The Journey 268
Read: John 16:21-33
Last Sunday night we had a fantastic and a close game between Ravens and Patriots in the National Football League match. That match was memorable for both the Baltimore Ravens and one of the Baltimore Ravens player– Torrey Smith. Memorable for Ravens because they beat Patriots by a close margin of 31-30. One of the key players who made this victory possible was Torrey Smith who played a fantastic game, with two touch downs and 127 yards on six catches. But CNN news reports that, behind this spectacular showing by Torrey Smith, that day was one of the most agonizing day for Torrey. He had lost his younger brother in a motorcycle accident in the morning hours of the game and he did not know how to deal with this sudden death of his brother, who was everything in life and now he had also a game on hand. The news agencies reports that Smith slept for a few hours and then with a heavy heart decided to play the Sunday match. Smith decided to play for the honour of his departed brother. According to him, death of his brother drained him emotionally and he was unfamiliar with these types of experiences as he had never experienced death of a loved one in his family. He was encouraged by everyone at this time of grief. His Pastor comforted him by telling him that his brother is now in the presence of the Lord and he is in a better place than us. Another individual who helped Smith was safety Ed Reed, who gave him a portion of Psalm and told him that God is in control and that God had a bigger plan than all of us, and that we are for Him and He is for us. All these gestures strengthened Torrey Smith who put his best in the game and Ravens won because of that game show by Torrey Smith. The head coach John Harbaugh of Baltimore Ravens after watching the spectacular performance of Smith told the news agencies that looking at the way Smith played on Sunday in a faith perspective, he said that that God works in mysterious and wonderful ways. What was amazing about Smith, was how a player even when going through life severest adversity, faces it boldly with hope and comes out winning. Torrey Smith felt happy that his club cared for him and he says in his hour of grief his club, his teammates and his friends showed that they cared for him and that is why he is proud to play for Baltimore Ravens. We all go through crisis but there are some crisis that literally overcomes us and we are stuck in our tracks and totally numb. It is in such context that we look up to get peace and strength to face these crisis. How did Torrey Smith face and overcome his crisis so boldly and victoriously and how can we also face crisis in the same way that can sometime over power us?.
We are meditating on the theme “ Transformed Living” and the portion that we shall use for our meditation is from John 16: 23-33. This is the portion where we find Jesus Christ teaching his disciples about the suffering and the death that He has to go through and also empowering his disciples with the promises that a person will receive when he lives a prayerful life. As Jesus talks about his death and resurrection and the various crisis and life situation that we all will go through, he tells his disciples that they will face a lot of tribulation, pain and crisis in life. But what will help them to face these crisis and over come them successfully and meaningfully is the faith perspective that should have. The faith perspective is that they have a Lord who has over come the world and all the crisis in the world. It is this power, strength and peace that God gives to us today and it is that strength and grace of God, that helped Torrey Smith on Sunday to play the most spectacular game even while going through crisis. If our Lord can strengthen and help Torrey Smith to over come his crisis victoriously, let us also trust in the grace and strength of the Lord whenever we also go through crisis. In this world let us affirm that we may go through crisis but let us praise God because we have a God who has overcome this world, and hence let us trust and seek the Lord so that there is no crisis that can over power us.
Rev. Dr. Joe Joseph Kuruvilla
Last Sunday night we had a fantastic and a close game between Ravens and Patriots in the National Football League match. That match was memorable for both the Baltimore Ravens and one of the Baltimore Ravens player– Torrey Smith. Memorable for Ravens because they beat Patriots by a close margin of 31-30. One of the key players who made this victory possible was Torrey Smith who played a fantastic game, with two touch downs and 127 yards on six catches. But CNN news reports that, behind this spectacular showing by Torrey Smith, that day was one of the most agonizing day for Torrey. He had lost his younger brother in a motorcycle accident in the morning hours of the game and he did not know how to deal with this sudden death of his brother, who was everything in life and now he had also a game on hand. The news agencies reports that Smith slept for a few hours and then with a heavy heart decided to play the Sunday match. Smith decided to play for the honour of his departed brother. According to him, death of his brother drained him emotionally and he was unfamiliar with these types of experiences as he had never experienced death of a loved one in his family. He was encouraged by everyone at this time of grief. His Pastor comforted him by telling him that his brother is now in the presence of the Lord and he is in a better place than us. Another individual who helped Smith was safety Ed Reed, who gave him a portion of Psalm and told him that God is in control and that God had a bigger plan than all of us, and that we are for Him and He is for us. All these gestures strengthened Torrey Smith who put his best in the game and Ravens won because of that game show by Torrey Smith. The head coach John Harbaugh of Baltimore Ravens after watching the spectacular performance of Smith told the news agencies that looking at the way Smith played on Sunday in a faith perspective, he said that that God works in mysterious and wonderful ways. What was amazing about Smith, was how a player even when going through life severest adversity, faces it boldly with hope and comes out winning. Torrey Smith felt happy that his club cared for him and he says in his hour of grief his club, his teammates and his friends showed that they cared for him and that is why he is proud to play for Baltimore Ravens. We all go through crisis but there are some crisis that literally overcomes us and we are stuck in our tracks and totally numb. It is in such context that we look up to get peace and strength to face these crisis. How did Torrey Smith face and overcome his crisis so boldly and victoriously and how can we also face crisis in the same way that can sometime over power us?.
We are meditating on the theme “ Transformed Living” and the portion that we shall use for our meditation is from John 16: 23-33. This is the portion where we find Jesus Christ teaching his disciples about the suffering and the death that He has to go through and also empowering his disciples with the promises that a person will receive when he lives a prayerful life. As Jesus talks about his death and resurrection and the various crisis and life situation that we all will go through, he tells his disciples that they will face a lot of tribulation, pain and crisis in life. But what will help them to face these crisis and over come them successfully and meaningfully is the faith perspective that should have. The faith perspective is that they have a Lord who has over come the world and all the crisis in the world. It is this power, strength and peace that God gives to us today and it is that strength and grace of God, that helped Torrey Smith on Sunday to play the most spectacular game even while going through crisis. If our Lord can strengthen and help Torrey Smith to over come his crisis victoriously, let us also trust in the grace and strength of the Lord whenever we also go through crisis. In this world let us affirm that we may go through crisis but let us praise God because we have a God who has overcome this world, and hence let us trust and seek the Lord so that there is no crisis that can over power us.
Rev. Dr. Joe Joseph Kuruvilla