lamps aglow and hearts afire

The Word for today:
Luke 24:1-12

mark this: Luke 24:27, 31-32
Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures. 
Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Him; and He vanished from their sight.
They said to one another, "Were not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road, while He was explaining the Scriptures to us?"

and this: Psalm 119:105
Your word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

Remember the story about the magic lamp? If you rub the lamp three times, a genie appears who will grant your wish!

I guess I've lived backwards in a way, because when I was a kid I didn't believe in any of that stuff. I didn't believe in anything past the freckles on my nose.

But when I was born again, I grew down instead of up. I became younger than ever before.

I remember making a wish when I first read Luke 24. I wished and prayed with all my might that by magic or by miracle I could be with Jesus on the Road to Emmaus.

Then I closed my eyes and waited. But when I opened them and looked around, I was still in the same old place. But that didn't deter me. I figured that if I were to pray three times, I'd be on the Road to Emmaus for sure.

So I closed my eyes and said my prayer twice more. But when I looked around, the world was the old world yet. So I gave up hoping that I'd ever make it to Emmaus.

But on about my tenth trip through Luke 24, there were echoes in my head as I read. They were echoes from Genesis and Exodus, from Leviticus and Ruth, from Joshua and Esther and Job. There were echoes of Kings and Chronicles, of prophets and Psalms. And all of them were echoing "Jesus."

In fact, there was a veritable cavalcade of horses and kings, with their trumpets and swords. They were in dazzling array and I was swept away until lo and behold I was on Emmaus Road!

***

The magic number wasn't three for me. It was more like ten or twelve. I had to go all the way from Genesis to Revelation ten times or more before I found myself on the road with Jesus, my heart burning within me as he opened the scriptures and made them as alive as himself.

You're probably quicker in your mind than I, and more open to faith and miracles. So maybe it won't take you the ten tries it took me before I found myself on this magic road with this magic man who, starting with Moses and all the prophets, pointed out all of the thousands of times that we'd already met!

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