Just a Walking Stick?
Joe Killian • July 9, 2015
When we prepare for vacation as a family we use a lengthy packing list to make sure we don’t forget anything. Over the years the list has grown to multiple pages and dozens of items as we learn that we should have brought more sunscreen and less clothes. (Or you might suggest more clothes so we don’t need as much sunscreen!) As you read this week’s Gospel about Jesus sending the twelve disciples out notice what is on Jesus’ “packing list” in the first part of the passage.
Jesus summoned the Twelve and began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over unclean spirits. He instructed them to take nothing for the journey but a walking stick—no food, no sack, no money in their belts. They were, however, to wear sandals but not a second tunic. He said to them, “Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave. Whatever place does not welcome you or listen to you, leave there and shake the dust off your feet in testimony against them.” So they went off and preached repentance. The Twelve drove out many demons, and they anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them. Mark 6:7-13
It is clear that Jesus is challenging the twelve to not worry about their normal everyday needs and comforts. The only things they are to take are a walking stick and their sandals. His message to them? “Trust in God to take care of your needs. I want you to focus on the task at hand.” In fact, the disciples could not have prepared themselves for what they were about to experience. They simply needed to be willing to do as Jesus asked.
How much of our lives are scripted and guided by lists and plans? Our plans! Are you willing to step out for Jesus with just a “walking stick and sandals”? Are you willing to trust Him wholeheartedly? I believe that our culture encourages us to eliminate the risk associated with trusting God and our human nature struggles with willfully seeking to control our results in all that we do. How do we overcome all of these pressures to trusting God?
Imagine for a moment the return of the disciples from their journey. I can imagine them breathlessly sharing their memories of the amazing things that God did when they trusted Him. Perhaps they shared with Jesus how people opened their homes to them so graciously. They might have talked excitedly about how things didn't turn out as they expected, which was a good thing!
Are you willing to put your lists and plans aside and trust God to see what He can do through you? It will not and should not be easy. Would we even need God if it was? The beauty of this kind of trust in God is that we can’t even begin to dream of the kind of breathtaking results He can produce.
We laugh about our Vacation Packing List. More importantly we marvel at what we experience that we could not have planned ourselves just like this unplanned but stunning photograph that my daughter Sarah took with her phone on one of our vacations.
Trust God to show you what He has in store for you over the horizon!
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.
Have you ever watched DreamWorks Animation's Kung Fu Panda? I stumbled across it recently and thoroughly enjoyed Jack Black's performance as a bumbling, noodle selling, kung fu enthusiast, giant panda named P o. Set in ancient China, it is more than a humorous slapstick comedy. The core message of the story jumped out at me as I have been focusing recently on the concept of being. Po is shockingly identified as the Dragon Warrior and he reluctantly enters training. The goal of the training is to receive the Dragon Scroll, which is believed to hold the secret to limitless power. Now I don't want to spoil the big reveal but I will say that what Po realizes is the same as what I speak to in the concept of being and authentic identity. So, where do we find the secret to our "power?" I praise You, because I am wonderfully made; wonderful are Your works! My very self You know. Psalm 139:14 God knows it; and we must seek Him with all of our hearts in order to find it. As it was in the movie, the answer is stunningly simple. Our authentic identity is already within us. The challenge for Po in the movie was in seeing himself accurately and not the way others saw him. Even his teacher scoffed at the idea that Po was anything more than an underachieving dreamer who overate when he was anxious. Po's problems are rooted in the fact that he believes the lie of his false identity much more than he does his authentic one. Is it possible that you do the same? Who could have imagined that beneath all of Po's girth lived the Dragon Warrior? What's hidden from view in you? Seek God for understanding as to who He created you to be. Spoiler Alert: the secret of your limitless power is already in you. God placed it there and He wants you to be who He authentically created you to be.
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.
