Matthew TwoSix:ThreeNine

When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?” John 5:6 NIV The person Jesus said this to had been paralyzed for 38 years.  That's along time!  He was at a pool in Jerusalem called Bethesda. The remains of this pool can still be seen in Jerusalem.   The colonnades around the pool was a location where many disabled people were left each day to rest.  I envision hundreds of people laying on mats, unable to get up and move.  While others are wandering around aimlessly because they are blind.  It seems it would have been a sight to see. With all of these people around, Jesus chose one. I suppose He could have chosen any of them.  For that matter, He could have healed all of them.  Yet He made a personal invitation to just one.   The simplicity of the question is astounding. It seems like a lay up, a no brainer, a gimme. Reading it today,...

Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made. John 1:3 NIV Nothing…  Pronoun- not a single thing, not anything Adjective - having no prospect of progress Adverb - not at all Without God… Not anything No prospect of progress Not all Away from God there isn't anything. There is no way to advance or make progress. It's a dead end. Without God there is nothing at all. It is empty.   I'm not sure about you, but I struggle to wrap my head around nothing. I think of the desert as barren. Plants and animals are scarce. The conditions are harsh. You look around and can't see a thing for miles and miles. Yet, it is not nothing. You have sand, sun, skies, heat, and the animals that are adapt to the environment. My mind then goes to space. The absence of gravity and oxygen must make it feel like nothing. Yet, you have the planets, the stars, your spaceship, and all of your fancy space technology. In the vast emptiness of space...