Category: coffee table gospel

Don’t You Care?

Mark 4 tells a story of a wild storm that came out of nowhere one night while Jesus and his disciples were out on the water. Jesus was sleeping, and the disciples screamed “DON’T YOU CARE? DON’T YOU CARE THAT WE’RE GOING TO DROWN?” and I get why they questioned God in that moment, and I get why they were fearful, and I also never want to forget how Jesus responded. He woke up, told the storm to stop, watched the wind die down + waves become still, and then he asked his friends why they didn’t trust him.

When the world is out of control, God isn’t. When all signs point to a sinking ship, our greatest comfort and rescue will always be in Jesus. He hasn’t forgotten about us.

A Woman of God

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Matthew 27:55 makes a note about the women who looked on from a distance. It tells us they followed Jesus from Galilee to Jerusalem, which would have been a three-to-five-day journey.

A woman of God loves Jesus with all of her heart, soul, and mind and will follow him anywhere.

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Matthew 27:61 says that Mary Magdalene and the other Mary sat near the tomb where Jesus was buried before it was time for them to go home. I imagine they were grieving and confused.

A woman of God loves Jesus with all of her heart, soul, and mind and stays close to him when hope feels lost.

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Matthew 28:1-8 says that two women found the empty tomb and encountered an angel of God who told them to go and tell the disciples that Jesus is alive. Verse 8 says they ran to tell the news.

A woman of God loves Jesus with all of her heart, soul, and mind and runs on mission with news of a resurrected life.

Love Met Me at a Table

The most important Valentines Day I ever had was 10 years ago. It was my senior year and a friend from high school had a party on Saturday the 13th. The next morning I woke up face down, sitting at a kitchen table that wasn’t mine and wondered what I was doing. Like, big-picture ‘what am I doing?’ I was a pretty self-confident 18-year-old and I knew that whatever I had done and whoever I was the night before wasn’t who I wanted to be.

The summer before that, in 2009, I heard about Jesus in a way that felt real and meaningful for the first time. I would have told you that I started a relationship with Jesus that summer. But the truth is, he had chosen me long before that week in June, and it wasn’t until that February morning at a kitchen table that I really chose him. In that quiet moment I talked to him about the parts of my life where I had been ignoring him. You’re not really choosing Love until you let him choose where he’s going to lead you.

For most of my life leading up to that Valentines Day, I tried to be good at everything so that a boy might finally love me. On the 13th, I made decisions I wish I wouldn’t have and ended up sleeping at a kitchen table, but early on the morning of the 14th, Love met me there. That morning changed a lot of things about the second half of my senior year, the college I would go to, the man I would marry, where we’d buy a house. That morning changed me and now my life revolves around Love.

I had meetings and doctors appointments and good conversations, but the most important thing I did this week was stand in a room full of teenagers and tell them that Jesus loves them. And maybe telling you that Jesus loves you through this blog post is up there, too. However long you’ve been searching for love, I hope it’s not much longer until you realize that Love has been searching for you.