You would think that once you’ve seen something multiple times that you would become accustomed to it. At the very least, you would assume that it wouldn’t continuously catch you off guard.

Alas, in things of the Kingdom, it just isn’t so…

Often, it is the most inconspicuous that does so an artful job of messing you up. Let me illustrate:

Someone struggles with their faith for years. Then, in the proverbial flash of an eye, they are transformed in the Romans 12:2 sense of transformation. They still look the same, talk the same and even still carry their doubts about who they are. But a fundamental change has occurred in the same way that a cucumber becomes a pickle — the pickle may still bear some resemblance to a cucumber but it has been intrinsically altered and is no longer what it was. This “changed” person now does what they feel they can’t do–e.g., pray for someone to be healed–and much to their astonishment the person being prayed for is inexplicably and irrefutably healed. The pray-er is as amazed as the pray-ee.

They repeat the process with someone else and the same thing occurs. The largest question mark you’ve ever seen is indelibly stamped on their face; brow wrinkled, eyebrows lifted, mouth slightly cocked with an expression of “huh?” on it and head slightly tilted, much like a dog when he sees something he doesn’t understand.

From that point onward, they go hesitantly into impossible situations; but, they now begin almost expect something to happen.

They’ve become Abba’s hidden weapon.

It always surprised me.

I like surprises…