I was practically lizzing yesterday (to borrow Elizabeth Lemon’s term in “30 Rockefeller”) when I heard this story from someone I ran into the other day.  Apparently he had not set foot in a church for years when he visited one on a recent Sunday morning, with the hope that returning to church would help him recover from a bad smoking habit and depression over a broken leg- and maybe even help him find a mate.

That morning he had a fresh cast on and was sitting in the front row when, during the service, a little, old lady hollered to the preacher that she was sensing in the Spirit that the visitor in the front row with the cast on needed healing.  The preacher, in the presence of some 60 or 70 worshipping onlookers, came over and firmly laid his hand on my friend’s forehead and said “You have been healed!  Get up!”

My friend, who was a bit surprised and embarrassed by this treatment of first-time visitors, in addition to sporting a clumsy mold on his leg that would make it difficult to jump up as evidence of this miraculous healing, demurred.  (Can anyone say “awkward”?)  At which point, the preacher kept his sweaty hand on my sitting friend’s head over the course of the next twenty minutes as he thanked God in loud tones for my friend’s healing.

Some three weeks later, my friend got his cast off as the doctors had promised.

It was a miracle.

It was such a miracle that my friend has decided not to show himself in church ever since.

On other fronts…fellow saint and sinner Jarrett Roux Jackson has sent along these wonderful reflections from Tim Keller on why “compatibility” in marriage is a bit of a misnomer.  Check them out: http://www.relevantmagazine.com/life/relationship/features/27749-you-never-marry-the-right-person

And, I’m still waiting to hear back from Emerging Evangelists about a conversation around women evangelists and their lack thereof, at least as evidenced by their woeful absence on Emerging Evangelists’ Facebook page.

In a couple days we’ll feature one final weird Jesus saying- the whole notion that to follow Jesus means “hating” one’s family.  Weird? I’d say so.

Hope you’re enjoying your week!

My friend