What an Adventure!

I’ve just completed a three-year walk through the life and teachings of Jesus Christ and what an adventure it has been! I was there when the angel spoke to Mary. I struggled with Joseph’s feelings about his fiancé. I listened as Jesus overwhelmed the elders at the Temple. I saw John the Baptist baptize our Lord in obedience to His Father’s will.

When Jesus started His ministry, I hung on every word. I experienced the wonder and amazement of every miracle. He changed water into wine. He raised a dead son back to life. He fed over 10,000 (5,000 men plus their families) with five loaves and two fish. During that same night, He came to the Apostles walking on the water in a stormy Sea.

I watched Him touch lepers and heal people with diseases or infirmities that they had struggled with for years. Even when the Pharisees objected, I saw Him heal people on the Sabbath. Sometimes He healed one at a time. Sometimes He healed a group with only a spoken word. Sometimes He healed “long-distance” without even going to where the sick person was. Always, His healing was instant, complete and as if the person had never had the disease, infirmity or problem.

When He came to die for me, I was there. I saw how He loved the Apostles and even washed the feet of the one who would betray Him a few hours later. I felt the intimacy and the heaviness of the Lord’s Supper and Jesus’ words that He was going to be killed.

When He went through the trial, I was closer than Peter. I felt Peter’s fear and heard his denial. I saw Jesus look at Peter as the rooster crowed in the early hours of that Friday morning. I understood Peter’s anguish as he realized what he had just done to the one whom He promised to die for.

I saw how the High Priests and chief priests tried to find some trumped up charge with which to convict Jesus. Then when they couldn’t find anything to condemn Him for, He voluntarily spoke words that they interpreted as reason to demand His death. I saw how the tried to manipulate Jesus. When the mocked Him and dragged Him off to Pilate, I was there watching the cruelty and unfairness of their diabolical agenda to get Him killed by the Romans so they wouldn’t have to face the blame from the Jews. (Pilate did make some attempt to free Jesus, but he was overpowered by the chief priests’ threats to go to Rome and complain if he didn’t do what they demanded.)

I walked down the Via Dolorosa with Jesus as He told the women not to weep for Him, but for the city of Jerusalem, which would later be destroyed. When He got to Calvary, I heard Him ask God to forgive them over and over as they pounded the nails in His hands and feet. I saw Him hang there as He spoke His last sayings, first to those around Him, then to God. I saw Him literally “give up His life” and die for you and me.

Then, after He had been buried, I tagged along with the women as they went to finish the burial process and discovered the tomb was empty. I felt Mary Magdalene’s alarm as she ran to tell the Apostles. I was actually able to keep up with John and beat Peter to the tomb when they went to see what had happened.

Then when Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene, after Peter and John left, I was touched by her passion. As Jesus appeared to the other women, I felt their emotions. Later that afternoon, I was walking down the road to Emmaus and was awed as Jesus (I didn’t recognize Him until we sat down to eat later) unfolded the Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah and showed us how He had fulfilled them.

I rushed back to Jerusalem with the two men to tell the Apostles and was in the upper room behind the locked doors when Jesus appeared. A week later, Jesus appeared again and I heard Thomas declare, “My Lord and my God!” When He gave the Apostles the Great Commission, I listened to every word and am working on applying it to my life.

Yes, I’ve been everywhere with Jesus and I can’t wait to do it again! “Getting To Know Jesus" has been a wonderful life-changing adventure. I am grateful to God for this opportunity and look forward to that day when we will all be united with Him in eternity. But while I am on this earth, I have a job to do and I want to do it for Him to the best of my ability.

Now, you can join me on an exciting, life-changing adventure called “Getting To Know Jesus". We will start at the very beginning (before the annunciation) and go to the very end (the ascension) and see what the four gospels have to say about every event in the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. We will seek to understand how the early Christians understood His life and see how it applies to our lives today. Why don’t you come with us?

God bless you as you are “Getting To Know Jesus”! Have a great day!