Conversation Point

In This Moment

Superhuman Powers

While updating some changes to my web site this week, I was also able to enjoy an update on the changes in the life of a business associate's young son. At fourteen months old there are many firsts in his life, all witnessed with joy and enthusiasm by his parents. The first steps came at ten months, running soon after. This past weekend saw the advent of leaping from his bed, then running to share the news with his surprised parents. What is quite wonderful is that each first is accompanied by the celebration that this small human wonder has acquired a new super power, the ability to stretch beyond all the physical boundaries that previously shaped his life. While an assumption at the birth of each child possesses all of these amazing feats, they are no less a miracle each time Creation gestures to the newness of life among us.

My guess is that Jesus' disciples struggled mightily with their firsts as followers of the Messiah. Inclusion in Jesus' inner circle had its perks: traveling with a man clearly close to God, privileged theological deconstruction of parables and teachings others were not privy to, and an immediate, up-close course in faithful living, literally from the Master himself. The downside was formidable: separation from their families, potential expulsion from the Temple, and even death as an enemy of Rome. Seemingly enough to deal with, the disciples were also regularly invited to look at the world as God presented it to Jesus to share with them. Consider whom Jesus described as blessed: the meek, the merciful, the peacemakers, and those who were persecuted for their faith in their God. Consider also that the disciples, along with the crowd who first listened to the Sermon on the Mount, were told they were salt and light, that Jesus had no intention of overriding the law or the prophets with his own ministry, and that "turn the other cheek" was replacing "an eye for an eye."

Nudging our own modern consciousness with updated imagery isn't necessary because we still ramble among these stories and declarations as if in a foreign country years later and after generations of interpretation. Unlike children reaching forward with every fiber of their beings, we adults confuse ourselves with our fears and anxieties, limiting the strength of that superhuman power within us. Free will usually diminishes in translation to imprisoned fate, placing a stranglehold on the joy of discovering just how far God is willing to take us. Having faith like a child is quite literally being willing to experience resurrection and rebirth whenever we know God to be leading us onward. You may not remember your first steps, but you may remember the first time you rode your bike without training wheels. How did it feel to write your own name for the very first time? Remember the first speech you gave or the first solo you sang? You managed all of them because, even though you may have had some anxiety, you overcame it, and stepped forward with faith, believing you could do something you had never done before.

God gives us the opportunity to experience this glorious, freedom-filled success long before we have time to practice the fear of believing we cant. Learning to walk and talk are the two most complicated and challenging things we ever do as human beings. Thank God these endeavors come right at the beginning of our lives, or my guess is there would be a lot of people content to remain silent and settled into their sofas. Sadly, there are a number of people who have stranded themselves in that exact mindset, too afraid to take a stand, speak their minds, stretch their boundaries, and leap joyfully into a life of faithful abandon.

Perhaps there is still hope for us to remember that first leap of faith from our beds, running with exhilaration to share the good news with our parents, who wait with joy and love to celebrate the grace of our superhuman power with us.

Until next time, God's blessings.

posted by Cory L. Kemp @ 10:14 PM