This week, I had the privilege to go on a sleigh ride out among wild elk...
Our seats in the sleigh were alfalfa bales...so as we rode into the herd, the elk would come to the sleigh and eat...we could look, but not pet or make any gesture toward them...we quietly took lots of pictures...
They were used to the drill of the food in the wagons, as it went on day after day, but they didn't allow for any other movement or strangers...so we sat quietly and marveled at the beautiful creatures...their territorial behaviors, the young ones, the males dominance, even a bit of fighting, their gracefulness...
They were here for the food...and then quietly disappeared into the trees when they had had their fill...
I was thinking about Thomas, who didn't really believe that Jesus has reappeared after his cruxifixction. Doubts, doubts, denial...until Jesus appeared before him...asking Thomas specifically to touch, feel and see...taking away his doubts.
Then Thomas declared, "My Lord and my God."
Unlike the wild elk, God wants us to reach for Him, to lean into Him, grasp his every word...call Him our Lord...believe...let the Holy Spirit pray when we can't...trust...not doubt....thank YOU...
Now Thomas (also known as Didymus ), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came.
So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them.
Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!”
Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”
Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
John 20:24-29
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