God's invitation... | Dana Wrinkle

Last year, my son let his emotions get the best of him and got sassy with another kid at school. He came home with a convicted spirit and a tortured soul. Caught completely off guard, I looked at him and said… “What were you thinking?”

I realized it was a great question. Because truthfully, I’m no different from him. Too often I let my emotions dictate my choices. The problem is: my emotions and even logic often lead me astray.

You have to wonder what the disciples were thinking when Jesus asked them to go high up on the mountain to pray? Or, what was the boy thinking when he offered Jesus five loaves and two fish to feed more than 5000 people?

Not sure either of them leaned into logic or emotion. But, they both chose to go, give. Which is convicting because I am often a reluctant participant in God’s plan. Most of the time, I don’t believe what He is proposing is good. I don’t want to go, give or do.

But when I dig in to the Word, I realize there are many personal applications for the miracles of the transfiguration and feeding of the five-thousand.

Consider the transfiguration. Jesus took with Him Peter, James and John and led them up a mountain to pray. (Matthew 17:1) Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when they became fully awake they saw His glory and the two men standing with him. (Luke 9:32)

First: Peter, James and John had to be willing to hike up a mountain to pray. Second, hiking and praying made them sleepy. Third, the face value of the invitation was not that tempting. Hiking to pray. Fourth, only the disciples willing to hike and pray (obey the seemingly laborious and mundane commands) experienced the transfiguration. Maybe an invitation to hike and pray was a better indication of their heart than an invitation to a transfiguration.

I don’t believe when Jesus took Peter, James and John and led them high up on a mountain to pray they had any idea a transfiguration was impending. I don’t believe they anticipated seeing Moses, Elijah or hearing the voice of God. I believe when Jesus invited them to go high on the mountain to pray, they took the invitation at face value. But Jesus had so much more in mind than hiking and praying. He intended to reveal Himself to them, reveal His glory/deity. They got a taste of things to come. But only the disciples that went with Him got to experience it.

So, I completely understood what was happening when Steve James told me his story. He told me when his young teenage daughter asked him to sponsor a child in Kenya, he advised her to get a job and sponsor a child herself. As a high school graduate, Brittney asked Steve to take her to Kenya to meet her sponsored child, but Steve thought a trip to Italy was a better option. Jesus was inviting Steve in but Steve struggled to believe His plan was good.

Inconceivably, Brittney passed the following year. Steve and his wife Greta were left devastated. Hearts and souls shattered by the unexpected loss of their 19 year-old daughter. As he grieved his only daughter, the Holy Spirit whispered Kenya. Once again, Jesus invited Steve in. In honor of Brittney, Steve went to Kenya.

His life has never been the same.

Steve looked around and saw a world hurting and knew he wanted to do something about it. He offered God his “yes’ and the skills he had acquired over a twenty-year career as a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist. In essence, he offered God fives loaves and two fish.

In 2001, Steve founded Kenya Relief. Eighteen years later, Brittney’s legacy includes an orphanage, school and medical clinic. It includes approximately 18 medical-missions a year plus 4 service-oriented missions. Thousands of lives impacted because one girl said yes when Jesus invited her in.

The first time Steve went to Kenya his heart felt like a barren wasteland, consumed by the grief of his daughter. Almost twenty years later, every time Steve goes to Kenya he feels like his heart will “explode”. God took his shattered heart and filled it with His love.

God wants to fill our shattered hearts with His love. He wants to reveal Himself to us. But like the transfiguration, only the disciples who follow Him up the mountain will see it. I wonder if when Jesus invited Steve to Kenya the first time, Steve only saw one child. He took the invitation at face value.

Lord, teach me to accept your invitation and trust your plan is good.