From Out of Nowhere

No words can describe God's power to amaze - it's deep, endless, skillful, incomprehensible. It's, well....amazing! The Biblical narrative itself is amazing. I'm wrapping up a seminary class on Genesis and have found it all to be amazing. Jesus the Christ, who we read about and follow today led a life on this earth that amazed many. Two thousand years later, He's still amazing millions.

In the feeding of the four thousand recorded in Matthew 15, the scriptures say, "Great crowds came to him, bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others, and laid them at His feet; and He healed them." These people must have known there was something miraculous about Him. His reputation preceded Him. They had all heard how this man from Galilee (a very ordinary region) was doing extraordinary things.

He was bursting with life and power and energy! Everything He touched received a beautiful piece of that life and power and energy. For this scene in Matthew 15, the backdrop is a dark and cold - a forgotten place. The people there are sick, lonely and dying. Then Jesus passed by and as He touched things, the colors return. Things and people sort of wake up when the Son of God steps into their presence. After Jesus healed the people in this story, the writer explains, "The people were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled made well, the lame walking and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel."

Here's where I'm going with this. I have been amazed by God once again. We are in the middle of this adoption; this very expensive adoption. Inexplicably, I have never stressed about the money nor where we would find it. Somehow, I knew God would provide us with the means to do the very thing He placed on our hearts. Each time large payments were due to our adoption agency, we have had just enough. Now we are at this unique point in our fundraising - we have done the yard sale, the 5K run, the T Shirts, the coffee, etc. etc. So now what? We still have thousands to raise and there's only so much of that stuff you can do before you just start annoying people.

From out of nowhere, I really believe Jesus has touched my wife and something that was formerly asleep is now awake. She is in the process of uncovering gifts no one knew she possessed. It started with simple cards like party invites, birth announcements and more on an Etsy site. Good photoshop work but nothing crazy. This continues to grow as she is completing 4 to 6 orders per week.

Then she compiled a cookbook with 300 recipes from family & friends. Every page is custom-designed and the cover is pretty nice. Her photoshop skills are growing every day. The cookbooks are selling one notch under "like hot cakes," whatever that is.

Also, we recently purchased a good camera for our upcoming trip to Ethiopia. Now, she has always taken lots of pictures of our kids with a simple point & shoot. Every now and then we would get some shots that were "keepers." But they were our kids so naturally we thought they were good photographs. But then she started experimenting with the new camera and getting really good. Lately, three of her friends have offered their kids as guinea pigs for an official photo shoot. Jenny reluctantly headed into the opportunity lacking confidence but reassured that she would at least make a little money for the adoption.

Long story short, check out these photos!! After only THREE official photo shoots, this is what God is producing in her. How do thirty-some years go by before one finds and opens this sort of hidden gift? I believe it's because Jesus has touched something inside of her and has loosed abilities and creativity placed in her long ago. In this way, Jesus continues to amaze. He continues to bring life and power and energy to those who place their faith in Him. Praise God!