“I had heard of you by word of mouth, but now my eye has seen you.” Job 42

“…you have revealed them to the childlike.” Luke 10

In June of 2011, when our family homestead was flooded by the Mighty MO (Missouri River), several friends suggested I read Job.  I smiled when I opened the link for today’s readings and got to hear from my new friend Job.

The words Job spoke “I had heard of you by word of mouth, but now my eye has seen you” leapt off the page.  I recently read a conversion story of a man who had lived a life filled with drugs and violence.  At different times in this man’s life, he would ask God to prove His existence.  When nothing materialized, he remained an atheist.  Then one day while on his motorcycle descending from a steep mountain, an oil leak caused the brakes to fail.  The bike mysteriously slowed down and his life was saved.  He attributed this intervention to God and was baptized.  For this gentleman, he had heard of God by word of mouth but didn’t believe.  The motorcycle incident not only opened his eyes to the existence of God, but that God intervened and saved his life, not only physically but spiritually.  Today he is in the process of selling his worldly goods in order to go to India to be a missionary.

While I had heard of God by word of mouth and had been baptized when I was an infant, I would characterize my faith life years ago as lukewarm.  About twenty years ago when my children were young, I attended meetings called MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers).  The example of a Christian woman who was our leader at these meetings redirected my faith journey and I found myself on a very different path.  The relationship our leader had with Jesus was unlike anything I remember witnessing.  Eventually, I desired what she had, a deeper relationship with Jesus.  I asked God with childlike hope for a deeper relationship with Him.  Over time, I did realize how different my life had become.  I would like to say that I became more focused on other people than I had been on myself.  Now, I not only hear of God through the experiences of others, but am thankful that my eyes have been opened and I have been awakened to see God for myself.  Like Job, I repented.