At one time or another I’m sure all of you have felt the strange, conflicted mingling of conviction and suspicion, compassion and judgment, shame and pride that I experienced during my stay in Philadelphia. What would Jesus have done? It’s a good question. What should I have done? Even now, years later, I wrestle with those same questions. One thing’s for sure, desiring to make myself less of a target, I left my Bible in my hotel room the next day, and I began avoiding eye contact as I made my way past them.

This Sunday we’ll be studying an account found in Acts 3 of a time when Peter and John met a panhandler begging for money outside the temple in Jerusalem. Unlike me they did not awkwardly avoid eye contact with the man, but rather they somewhat awkwardly insisted on greater eye contact. The Bible says that Peter directed his gaze at the man, as did John, and said, “Look at us.” I know from my experiences in Philadelphia and elsewhere that most people probably avoided eye contact with him, but Peter locked eyes with the man and what followed was far, far more amazing than the soft rustling of dollar bills pressed into the man’s cup. No, in fact, Peter basically told the man that he didn’t have any cash on him, but what he did have to give was far, far more amazing.

Sometimes, opening the Bible can be like opening the door of a submarine underwater. It rushes into our lives with such force that we cannot shut it out again. There is the feeling of being out of control, overrun and inundated. Then, just as we begin to feel that we will sink under the weight of it all, we are somehow borne up by grace until we feel lighter and more buoyant for having been flooded. It’s a living book and the only book I know that will read you if you dare open it. It will change you.

If you like your life the way it is you should avoid State Road Advent Christian Church for the next eight weeks or so.