How frightening it is for us to give up control, living by faith instead of by our own wits!  But that was God’s desire for Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane.  Jesus is praying, realizing that he might soon be seized by guards, arrested, subjected to false accusations and an unjust trial, torture and death.  He may have also been feeling the heavy weight of rejection, sin and wickedness in the world that was about to overtake him in spite all of his teaching, miracles and good works.

He said to his disciples, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.” He then prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me.  Yet not as I will, but as you will.” (Matthew 26:38-39)

Jesus reveals to us the fullness of his humanity by asking the Father three times to take this cup of anguish and free him from this hour.  But then he yields to the will of the Father, giving up control and submitting to his sorrow, anxiety, rejection and every imaginable human emotion of fear and doubt. It was God’s desire for Jesus to accept the cup in order to carry out God’s saving plan for human kind. Jesus was free to reject or accept the cup. Fortunately for us and the history of the world, he accepted it.

Like Jesus, we too, may be given cups that are bitter to drink.  Seven years ago, I was diagnosed with an advanced and aggressive form of prostate cancer that had spread outside the prostate to at least one lymph node.  It was a cup filled with the initial shock of the diagnosis, a gauntlet of consultations, evaluations of the various treatment options and their varied side effects, the actual surgery, the recovery process and follow-up hormone therapy for three and half years.

The Gospel of Luke reports that after Jesus submitted to God’s will, an angel appeared to him and strengthened him.  I too, was attended by angels. My wife was always at my side.  Two daughters, who lived in another state, left their families to spend successive weekends with me. Another daughter encouraged me with scripture (Sirach 38:1-13).  A good friend who had cancer that made it difficult for him to even walk, showed up in a snow storm to pray with me in the pre-op, leading the attending nurses and surgeons in prayer for what they were about to do.  My fellow board members of Christians in Commerce prayed and fasted for 24 hours for me at a meeting just prior to my surgery.  Through God’s grace and the expertise he has given my doctors, my PSA has been undetectable for over seven years.

In looking back, I believe that I have rarely experienced God’s love more than during this time through the prayer and actions of my wife, children, extended family, friends from Christians in Commerce, the People of Praise, St. Mark’s Catholic Church and former colleagues from Mobil Corporation.

It is not unusual for most of us to want to be in control, managing and manipulating the events of our lives.  However, God does not always give us a road map to our journey of life.  If he did, we would likely try to take control, and mess it up. Jesus gives us a better example – seeking the Father’s will in all things.

As we begin the Lenten Season, we might ask ourselves, how much of my following Jesus is at a distance? After Jesus’ arrest, we read in the Gospel of Mark, “Peter followed at a distance right into the courtyard of the high priest.  There he sat with the guards and warmed himself by the fire.” (Mark 14:54)

Like Peter, we may profess our allegiance to Jesus that “even if all fall away, I will not,” or we may recite the Creed every Sunday in our church declaring that we believe in “God the Father almighty, Creator of heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ, His only son.”

Yet, we keep our distance from Jesus, failing to keep our appointment with him each day in prayer or putting a higher priority on our comfort as Peter did when he sat with the guards and warmed himself by the fire.

Like Peter, we may be thrust into circumstances where we are reluctant to be identified with Jesus.  In Peter’s case, it was the guards, the elders, and the mob.  For us, it may be a boss who has disdain for God, or social friends who consider any reference to Jesus as foolishness or it may be our yielding to that little temptation that never seems to go completely away.

Early in my career when I would attend a company meeting followed by cocktails and dinner, the conduct could sometimes get a bit macho and boisterous. It was not unusual for the conversation to involve exaggerated exploits, the building up of self and the putting down of others, off-color stories, gossip, and the fawning over whoever might be the most senior person present. At some point I began to realize that when I engaged in this kind of conduct I was distancing myself from Jesus. It was so easy to go with the flow and so tempting to want to be a part of the group. It required a decision on my part not to participate.

Just as Peter’s faith was tested, so may our faith be tested.  The world inclines us to keep our distance from Jesus, while Jesus bids us to draw near.  He says, come to me all who are burdened from the cares of this world and I will give you rest.  Come to me all who are thirsty for meaning in life and I will give you understanding.  Do not fear those who do not follow me for I have overcome this world. Step across the distance that separates us, and you will experience my love, my strength and my peace.

