeless, but he kept remembering his commitment to his son. He began to concentrate on where he walked his son to school each morning. Remembering his son’s classroom would be in the back right corner of the building, he rushed there and started digging through the rubble. As he was digging, other forlorn parents arrived, clutching their hearts, saying, “My son!” “My daughter!” Other well-meaning parents tried pulling him off what was left of the school, saying: “It’s too late!” “They’re dead!” “You can’t help!” “Go home!” “Come on, face reality, there’s nothing you can do!” “You’re just going to make things worse!” To each parent, he responded with one line: “Are you going to help me now?” And then he proceeded to dig for his son, stone by stone. The fire chief showed up and tried to pull him off the school’s debris, saying, “Fires are breaking out, explosions are happening everywhere. You’re in danger. We’ll take care of it. Please go home.” To which this loving, caring Armenian father asked, “Are you going to help me now?” The police came and said, “You’re angry, distraught, and it’s over. You’re endangering others. We’ll take care of it. Go home.” No one helped. Courageously, he proceeded alone because he needed to know for himself: “Is my boy alive, or is he dead?” He dug for eight hours…12 hours…24, and 36 hours. Then, in the 38th hour, he pulled back a boulder and heard his son’s voice. The man screamed his son’s name, “Armand!” He heard back, “Dad? It’s me, Dad! I told the other kids not to worry. I told them that if you were alive, you’d save me, and when you saved me, they’d be saved. You promised, ‘No matter what, I’ll always be there for you!’ You did it, Dad!” “There are 14 of us left out of 33, Dad. We’re scared, hungry, thirsty, and thankful you’re here. When the building collapsed, it made a wedge, like a triangle, and it saved us.” “Come on out, boy!” “No, Dad! Let the other kids come out first, because I know you’ll get me. No matter what, I know you’ll be there for me.” As we celebrate Pentecost this weekend we are reminded of God's promises. Jesus stood up and exclaimed, "Let anyone who thirsts come to me and drink. As Scripture says: Rivers of living water will flow from within him who believes in me." He said this in reference to the Spirit that those who came to believe in him were to receive. There was, of course, no Spirit yet, because Jesus had not yet been glorified. John 7:37-39 In the Old Testament the prophet Joel wrote of God's promise for the coming of His Spirit. "Thus says the LORD: I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh." Joel 3:1 Jesus made multiple references to the coming of the Spirit as John details in the above Gospel. Very specifically, during the Last Supper, Jesus promised the coming of the Advocate, "But I tell you the truth, it is better for you that I go. For if I do not go, the Advocate will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you." John 16:7 In Acts we see the promise kept: "And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were. Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim." Acts 2:1-4 Do you believe God keeps His promises? Do you believe that He once rolled back a boulder to free His Son? Do you believe in God's promise to send His Spirit? To us all? Just as young Armand waited for his Father to fulfill his promise, you and I can trust that God will keep His promise. No matter what. Be filled with the Holy Spirit!!!