This is the Life!

Today was a big day! It feels like each day is more amazing than the last. To watch color filter through the pages of the gospels in the form of solid rocks and green grass is amazing. Today was a day of coloring-in the gospels. We have hiked the hills and smelled the lilies of the fields where Jesus and the apostles lived life.

Our first stop this morning was Mt. Arbel. It is possible that this is the mountain where Jesus retired to pray in Luke 6:12. It was quite a hike, but we made it to the top. As we all found a place to sit, breath still coming hard, we learned about prayer--where Jesus prayed! Prayer is often as much of a struggle as climbing that mountain was. Not struggle as in "I can't find time," but a war with our flesh to submit ourselves before the throne of God. We sat on the top of Mt. Arbel looking over the plains of Gennesaret, the mountains of Galilee, the city of Tiberias, and the glassy Sea of Galilee and prayed.

Our second stop was at the Mount of the Beatitudes. We sat where Jesus taught and read chapters 5-7 of Matthew's Gospel. Sitting with close friends, hearing the very words Christ spoke about the lilies of field and seeing the actual flowers he could have gestured at as He spoke continued to color-in the Gospels.

Our third stop was on the shore of the Sea of Galilee at a place called Tabgha. Traditionally, this is the place that Peter was called by Jesus to forsake his nets to become a fisher of men. It is also the place that Peter saw Jesus on the shore after His Resurrection (John 21). Peter so wanted Christ that he threw himself into the water to reach his Lord. That is the example we have in following our Lord.

Our final stop today was the city of Capernaum. This is the city where a centurion believed in Jesus’ authority and as a result his servant was healed. We sat in the synagogue at Capernaum and read John 6:25-59 where Jesus explained what it means to partake of the bread of life. Christ had just fed the 5000 the day before. The men who pursued Him were looking for more free food, and Jesus tells them that the bread of zoe (life to the fullest) is what they really needed. It is no different today. We come to the throne of grace thinking that we need more than what we have been given. Jesus is explaining to us that the quality of our zoe (our life to the fullest) is determined by object we place our faith in.

So, let’s struggle in our prayer, throw ourselves from the boat in out desire to be with Christ, and let our bread of life come only from Him who created life. Let's rejoice that our Bibles have been colored with examples of that kind of faith.

Shalom!

By Zach Tingle

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