students of jesus

How long should a blog post be? Seth Godin sometimes writes only a few sentences. Other blog experts say 500 words, and others say 1,000. Still others say use video, pictures, and graphics every time. Nearly all of them agree there should be a unifying theme.

But what to do with cool stuff that takes only a few words, and defies categorization? That’s me, today—bringing you cool stuff, with no categories.

I know a guy . . .

Years ago we invited a pastor/musician to spend the weekend teaching at our church. One night, when there were only three or four people left in the building, the auditorium was flushed with the smell of roses. I thought I was crazy. I said nothing. Sunday afternoon, while driving his wife and him to the airport, the interior of the car began to smell of roses.

“Do you smell those roses?” I asked.

Our guest smiled a little and said, “Oh, that: years ago that began following me around and happening from time to time. The Lord told me it’s the fragrance of his presence, and he just likes to remind every once in a while me that he’s with me.”

Is there a category for that?

Fresh bread . . .

One week I preached on the story Jesus told about a guy who needed bread to give to an unexpected visitor. The guy knocked on his neighbor’s door late at night and asked for bread. After saying no, the neighbor got up and gave the man as much as he needed. The teaching point was that we could ask the Father for “bread” to give to others. A woman in our church had wanted to give an offering to missionary, but the woman and her family had no extra money—so in prayer she asked the Father for “bread” they could give to the missionary. The next day a man came to her door with a $200 check for her family because her husband had helped out at a private school so many times. It wasn’t payment; it was an unexpected thank-you gift. Then the man said, “and here is a loaf of bread my wife just baked: we thought your family would enjoy some fresh bread.”

Help is on the way . . .

And then there’s the time we made a visitor break down and cry at church. At the end of our services we have a “ministry time” where prayer partners will pray with you for any need. Just before the service ended one of the ministry guys pointed to a woman in the congregation. She was a visitor.

“I think the Lord wants you to know that help is on the way—does that makes sense?”

The woman began to cry.

“I think you’ve been caring for a family member and you’ve been alone in it. But Jesus wants you know he sees you and help is on the way.”

The woman lost it completely and began to sob. She also left without talking to anyone. As the pastor I thought, well, that’s a visitor we’ll never see again.

Later that week I got an email from the woman. “I wanted you to know that as soon as that man began speaking to me I knew exactly what the Lord was talking about. I was divorced over a year ago, and have been struggling to provide for my son. On Monday—the day after church—a check arrived from the state of Kentucky with the first child support I had seen since the divorce.”

But here’s the cool part for me: she continued, “I don’t think God created the check out of thin air. It surely was put in the mail the week before. But when that man told me ‘help was on the way,’ I was flooded with the assurance that God saw my need, loved me, and that my boy and I were going to be OK. I’ll never forget that feeling of God’s love.”

That’s pretty cool stuff, and I think there’s a category for that: the Father’s loving care.

Do you have any “Cool Stuff, No Category” stories? Why not share them here, in the comments of Students of Jesus?

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