Jumping to Conclusions - July 29

Today’s Readings AM Psalm [70], 71; PM Psalm 74; 2 Samuel 4:1-12; Acts 16:25-40; Mark 7:1-23:

Many years ago, I had the gift to lead the youth group where I was working on two different pilgrimages to Greece.  Both groups were following in the footsteps of Paul and so we visited not only the communities that Paul wrote letters, but the places he visited and the accounts that we hear so much about in Acts.  Sometimes when I read the stories of Acts, I am transported back into those trips and I see the places that we read about, and I can visualize the setting and the story.

Today is one of those days.  On our 2005 trip, we visited Philippi and stood where we think the prison written about in today’s story from Acts existed.  I remember well the tour guide sure pointing to my left.  “Now this is where the jail cell of Paul and Silas was.”  And then he pointed to my right and showed us where the prison guard was sitting on that evening when the earth shook and the cell doors were unlocked.   

I was transferred back into the story as I read it, imagining Paul and Silas standing just to my left and picturing the guard just to my right.  And I could hear the guard talking to himself as he is threatening his own existence and I found myself shouting out, “don’t do it, Paul and Silas are still here.”  And then the words come from Paul and Silas themselves, and the guard talks himself down from the exceptionally drastic decision he was about to make.   In some ways, it is a story about how easy it is for humans to jump to extreme conclusions before the story is finished. 

Over the past several months, it seems like we live in a period where we too jump to conclusions easily.  Like the prison guard, we assume the absolute worst.  A colleague sends an email that strikes a nerve, a friend or neighbor pushes against your values, a sibling is short the last few times you have called.  We think the absolute worse, apparently something that has been happening for two thousand years. 

And Paul and Silas are still there.  And to sweeten the deal the guard has a conversion experience finding a radically new way of living, now as a person of faith.  Today’s story could be a reminder to be a little more patient when we are caught off guard, to let the story unfold before jumping to conclusions.  Who knows, our lives could be radically changed too.

John+

Questions for Self-Reflection:  When have you jumped to conclusions recently?  When have expected the worse to be surprised in a good way?

Daily Challenge:  Today’s reading could be a reminder of the power of optimism.  Consider ways to be more optimistic today.