Do you smell smoke?

Inside the Burning Bush

“Like Moses on that mountaintop, God wanted to transform this ragamuffin bunch of men into leaders for His kingdom.”

Joe Battaglia (The Politically Correct Jesus: Beliefnet Website)

Moses, who had a speech impediment, was doing what he was told to do—tend sheep. They weren't even his sheep; they belonged to his father-in-law. He had a shepherd's staff and a flock, and not much else. He was just out rambling the hills in search of good grazing land. Moses was not a born leader; though he had grown up in a house of power, he was an adopted child. Moreover, he was a man on the run because he had murdered an Egyptian guard in cold blood. Being a shepherd made him the lowest of the low. Precisely the kind of guy God loves to tap on the shoulder and say, “Hey, there's something I want you to do.” Of course, in Moses case, God spoke from inside a burning bush.

When Jesus walked the shores of the Sea of Galilee, he called fishermen and sailors, men with dirty jobs, to come and follow him. They had no money, no status in the community, nothing to elevate them as obvious leaders. They had boats, and nets, and fishy-smelling hands. Yet Jesus saw in them a burning bush just waiting to blaze forth. He knew these “ragamuffin men” would be exactly right to carry the kingdom forward. “Hey,” he said, “there's something I want you to do.”

Many spiritual seekers are hoping for a burning bush moment—one dramatic event when God speaks directly to us. But here's the deal...the burning bush is inside of you, and you are inside of it. Regardless of how humble and powerless you feel, how unprepared or uneducated, God can use your hands and feet, your eyes and ears, and your voice to move the kingdom forward. Whatever else you may be, my friend, you are holy ground.

                                                             In the Spirit,

                                                                  Jane