Easter comes with written directions April 12, 2022 in Community By Alesa Miller Pastor’s wife and mission partner So I am going to tell on myself, in this story. Have you ever done something so stupid you can’t believe “How did I miss that?” We have lived in our present home for 15 months as of the writing of this story. When we moved in my husband had put a brand new ceiling fan with a light on it up in our bedroom. For 15 months I have just gambled on which string to pull that would turn off the light or the fan depending on which I needed when I didn’t want both on or off, that I couldn’t control from the switch on the wall. Just last month I was on our bed and low and behold I saw something I have never seen before as I reached for the string to turn off the light and leave the fan on that is above our bed. There on the strings that I had been gambling with for the last 14 months, just guessing which one was the light and the fan, there at the end of the strings were little round knobs. I had seen these knobs before, but for some reason I had not noticed that stamped in each was a representation of what they did. For example, the string that controls the light had a knob that had a light bulb stamped on it. The string that controls the fan had a fan blade stamped on it. I felt so stupid. Why had I not noticed this before? Why had I not noticed that perfectly designed directions were there before me each time I had reached for the strings just guessing on the outcome? Perhaps it was the fact the impressions of the image were stamped in the knob, so there was no different color to get my attention from my short stature being 5 ft. 2in, and the fan was on a ceiling being over 8 ft. I just thought it was a design on the knob. Perhaps my bad eyesight was to blame, because the truth is I can’t even see the Big E clearly when I take my eye exam. Maybe it was just the fact I had never looked up while pulling the string, long enough to pay attention to what was stamped on the little knob at the end of the string because I didn’t think the knobs were important enough, or worth looking at. No matter the reason, I just hadn’t noticed this before. The truth is that most of us go about our daily lives unaware of some of the things going on around us, whether it be the pain that a co-worker is feeling because of a heartbreak she just went through or maybe the neighbor down the street is going through an illness or maybe even the person who sits right next to us at church is feeling some sort of disappointment. We all are often oblivious to what is going on in other’s lives around us because we are so consumed with our own. Even though it may be plain to some with better eyesight or those who give more attention to the details, we all just “Miss It” on occasion! There were some people in the Bible that missed it too. If I could rename the disciples that spent all their time with Jesus, and had been trained by Hebrew traditions in the scriptures, I would rename them all “Clueless”. They totally missed it! They totally missed the fact that Christ had to die and be raised from the dead for us to have eternal life. They missed that He came and He gave His life as the ultimate sacrifice for our sins so no longer a blood sacrifice had to be made for them. We find it most obvious, in John 20 and if we look at verse 9, it plainly says that Jesus had to rise from the dead. Here they had traveled with Him for three years and still didn’t seem to get what He had been saying to them all this time. Then we continue to read on down and in verse 15 it becomes even more evident. We pick up the Easter Story here, where Christ has already been hung on the cross, they have laid his body in the tomb and now his disciples found out his body is no longer there. Mary (his friend not His mother) is standing by the tomb devastated by the fact Jesus is gone. When she sees out of the corner or her eye, who she thinks is the gardener and as he comes up behind her . 15 He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.”She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”). 17 Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” Mary nor the disciples got the point that Christ came to earth to die, be raised from the dead three days later and ascend to heaven after that. This lack of understanding left them devastated. How many times are we devastated when what we think should happen doesn’t happen? Expectations often bring devastation and often because we don’t understand. When these things happen we have to trust God, that He has a plan and rest in that fact. Let’s not be unaware of our surroundings. Let us not be so distracted by what “We’re doing” that we forget to look around and see what “He” is doing.” God is speaking to us every day. The signs of the times are lining up with what His word says again, just as they did in the Bible days as He walked the earth. Our God will soon be coming back. So we need to be ready! I don’t know about you but I don’t want to be the clueless disciple that misses it. So let’s not be “CLUELESS” in what is going on around us but let us be ready to meet Him. Matt 25:13 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.” (Read all of Matt 25.) It is important if we don’t want to miss His return that we have a personal relationship with Christ and you can do that today. Just accept Him, confess that You Believe and get into a good Bible-believing church to learn more. Then live as He directs us in His word. To find out more about Alesa Lewis Miller and the ministry she and her husband are a part of go to www.millers4usmissions. com and hear how they are now Strengthening Churches, Changing Lives, One Project at a Time. 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So I am going to tell on myself, in this story. Have you ever done something so stupid you can’t believe “How did I miss that?”
