Anyone who knows me well knows that I always want to know the ending first. It doesn’t matter if it’s a book I’m reading, or a movie I’m going to see, 90% of the time I’m going to preface the bulk of the story by reading how it ends. It drives my friends crazy.
It frustrates me to no end that I can’t do the same with my life- sometimes I’ll plead with God, even though I know I won’t receive the answer I’m looking for. “Lord, if you would just tell me where I’m going or what I’ll be doing in 10 years, then I can follow you and have peace that I’m making the right decisions.”
That’s far from the prayer he wants me to pray, and this summer I’ve been learning a lot about fear, bravery, the source of my peace and joy, and being content in not knowing the next few steps of my story, much less the ending.
In the book of John, Jesus meets a woman by the well. He tells her things about herself and she assumes he is a prophet. She says to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.”
I laughed a little reading this because I was like, girl, you’re literally talking to the person you’re talking about. Talk about embarrassing. Jesus responds, “I who speak to you am he.”
I stopped to think about this interaction for a second. I laughed at the woman, but I would most definitely be her in this scenario: convinced that the Messiah was coming and that he would tell me everything I would need to know, when all I needed to know was that he was standing right in front of me, and he is who he says he is.
Reading that passage, I realized everything I needed to know for the rest of my life was there: he’s here with me, he is good, he is peace, and he is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
The Samaritan woman didn’t stand there and ask Jesus all the questions of life, although I’m sure she probably wanted to. She was too busy being in awe of who he was and running to tell people who she had seen.
When was the last time I was so in awe of Christ that I let who he is be enough for me?
It’s been a while since I’ve written in this blog, and honestly, I just felt like I didn’t have a lot to write about. For a whole month, I was unemployed (by choice), graduated and living with my best friend. Not much was going on, but it was still a great month. I have a lot to say about that month, but I’m saving that for the end of August in my “Here’s What I Learned This Summer” blog post. This month, I’m working with a group of students from Iraq and I already love them all so much. They are sweet, hilarious, smart and they love to dance. They make me feel so much cooler than I am.
I don’t know what I’m going to do in August or the months leading up to the Race. I don’t know what the rest of this month will even be like. I do know this, though: Jesus goes before me. He is who he says he is: good, peace, joy…and the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.
