Ivy was sick this whole past week – her birthday week! We went to the doctor, after a day and half of high temperatures, and found out she had bronchitis. He gave us an antibiotic, but Meg explained how hard it is to give Ivy medicine. She will kick and scream and spit. The kicking and screaming isn’t so bad. We can hold her down and the screams mean we do not have force her mouth open (which is sometimes required). But she will now hold it in her mouth and spit it back at us… It was the worst, for me, this past Sunday when I was alone to get her ready for church. I even put her medicine in ice cream (though I will admit you can still taste it and it is nasty). She lulled me into thinking she would take it willing and then spit it out all over her dress… How God continues to allow us to have free will I do not understand. I mean Ivy had sent me to the edge and it was only over ice cream medicine…
Anyhow, Dr. Middlebrook also give Meg suppositories. Not for the antibiotic, but Ibuprofen to keep Ivy’s fever down. Now Ivy will take ibuprofen, which tastes good, most of the time. Still Meg thought the suppositories would be a good threat. So when Ivy told her “no” to the medicine, Megan announced she could take it in her mouth or up her bottom. At this Ivy cheered and yelled, “YEAH! Bottom medicine!”
When the soldiers come for Jesus in John, He asks them, “Who do you seek?” They have come for him and after stuttering they take him. Of course Judas knew what was happening, but did the soldiers? It was just another arrest. They were ordered to do it. Of course they could have refused, a group of soldiers came back empty handed in John 7 (“Never has a man spoken the way this man speaks.” 7:46). But instead, they took Jesus without considering the consequences. Without knowing the answers to Jesus’ question…
On the cross Jesus will cry out on their behalf, “Father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.”
I wonder if we know what we are seeking? We often pursue things without understanding what we getting ourselves into. School, sports, jobs, the web, and especially friends. We do not know what we have gotten into, we do not understand the change we are creating. Yet in these moments, often trivial, often day to day random, we are deciding our future.
In the same way your walk with Christ is being decided in the day to day, the random events. Are your choosing to seek Christ. Or are you cheering the arrival of …
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