Do your daily choices distance you from Jesus?  How can you shorten the distance?

“Is that your boy?” asked the salty 82 year old owner of the marina as we backed the boat into the slip, with my son, Steve and son-in-law, Greg handling the lines.  “Yes,” I answered, “He’s my son,” and then pointing to Greg, “and he’s my son-in-law.”

We were on a three day boat trip down the Potomac River, across the Chesapeake Bay to Tangier Island, then up the St. Mary’s River and finally back to Occoquan, south of Washington.  It was early October and God had blessed us with absolutely beautiful weather – warm sunshine days and cool nights – picturesque sunrises and artistic sunsets.  We had lunch at various crab houses along the way and anchored out each evening with one of the boys cooking dinner on the boat.  We were all easy to be with.

Tangier Island is like stepping into a time warp, discovered by Captain John Smith in 1608, a population of 569 who still speak with a trace of Elizabethan accent; all connected either directly or indirectly with the crabbing industry.  No cars, only golf carts and walking paths populated with houses and front yards filled with gravestones of preceding generations; lots of docks, marshes and crab boats.

It may sound like a small thing, but for the owner of the marina to see enough resemblance to ask the question, “Is that your boy?” made me feel kind of proud.  Forty-three years separate my son, Stephen and me.  He is 30 and vigorous.  I have white hair and am not quite so vigorous.

In today’s society, families tend to get so disbursed that we can easily lose our sense of family and identity from generation to generation.  We go our separate ways, life full of work, children activities and busyness; seldom doing things together, living far apart, seeing each other only on an occasional holiday.  In prior generations, like Tangier Island, families tended to live together more, or at least in closer proximity, sons worked with their fathers and were a continuation of the father in both work and life.

Tradition tells us that Jesus initially took on the work of his earthly father, Joseph, working as a carpenter before he began his public life. “Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them.  And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.” (Luke 2:51-52) In his public life he also took on the work of his heavenly Father, becoming his presence in human form in the family business of salvation, offering the fullness of life from God, the Father to all people.

This is the natural order established by God – man, woman, family cooperating with God’s creative act to fill the earth and to work and take care of the garden of creation, extending God’s plan and leading each generation to God, so that God may one day be “all in all.” (1Cor. 15:28)  Let us pray that God may be as proud of us, his extension in this world, as I am of my son, Stephen, son-in-law, Greg, and all my children, their spouses and families, who are an extension of our family and heritage.

In a 2011 Gallup poll, 92% of Americans said they believed in God.  While this widespread belief in God may seem remarkable given what we see in much of our pop culture, a more telling question might be how much confidence do we have in God with respect to our day-to-day actions?  Do we seek his guidance for both large and small decisions?  Do we tell the boss what he or she wants to hear or speak the truth? Do we correct a teenage child even though it may provoke an extreme reaction?  Do we offer to pray with a co-worker who has just learned that he or she has been diagnosed with cancer?

God asked Gideon to lead the Israelites against the Midianites who had been raiding their lands.  Gideon believed in God, but as the footnote in the Community Christian Bible suggests, his confidence in God appeared to be a bit shaky since he asked for a sign not only once but twice.  He said, “If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised, I will place a wool fleece on the threshing floor.  If there is only dew on the fleece and the ground is dry, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand.” (Judges 6:36-37)  God gave him this sign, but then Gideon wanted more assurance and asked that the reverse happen with the dew being on the ground, but not the fleece.  God provided this additional assurance and then Gideon, with God’s assistance,  went on to defeat Midian.

In Hope for the Workplace – Christ in You, there is the story of Dr. Sheri Donaldson, a physical therapist whose co-worker, Ashley, was scheduled for an MRI to check on a piece of brain tumor that could not be removed from a prior surgery. Every time Ashley would have an MRI to check on the status of the tumor, she would get very anxious.  It just so happened that Sheri was able to see Ashley right before she was leaving for her appointment. Sheri sensed that the Lord wanted her to pray with Ashley that this time the MRI would show that the tumor was gone.  While Sheri had reservations about whether she should follow what she deemed a prompting from the Holy Spirit, she nevertheless placed her hand on Ashley’s forehead and prayed in the name of Jesus that the tumor would be gone.

