There lies the difference in the impact on your life
We hear and watch storms, hurricanes and tornadoes on our little screens. We are awed by the spectacular display of these events - the dance of nature in tumultuous gyrations. What if we were witnessing the event in person? Wouldn’t it be jaw-dropping?
Team Dominator chases storms. Their mission is to be on the front lines of every severe weather event to issue weather warnings. The Dominator tornado vehicles are uniquely shaped and armoured to capture data from inside the strongest storms on the planet.
A friend of mine and his family are rocket chasers in their Ford Endeavour. They camp at the Sriharikota ISRO rocket launch site in Andhra Pradesh to witness a launch live. My friend is a journalist. He wants to be in the storm rather than recycle syndicated news releases, which is what I did at the start of my career in communications.
Moses, who was tending Jethro, his father-in-law’s flock, came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire, it did not burn up. So, Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.” Curiosity nearly killed Moses.
When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!” And Moses said, “Here I am.” “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God. (Exodus 3:1-6)
Moses did not just hear God. He was with God. Then, as God finished speaking with Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him the two tablets of stone on which the Ten Commandments were written with the finger of God. (Exodus 31:18)
God called Moses, Aaron and Miriam. “Come out, you three, to the tent of meeting. Hear my words: If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord make myself known to him in a vision, I speak with him in a dream. Not so with my servant Moses; he is entrusted with all my house. With him I speak mouth to mouth, clearly, and not in dark speech; and he beholds the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?” (Num 12: 4, 6-8) “Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth”. (Num 12:3)
Fascinating that God personally intervened in a family feud when it involved His anointed. Now, I should be careful what I say to my wife, my children, a priest - any anointed of God.
Jesus had sent out the Seventy-Two two by two “like lambs among wolves” (Lk 10:3). He forbade them from taking “a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road.” (4) The severity of the commission. Was it meant to be a suicide mission? On the contrary, they had the equivalent of the ‘Dominator Tornado Chasing’ vehicles to cast out evil spirits and heal.
The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.” He replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” (Lk 10:17-20) Were their names stricken when they fell out on Jesus?
Jesus was exultant. He was the Son of God. He could heal, raise the dead, cast out demons, cleanse lepers, but could He bequeath power to his disciples? The disciples validated Jesus’ trust in them. In turn, Jesus trusted his Father, who bequeathed this power to his Son when He agreed to be the sacrificial lamb by becoming God Incarnate, the Word becoming flesh to cleanse humanity from sin.
At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.” Then he turned to his disciples and said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.” (Lk 10: 21-24)
The disciples had heard about the miracle maker, Jesus. Now, they were the miracle makers too. Not for long. “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve. Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.” (Jn 6:67-69) He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.” After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven, and he sat at the right hand of God. (Mk 16:15,19). The others left to join the ‘wise and the learned’. “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?” (Jn 6:60)
Job, the wealthiest man in the world, had everything, including 10 children. His daughters were acclaimed to be the most beautiful in the world. In a single day, God dispossessed Job of everything, including his children. Satan, in the assembly of angels, had told God that Job worshipped Him only because God blessed Job. Satan taunted God. Take it all away and see what Job does. Despite everything that happened to Job, infected with a skin disease, dogs licking his sores, facing the scorn of his wife, and the ridicule of his friends, Job never cursed God. Satan had to eat crow and retreat with his tail between his legs. God restored Job, his family and his wealth manifold. Then Job answered the Lord, and said, “I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. (Job 42:6)
We have heard about Jesus, but have we experienced Jesus? And He came unto the disciples and found them asleep, and said unto Peter, “What, could ye not watch with Me one hour? (Mt 26:40) Can we not spend one hour daily saying the Rosary and attending daily Mass to see Him in the Blessed Sacrament and the Holy Mass, to live Jesus’ journey with his apostles across Israel and his passion, death and resurrection, and have an experience of Jesus talking to you?
- Mathew Anthony
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