I
remember one time as a kid I walked into a store with my mom and saw some
mineral waters. For some reason, I tried to convince my mom to buy them. She
tried to tell me I wouldn’t like it, but after enough “convincing,” she finally
got me one. I thought it was horrible and promised never to have it again.
Hope,
the woman who has watched Audrey in our home over the past year, likes mineral
water. As a kind gesture, I started buying it to have around the house for her.
One day, even though I thought it would never happen, I tried mineral water
again for the first time since my childhood. This time I liked it.
I
used to be a big believer that regular soda was okay but diet soda was bad;
that diet soda created the desire in your body to drink more & more of it, where
normal soda allowed you to stop. I was such a believer that I might even argue
with you about it. The thought that there would ever come a day when I would replace
soda didn’t even enter my mind. Over the last several years, there has been a
growing trend to drink less soda and use mineral water as an alternative. Now
that I’ve tried mineral water again, I’m finding this is slowly happening to me.
I am drinking less and less soda and replacing it with mineral water, and I
like it.
In
the lesson for this week, I noticed something “different” for the first time.
It was right before the great commission—that point in time when Jesus sends
His people out to make disciples of all nations and baptize them. The Bible
says, “they worshiped him, but some doubted.” (Matthew 28:17) It was the great
commission! The resurrected Jesus was right there with them! There was every
reason to believe… but some doubted. I know this culture can be frustrating. As
a pastor I feel it every day. It takes time to build the relationships that
help doubters to believe. Last weekend we celebrated the gift of the Holy
Spirit. We know He will prepare us for those moments, with the right words to
speak, to help those who don’t understand what we believe and why, especially
regarding the Trinity.