Sheri reports, “The next time we saw each other, I was walking down the hallway past Ashley’s office and she yelled, ‘Sheri, THE TUMOR IS GONE!’ Not a trace of it on the MRI, even though it had been present on every MRI for several years.”

We see in Sheri’s story someone who not only believes in God, but also has the confidence in God to step out and boldly offer to pray with her friend that God would heal her and take away all trace of the remaining piece of brain tumor.

In John 14:12, Jesus says, “Anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing.  He will do even greater things than these…and I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father.”

The Bible has hundreds of promises like this one.  How much confidence do you have in them?

One characteristic common to all living things is that they eventually die.  People, animals, birds, microbes, plants, even the giant redwoods that can live a thousand years, die at some point.  The cycle of birth, life and death may vary, but the sequence remains the same for all. Three score and ten has been consigned to human life for much of history, although the Psalmist says, “You have made my days a mere handbreadth.” (Psalm 39:5)

But then Jesus says, “He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.” (John 11:25, 26)  This, of course, runs counter to what we experience in being born into this physical world, living the life we see, hear and touch.

Many years ago a secretary with whom I worked was diagnosed with advanced colon cancer.  Her name was Rita.  She went through multiple surgeries and treatments.  I watched her as she went from this vibrant woman in her prime, full of life, grace and happiness, literally shrink physically before my eyes as the cancer and treatments sapped the life from her.  In visiting her a few days before she died, I was shocked at her physically deteriorated state.

That evening, while reflecting on her condition, the thought came to me that while the cancer was destroying her physical body, it could not destroy her because who she was, included so much more than her physical body.  Yes, her physical nature had a part in defining who she was, but the most important part of her was her personality, her gracious and loving manner, her kindness, her willingness to listen to a co-worker with a problem, her diligence in her work, her quiet peace and joy when our office was experiencing a chaotic moment, her inclination to love no matter who was standing in front of her.

These non-physical characteristics of Rita were what really made her who she was.  They would not die with her body.  They would live on.  As physical beings we struggle with defining the non-physical.  We use words like soul and spirit that have the potential to transcend the physical realm. The writer of Ecclesiastes observes, “He has set eternity into the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from the beginning to the end.” (Eccl. 33:11)

Job asks, “If a man dies will he live again?” (Job 14:14) Jesus answers the question.  We die to this physical world in the current age, but if we believe in him, the best part of us lives on, soul and spirit. Furthermore, just as God raised Jesus to new life with a different kind of body after he was nailed to the cross, he promises to do the same for those who believe.  “For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.  Where, O death is your victory? Where, O death is your sting?’” (1 Cor. 15:53-55)

We live in a fast-food, express lane world. We have instant cash machines in grocery stores, drive-through banking, one hour cleaning, jiffy lubrication for our cars and overnight delivery of mail. We seem to be in a constant rush. The virtue of patience and waiting holds little value, considered more a distraction than an attribute.

In the Exodus 23, God is giving instructions to the Israelites about how he is going to help them overcome the people who occupy the land he has prepared for them. He says he is not going to drive out the occupiers in a single year. “Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land.” He explains that if he drove them out immediately, the land would become desolate and the wild animals too numerous for the Israelites to handle.

God designed us to grow little by little from infancy to childhood, from childhood to puberty, from puberty to adulthood, from early adulthood to maturity. Shortening the process will not lead to the desired outcome of maturity and wisdom. How often have we seen the fame accompanying a child actress or the instant wealth accruing to a gifted collegiate athlete gone professional lead to a disastrous result?

Our daughter Emily was born with Down syndrome. One of the characteristics of children with Down syndrome is that they experience delays in their development. That first step takes a little longer. First words come a little slower and physical coordination can take time, but each milestone is accompanied with much rejoicing and a sure sense of achievement.

