Friday night I celebrated a friend’s birthday by going to dinner with a group of friends. Per the birthday girl we went to a Japanese steak house and enjoyed good food and entertainment from our cook, the best specialty sushi roll I have ever eaten, and a few funny pictures of our nightly escapade. (Who knew a 50 cent fake mustache could cause so much fun) After dinner, our nightly shenanigans continued with game night, cake and presents. (I never attend a birthday celebration without cake) Sometime after we had eaten cake (and cookies), opened gifts, and were mentally preparing ourselves for the game in our near future; the discussion of a cake eating contest was brought up. Yes friends, I took a seat at the table, tied my hands behind my back, and dove face first into strawberry icing. A few bites in, I realized that not only did I have cake up my nose and icing in my hair line but I was losing! I stood to my feet to gain momentum and began inhaling cake as fast as I could. (don’t worry there is videotape evidence and it’s only a matter of time before the footage makes it to the Internet). I kept telling myself, if I just keep swallowing wads of cake, despite the feeling of choking; I would win. As the cake eating contest was coming to an end and I sensed victory; my competitor kindly pointed to a piece of cake that had fallen off of my plate. As I smeared my face on the table to get the fallen piece of cake; she solidified her victory. I may have lost my first cake eating competition but I kept scrapping the plate until the winner was announced. And because of our fantabulous ability to always put fun above personal humiliation; my friend and I were able to laugh (and pick cake out of our hair) all night long.
I am not a good candidate for eating competitions since my stomach has delayed emptying but I am a guaranteed laugh so I will always accept the challenge to an eat-off. When I was coaching myself through my eating contest, my competitive nature resurfaced. Since I gave up on being in shape, the only time I see my competitive nature come out is when my race car driving skills are present. Yes, I am referring to my fast driving and ,yes, I know that road rage isn’t exactly a competition. I have been working very hard at improving my competitive driving skills and even made myself a reminder. I wrote the following statement on a piece of paper and placed it on my visor: Jay the rude driver in front of you can’t hear you screaming but God can. And this reminder was working until Wednesday night. I was already late for church because of my busy schedule and I got behind the slowest driver in WV. (If you drive a maroon Ford sedan with a burnt out left brake light, I apologize now but would like to remind you that the speed limit on Rt. 250 is 45 mph) The entire time I was driving, I kept hearing myself read my note but I didn’t care about the note; I cared about getting to church. My day was long, my strength was drained, my body was beyond fatigued, and Satan was using all of his tricks to test my faith. I knew if I could just get to church; if I could just enter the presence of God; I would be renewed. I wasn’t obeying the speeding laws set before me, (you all know I passed the maroon Ford on the first straight stretch available), I wasn’t worrying about being 15 minutes late, and I wasn’t allowing the events of my day to replace my faith in Jesus. I had one goal: get to where I knew Jesus would be. I know that Jesus will meet me wherever I am (He met me in my car as I crumpled my reminder to myself so I didn’t have to see it as I was yelling at other drivers) but I wanted more. I wanted the presence of God I knew was awaiting me at my church. And friends as soon as I walked in; I ran right into a giant wall of the Holy Spirit. And the touch I longed for multiplied and I wasn’t just touched by Jesus; I was saturated by Jesus. When you need a touch from Jesus, are there limitations in your life? Are you determined at all cost to get to Jesus? Do you ignore more than speed limits to carry out the basis of your faith? Or perhaps the flame of your faith isn’t as strong as the flame of your fear. Nothing should cause you to hesitate or second guess the power of Jesus. Nothing should keep us from Him friends. When we know what is required of us to get to Jesus, we must do it. When our faith is hanging on by a thread and the world wants us to turn from Jesus; we must search for Him more. When you feel the tug in your heart or the voice in your head; follow the path that leads to Jesus. It only takes Him a split second to completely renew us in Him. But if our faith is lacking we can’t rest in the presence Jesus because we will never find Him.
When the countdown for my cake eating contest began, I knew that my stomach did not have the ability to handle more food because of my delayed emptying. But with each bite I kept telling myself, “Do whatever it takes to finish the cake.” And despite losing; I did finish every crumb of cake. When I need Jesus (which is everyday); I won’t wait for a countdown. But I will keep telling myself, “Do whatever it takes to get a touch from Jesus.” And despite the doubt of onlookers, the grim situation I may be in, and the depths I traveled to get there; my faith will allow me to enjoy every crumb of His presence.
Verse to remember: Mark 6:30-34 At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned to the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?” 31 “You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask who touched me?” 32 But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. 33 Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. 34 he said to her, “daughter your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”
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