Recently I was talking with a friend of mine who told me a story I would like to share. This friend of mine is active in a ministry that takes him around the country and the world in his travels. Because he is always traveling he lives out of a combination of suitcases and a storage unit. He is currently taking an expensive medication prescribed for him to relieve his high blood pressure. In his recent travels he misplaced a three-month supply of the medicine, which equates to a large sum of money and would leave him without his needed medication until he could obtain another prescription. After making calls to all the places he had been that week in his travels he unfortunately couldn’t locate the lost medication anywhere. Passing through Atlanta on his way to Panama City he was able to visit a doctor who renewed his prescription and he quickly obtained another three-month supply. Safe once again from the dangers of high blood pressure he continued on his journey to Panama City. After a few days in Panama City visiting here and there, moving things in and out of his storage unit and unpacking his belongings for what would be a three-week stay, he realized he had misplaced his medicine again. He immediately panicked and started tearing through the room he was staying in and all his belongings there. The thought of having misplaced another supply of medication was creating an overwhelming amount of stress for him. Unable to find the medicine in his room he frantically searched through his car, then after not finding it, he drove to his storage unit and spent a good part of the day tearing it apart in search of the missing medicine. He told me that after what had been about six hours of frantic searching he conceded to losing another expensive supply of medication. Getting back into his car and wondering how he would go about arranging to get more medicine something inside him urged him to pray, which through all the frantic searching had never crossed his mind. He said that after about three minutes of praying he was given the thought of searching in the zipper of a travel bag that had been in his possession the whole time, less than two feet away from him in his room and again in the car. The medication was recovered and the trial had come to end.

  So often when faced with stressful situations, trials and challenges prayer is our last resort. It is so often an option only after we exhaust all other options. As we rummage through our baggage trying to fix what’s been broken or replace what’s been lost we often forget we have a loving Father who is above all things and in control of everything. A loving Father who finds the lost and mends the broken. Who wants to be our hope in the troubles that we face and our joy in the victories we embrace. We see over and over in the story God is telling how prayer brings peace to panic, insight to difficulty, healing to illness and joy to hopeless situations.

  Philippians 4:6-7  Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

  Usually the first thing I think of when someone announces that they have seen the likeness of the Virgin Mary or Jesus in something is, what do they base the resemblance on? There are for sure no pictures of them in the Bible and the pictures in all the history books are only drawings. Are they basing the resemblance on those yard statues? Maybe it’s based on some visionary artwork by DaVinci or something. I am not even going to get into the whole graven image thing. The thought of that makes me tired and queasy.

  The reason I am wondering about this stuff is because it’s happened again. The likeness of the Virgin Mary has been found in a glob of chocolate. The worker of a candy factory spotted the sugary glob at the end of the mixing vats spout.

 “ Its an absolute miracle “ says Jacinto Santacruz, the women who discovered the 2.5 inch statue.

  She has now constructed a shrine to house the miniature Mary and the faithful are making the pilgrimage to come worship and adore it.

   At this point I would like to thank God for not revealing Himself to me in food. Chances are I would overlook the message God was sending as I hurriedly gobbled it down. I would also like to thank Him for not revealing Himself in things I would have to build shrines for. I don’t like shrines. To me the idea of a shrine conjures up images of something that has to be cared for. It has to be brought flowers and dusted and maybe I would have to burn some incense on it or something. It seems fragile and would easily be knocked over in a storm or destroyed by the invading enemies fiery ray guns.

   I like monuments. Monuments tell a story. They are strong and durable. I especially like the monuments God has constructed to Himself in my mind and in my heart. The times He revealed Himself to me through answered prayer. The times He showed me His love when I didn’t deserve it. The times He faithfully guided me when I was lost. These monuments weather storms, the raging sea cant harm them. I visit them often and when the enemy comes with his fiery ray guns I usually hide behind them. The monuments seem to threaten him and his attacks don’t hurt as bad. There are times when my faith wavers or the events in my life are confusing and I visit them. The monuments tell a story, and the story goes something like this;

There is God, He is in control, He is good and He loves me.

  I like monuments.

 In the dark days of Israel before the time of Christ, the law called for a sacrifice to atone for ones sins. I get the idea from scripture that the right thing to do was with a good and giving heart bring God your best and offer it to Him at the Temple in Jerusalem. That meant that a family would raise an animal (their best animal), treat it probably better than they would treat their own kids and when the Day of Atonement would draw near they would make the long trek to Jerusalem and offer it up in sacrifice to God. They didn’t have station wagons in those days so if you lived far away you may have to travel across mountains, deserts and other obstacles the wilderness of Israel might hold. I can only imagine the sacrifice families would have to make to accomplish this. Maybe making sure the animal ate well before the family ate or using all their resources to bring the animal to the Temple. Always trusting God would forgive them and continue to provide for them.

 When Jesus arrived in Jerusalem and went to the Temple He was angered by vendors offering to sell people animals for sacrifice. I don’t think it was so much the fact that money was changing hands in the Temple. I think it was because of what the vendors had turned the act of sacrifice into. Sort of a fast food, drive up mentality to getting your sacrifice to God over with and out of the way. This meant the family no longer had to worry about raising an animal to give to God they could just buy one when they got to the Temple. No longer thinking of God daily as they raised and cared for the animal they were to bring to Him.

As followers of Christ we realize Jesus is the complete sacrifice and atonement for all our sins.

    The other day I read an article about a church that has purchased three ATM/ offering machines for their lobby. The pastor was quoted as saying “Its like an ATM for Jesus”. They are located so that they are the first things you see when you enter the church, just like the moneychangers at the Temple. One of the people who attend the church said it was much easier for her to break down to the Lord (whatever that means?) These card readers also known as Giving Kiosks and tithing machines have increased revenue for the church and made it so much easier for all the attendees to give. Even if they didn’t think about the Lord all week they could remember Him by swiping this Sunday. It makes me wonder if Jesus visited that church if He would turn over those machines? Maybe when people get those micro chip thingy’s implanted in them they could just pass a small scanner down the aisles of the church to make it even easier to give God their best.