Ironically the Lord calls each of us to seek him eagerly, but then often has us wait to see the fruit. St. Paul acknowledges that even “creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed” so that “it [creation] may be liberated from the bondage of decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.” (Romans 8:19, 21)

We who accept God’s offer to dwell in us are the sons and daughters of God being revealed generation upon generation to liberate this created world from its bondage to sin and decay. It is a long term process, but the benefits can last an eternity — for us, our families, our colleagues, our workplaces and the world around us. It is noteworthy that of the fifteen characteristics St. Paul uses to define love in 1 Corinthians 13, the first is patience. He says, “Love is patient, love is kind…”

The question is can we abide by God’s timing of what he wants to accomplish through us? While we are looking for instant success, God realizes that we often need preparation to do what he has put before us. “Little by little” he prepares us, or the hearts of the people he wants us to reach, so we need to be patient with God to provide the circumstances for us to act.

Several years ago, one of my daughters made a plaque with beautiful calligraphy for my den. It reads, “Be still and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10) I gaze on it each morning while I meet Jesus for coffee and wait on the quiet whisper of his will.

On the first day of the week following Jesus’ crucifixion, Mary Magdalene had gone to the tomb where Jesus had been laid. She sees that Jesus’ body is not in the tomb and she is distraught. She encounters Jesus, but does not recognize him, thinking he is the gardener. Though she does not recognize him by sight, she does by the way he says her name. “Jesus said to her, ‘Mary.’” (John 20:16) It was a sound familiar to her and exclusive to their relationship.

When I was a young boy, my mother called me, “Billy.” When I heard her call me, I didn’t have to see her to know that it was her. My father used to call me “son.” Again, I didn’t have to see him when he addressed me to know that it was him. There was a special relationship and familiarity there. The same is true with my wife, members of my family and close friends.

That is the kind of relationship Jesus wants to have with us – one that is so close, so familiar, so intimate, we don’t need to see him to know he is there. At every moment he stands at the door of our heart waiting to be invited in, ready to embrace us and to offer his friendship, ready to listen to our deepest concerns and offer his wisdom — ready to say our name. “He calls his own sheep by name and leads them…his sheep follow him because they know his voice.” He says, “I know my sheep and my sheep know me.” (John 10:3, 4)

How close is your relationship with Jesus? Do you hear his gentle whisper in your thoughts? Do you recognize him when he calls your name?

The idea that faith should be separated form living out most of the rest of our lives appears to have become conventional wisdom over the last 50 years. We hear the phrase, “separation of church and state” and apply it to other venues in our lives such as the workplace and the public square. We are told that that our faith should be private and personal, not to be shared with others.

This perspective is 180 degrees contrary to God’s intention as evidenced in the words of Scripture and Jesus. For example, St. Paul said, “Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” (Colossians 3:17) Paul’s exhortation is not confined to what happens at church on Sundays, but he is applying it to everything we do. Later he says, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart as if you are working for the Lord.” (Colossians 3:23)

This is a 24/7 exhortation meant for Monday as well as Sunday, the workplace as well as our prayer closet or church. There are no boundary lines to Christ living in us, and we in him. Once we invite him in, he is present in everything we do – working for our employer, taking our children to soccer practice, helping with the dishes, assisting a sick friend with yard work, testifying at a City Council hearing, helping our children with their homework, listening to a work colleague share a personal problem – “whatever you do in word or deed.”

God created us to work and take care of the garden of his creation, including the physical world and one another. (Genesis: 2:15) This is how we make ourselves useful to one another and thus to God. It is a divine assignment.

From the time God became one of us through his incarnation in Jesus and the pouring out of his Holy Spirit on the people of his early church, his intention has been to dwell not in temples or buildings, but in us individually and personally, assuming we accept his invitation. I met him one evening thirty-seven years ago in an individual and personal way, and accepted his invitation to dwell in me. Today, I experience his presence in many ways – the sacraments of my church, my prayer time (we meet for coffee every morning), and in many of the people he places in my life.

There are times when I have neglected his presence, or separated my words and deeds form his presence because I have put him in a box. The unfortunate thing when that happens is that his presence may not then be available to the people in my life who would otherwise be blessed by him. God created us with the freedom to accept or reject his invitation to dwell in us, but his desire for his creation and for his created, is that we not separate him from our lives and work.

Do you imprison God, only to be released on Sunday, or do you let him be manifested in every aspect of your life?