We have lived in our present home for 15 months as of the writing of this story. When we moved in my husband had put a brand new ceiling fan with a light on it up in our bedroom. For 15 months I have just gambled on which string to pull that would turn off the light or the fan depending on which I needed when I didn’t want both on or off, that I couldn’t control from the switch on the wall.
Just last month I was on our bed and low and behold I saw something I have never seen before as I reached for the string to turn off the light and leave the fan on that is above our bed. There on the strings that I had been gambling with for the last 14 months, just guessing which one was the light and the fan, there at the end of the strings were little round knobs. I had seen these knobs before, but for some reason I had not noticed that stamped in each was a representation of what they did. For example, the string that controls the light had a knob that had a light bulb stamped on it. The string that controls the fan had a fan blade stamped on it.
I felt so stupid. Why had I not noticed this before? Why had I not noticed that perfectly designed directions were there before me each time I had reached for the strings just guessing on the outcome?
Perhaps it was the fact the impressions of the image were stamped in the knob, so there was no different color to get my attention from my short stature being 5 ft. 2in, and the fan was on a ceiling being over 8 ft. I just thought it was a design on the knob.
Perhaps my bad eyesight was to blame, because the truth is I can’t even see the Big E clearly when I take my eye exam. Maybe it was just the fact I had never looked up while pulling the string, long enough to pay attention to what was stamped on the little knob at the end of the string because I didn’t think the knobs were important enough, or worth looking at. No matter the reason, I just hadn’t noticed this before.
The truth is that most of us go about our daily lives unaware of some of the things going on around us, whether it be the pain that a co-worker is feeling because of a heartbreak she just went through or maybe the neighbor down the street is going through an illness or maybe even the person who sits right next to us at church is feeling some sort of disappointment. We all are often oblivious to what is going on in other’s lives around us because we are so consumed with our own. Even though it may be plain to some with better eyesight or those who give more attention to the details, we all just “Miss It” on occasion!
There were some people in the Bible that missed it too. If I could rename the disciples that spent all their time with Jesus, and had been trained by Hebrew traditions in the scriptures, I would rename them all “Clueless”.
They totally missed it! They totally missed the fact that Christ had to die and be raised from the dead for us to have eternal life. They missed that He came and He gave His life as the ultimate sacrifice for our sins so no longer a blood sacrifice had to be made for them.
We find it most obvious, in John 20 and if we look at verse 9, it plainly says that Jesus had to rise from the dead. Here they had traveled with Him for three years and still didn’t seem to get what He had been saying to them all this time. Then we continue to read on down and in verse 15 it becomes even more evident.
We pick up the Easter Story here, where Christ has already been hung on the cross, they have laid his body in the tomb and now his disciples found out his body is no longer there. Mary (his friend not His mother) is standing by the tomb devastated by the fact Jesus is gone. When she sees out of the corner or her eye, who she thinks is the gardener and as he comes up behind her .
15 He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.”She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”). 17 Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
Mary nor the disciples got the point that Christ came to earth to die, be raised from the dead three days later and ascend to heaven after that. This lack of understanding left them devastated.
How many times are we devastated when what we think should happen doesn’t happen? Expectations often bring devastation and often because we don’t understand. When these things happen we have to trust God, that He has a plan and rest in that fact.
Let’s not be unaware of our surroundings. Let us not be so distracted by what “We’re doing” that we forget to look around and see what “He” is doing.”
God is speaking to us every day. The signs of the times are lining up with what His word says again, just as they did in the Bible days as He walked the earth. Our God will soon be coming back. So we need to be ready! I don’t know about you but I don’t want to be the clueless disciple that misses it.
So let’s not be “CLUELESS” in what is going on around us but let us be ready to meet Him. Matt 25:13 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.” (Read all of Matt 25.)
It is important if we don’t want to miss His return that we have a personal relationship with Christ and you can do that today. Just accept Him, confess that You Believe and get into a good Bible-believing church to learn more. Then live as He directs us in His word.
To find out more about Alesa Lewis Miller and the ministry she and her husband are a part of go to www.millers4usmissions. com and hear how they are now Strengthening Churches, Changing Lives, One Project at a Time.