Have Cheap Luggage, Will Travel

Just the Facts Jack

Some friends and I are going through the book of Mark together and one of the most interesting things to me is the style that Mark tells his story about Jesus.

There’s nothing creative about it. In fact it’s not even eloquent. Mark runs quickly through miracle after miracle straight into the crucifixion without weaving even the slightest bit of metaphor through his story.

It goes a little like this. Step one - Jesus performs a miracle. Step two – the disciples do or say something stupid. Step three – repeat. That cycle continues for the whole book which makes me feel a little bit better about my own hardheadedness.

Anyway, I guess you could say that there is not much use in studying this gospel if you are searching for the deep waters of Biblical theology but the simplicity of reminder is something not to be missed.
What I mean is, sometimes even though you were there, you forget what happened. We need to be reminded occasionally as to not to forget what does not need to be forgotten.

Recently I have had a funk chasing me and I am just getting tired of being me. But after reading through Mark, I think I just need to remind myself of why I am here and would like to share a part of that with you.

- The Lord was always a part of my home growing up but I always kept Him at arms length, more interested in myself. Despite that, I saw His hand for the first time in college.

- Once, my car died for real and I needed to replace the long block in the engine which was going to be a couple thou and I literally had $20 to my name. All of a sudden, an old employer popped up and asked me if I would work for them over the summer. They offered me $10 hour cash, paid for my car repairs on their personal credit card and let me work off the debt. On top of that, they gave me their car to drive while the repairs were getting done.

- Apparently the education system in Texas frowns on you taking out financial aid for 6 years of college and will eventually cut you off. I found that out the hard way and one semester was faced with having to drop out of school with now way to pay. A friend’s family called and wanted to pay the bill no questions asked. They even took me to New York on vacation to celebrate.

- At the tail end of school, I worked on a contract basis for a company called Women of Faith during but never considered working there full time. A few years later, I was juggling 2 jobs to try to make ends meet and needed help. I called a friend on staff at WoF to see if she had any job leads in other companies. That friend I called told me how glad that she was that I called because she was moving and they needed somebody to start in 2 weeks. She was looking for my cell phone number that very moment I called. I had not talked to that girl in almost a year. That job has now affected almost every area of my life.

- I had a friend that wasn’t a Christian and pretty much violently opposed to hearing anything about it. So we never talked about my faith, but about a year into our friendship out of the blue God hijacked my prayer life. I could not pray about anything else and my friend’s soul lay heavy on my heart. So I prayed. The next week she asked me if she could go to church with me – she started asking if she could come to my home group – I gave her a Bible and she read the Old Testament in 1 week – on and on. That girl is a Christian today and her life is completely different, out of nowhere.

Just the facts jack. There are so many more but here are just a few examples of miracle after miracle that God has done in my life. Did you know God is real? My funk may still be chasing me but the simplicity of reminder prompts me to look beyond tomorrow. Be encouraged by your past and take the time to write down your own Mark story. You never know when you might need it to pull you out of the pit.

Read: Psalm 139
Ask: This Psalm was written by David who was named by God, “a man after my own heart”. (Acts 13:22) Despite that call on his life, David lusted after a married woman and had her husband killed so he could be with her. There are some of you who are not encouraged by your past but are shamed by it. How do David’s words in this Psalm make you feel about your past knowing David’s past?

Read: Mark 6:30-44, 8:1-21
Ask: The disciples saw amazing things happen in their time with Jesus but they still seem to doubt his power when faced with trouble. Even when the situation seems exactly the same as in the passages above. How do you react when impossible situations emerge in your life?

Read: Jeremiah 29:11-14
Ask: God reminds us of His ultimate goal for our lives in this passage. Can you see the truth of this scripture in some difficult times in your own life?