THE GOD OF SURPRISES

THE GOD OF SURPRISES




Have you ever traced
Your family tree


Either by yourself
Or maybe through someone
LIKE Ancestry.com


You may have found
A tragic accidental death
You may have found Women or men
WITHIN your own family
WITH RELIGIOUS vocations


You may have found someone
Who was ADOPTED
Or someone
Who adopted someone


Whatever you found
I am sure
You found some SURPRISES


And SURPRISES
Or twists and turns
WERE part of Jesus' genealogy
As well
(You can read about the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1:1-17 and in Luke;
Jesus' FAMILY too contains many interesting characters).


There are MANY surprising people
With UNEXPECTED hardships, scandal
As well as great generosity
And FAITH
In ALL of our families


God's promises
As well
As the promises of our own life
ARE FULFILLED
In ways
That we never expected
Or through people
We never would have guessed


MAYBE
We married
The type of person
That we thought
We never
Would have expected to
In a million years


OUR GOD is full of surprises


WHO would have guessed
That a nomadic preacher
ROAMING through the wilderness
And from town to town
Would turn out to be


The Messiah
THE SON OF GOD


No one
OR he would not have wound up
ALL ALONE
Dying on a wooden cross
At the end of his life


And WHO would have guessed
That he would PROVE it


BY RISING from the dead
Three days later-certainly NOT his apostles


THE GOD OF SURPRISES


And who would
Have guessed
He (Jesus) would
First appear to a woman-Mary Magdalene


Certainly not her-certainly not us
THE GOD OF SURPRISES


Who would have guessed
Abraham would wind up
Being the FATHER of many nations
And the FOUNDER of the Jewish Nation


Certainly not Abraham
Certainly not Sarah-his wife
Who didn't give birth to Isaac
UNTIL she was in her 90's


The God Of Surprises
OUR GOD IS


And who would have guessed
Moses-a stutterer and a murderer
Would LEAD his people
Out of slavery
And out of Egypt
ALMOST to the PROMISED LAND


The BIBLE goes on and on
With surprises and examples
Of the people that God USED


Who is God
USING TODAY


Maybe you
Maybe me
Maybe
ALL of us


Well
Like the SURPRISES
Within our own life
And in our own family


WE WILL
Have to tune in today and tomorrow
To see who GOD is using


THE GOD OF SURPRISES


Robert P. Wallman
12-17-13