Jesus Heals a Centurion's Servant
7 After he had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum.2 Now a centurion had a servant[a] who was sick and at the point of death, who was highly valued by him. 3 When the centurion[b] heard about Jesus, he sent to him elders of the Jews, asking him to come and heal his servant. 4 And when they came to Jesus, they pleaded with him earnestly, saying, “He is worthy to have you do this for him, 5 for he loves our nation, and he is the one who built us our synagogue.” 6 And Jesus went with them. When he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends, saying to him, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. 7 Therefore I did not presume to come to you. But say the word, and let my servant be healed. 8 For I too am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me: and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” 9 When Jesus heard these things,he marveled at him, and turning to the crowd that followed him, said, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.” 10 And when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the servant well.
Piece of cake, and a story I knew forwards and backwards, thanks to The Donut Man (King of Kings, "The Centurion's Secret"). It's all about faith and trusting in God. I trust, and I have seen people healed.
Then it started gnawing at me a bit. Will and Angie have been on my mind a LOT lately. You see, Will is an amazing man of God with phenomenal song writing ability and a fantastic voice. He'd been having sinus problems this fall and went to the doctor for something he thought was routine. Not so routine--cancer. Fast spreading cancer. Life saving surgeries have now taken an eye and part of his jaw, and Will's 32. He's currently in hospice, and continues to write songs, praise God, and spend as much time with family and loved ones as he talks about faith and God's goodness (For more of their story, see http://goteamgray.com/updates/). I've never met Will or Angie, actually. They're friends of friends and their blog and journey has touched me so deeply, I just feel like I know them. More on that in a minute.
It also gnawed at me that this was the same group of children that I would be talking to that had prayed their own little prayers, week after week, for Jaime. They had prayed for healing and for God to protect her.
Piece of cake, and a story I knew forwards and backwards, thanks to The Donut Man (King of Kings, "The Centurion's Secret"). It's all about faith and trusting in God. I trust, and I have seen people healed.
Then it started gnawing at me a bit. Will and Angie have been on my mind a LOT lately. You see, Will is an amazing man of God with phenomenal song writing ability and a fantastic voice. He'd been having sinus problems this fall and went to the doctor for something he thought was routine. Not so routine--cancer. Fast spreading cancer. Life saving surgeries have now taken an eye and part of his jaw, and Will's 32. He's currently in hospice, and continues to write songs, praise God, and spend as much time with family and loved ones as he talks about faith and God's goodness (For more of their story, see http://goteamgray.com/updates/). I've never met Will or Angie, actually. They're friends of friends and their blog and journey has touched me so deeply, I just feel like I know them. More on that in a minute.
It also gnawed at me that this was the same group of children that I would be talking to that had prayed their own little prayers, week after week, for Jaime. They had prayed for healing and for God to protect her.
How, then, would they hear this story? This story that's often simply taught as "When you're sick, if you pray to God he will heal you." If God doesn't physically heal, then what? God sometimes heals our hearts and minds and nourishes us through the tough times through our souls without healing our physical bodies, but how do you explain that to children?
This is the power of Will's story, certainly. Every blog entry, every video and every story points to a powerful God that gives hope. Angie talks about the improvements she notices at times. Will talks about the tough days, but also that God continues to give him time here, so he uses it the best he can to create new songs and tell stories with friends. He continues to encourage others. Will may not be feeling physically healed by God, but I know that he has brought a healing touch to the hearts of many and continues to be a testament to many kinds of healing.
I personally think of Jaime's story much the same way. Seizures took more and more of her short term memory, but she continued to fight for our youth--she so wanted to be a part of their lives and our Kid-Friendly Worship service. Depression threatened to take a deep hold at times, but in the last few weeks she was upbeat and as alert as I'd seen her in a long time. We prayed for healing, and I think we saw it in how she felt about life and in the ways little things came together. Sam, for one, having taken on the internship to help with youth and family shortly before she passed away, and the ways in which the kids took to him (at least our Tristan certainly did!)
God can heal us when we're sick--but it's not always the physical healing we anticipate it will be. Sometimes it's healing others in our absence, and sometimes it's heart-healing, soul-nurturing, you-are-loved-and-I'm surrounding-you-in-comfort kinds of healing. ALL of these require faith. In fact, finding non-physical healing can require even more faith from you as others may start to doubt (look at the story of Job!)
I could tell stories of healing this week--of friends who've fought cancer and won, of those who've battled depression and addiction and car accidents--but is that really the point of the story? That's often where we focus on the centurion with children, but I think the bigger story is about learning to have faith and to trust that God knows and will use our lives and talents to glorify him, whether that's in our healing or not.
How do YOU talk about faith, God and healing in this story? What would you most want children to hear in this story?
I personally think of Jaime's story much the same way. Seizures took more and more of her short term memory, but she continued to fight for our youth--she so wanted to be a part of their lives and our Kid-Friendly Worship service. Depression threatened to take a deep hold at times, but in the last few weeks she was upbeat and as alert as I'd seen her in a long time. We prayed for healing, and I think we saw it in how she felt about life and in the ways little things came together. Sam, for one, having taken on the internship to help with youth and family shortly before she passed away, and the ways in which the kids took to him (at least our Tristan certainly did!)
God can heal us when we're sick--but it's not always the physical healing we anticipate it will be. Sometimes it's healing others in our absence, and sometimes it's heart-healing, soul-nurturing, you-are-loved-and-I'm surrounding-you-in-comfort kinds of healing. ALL of these require faith. In fact, finding non-physical healing can require even more faith from you as others may start to doubt (look at the story of Job!)
I could tell stories of healing this week--of friends who've fought cancer and won, of those who've battled depression and addiction and car accidents--but is that really the point of the story? That's often where we focus on the centurion with children, but I think the bigger story is about learning to have faith and to trust that God knows and will use our lives and talents to glorify him, whether that's in our healing or not.
How do YOU talk about faith, God and healing in this story? What would you most want children to hear in this story?
