Happy Monday!

John 14: 8 “Phillip said, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.”

John 14:9 “Have I been so long time with you, and yet have you not known Me, Phillip? He that has seen Me has seen the Father.”

This passage of scripture happens just after Peter’s betrayal of Jesus. I am not sure if Peter was present during this most amazing and memorable passage or if he had hidden himself away. Thomas and Philip are mentioned, Jesus is trying to tell the disciples about His relationship with the Father and about His true identity. Jesus is explaining that all they have seen was possible by the power of the Holy Spirit which is God at work within Himself. He sort of fusses at them (you know why I call them the “duh” ciples”). Jesus says, you have been with me all this time and you still don’t know who I am? These men have walked with Jesus for three years and spent their lives in His presence. They have watched Him work miracles, pray, teach, preach, and proclaim with authority like no other and yet it never dawned on them that He was anything more than an extremely gifted teacher and healer. So He tells them, “If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father.”

I am not sure they even got it then, but Jesus needed these men to see Him as He really was so that the work of salvation could continue. Jesus needed the disciples to see Him in themselves so that they may also work miracles, pray, teach, preach and proclaim with the authority of the Lord of all Creation empowered by the Holy Spirit.

We are followers of Christ. We are called to follow the Way just as the early church. We, too, are empowered by the Holy Spirit to continue the work of salvation through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Today a friend of mine shared a “mother moment” with me. She told me about one of her teenage daughters who witnessed to another girl about “Meet you at the pole.” Her friend asked what “meet you at the pole” meant. My friend’s daughter told her it was a time for Christians to meet together around the school flag pole to let others know how much they love Jesus, to pray for each other, their school and our country. We could all take a lesson from this young lady and bravely and proudly share the love of Christ with someone who did not know about Jesus. Today, someone knows Jesus because Jesus lives in the life of this faithful teenager. Way to go!

Take joy in the journey. Wear comfortable shoes, (Tomorrow is the first day of fall and I am wearing my Crocs!), count your blessings and say your prayers. Let us continue to pray for each other daily. Love you all, Bruce, Gaylene, Geni and Travis.

Gcapplenotes@aol.com

I am not moved by what I see. I am not moved by what I feel. I am moved only by what I believe and I believe God.