One thing I know

8 His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, "Isn't this the same man who used to sit and beg?"
9 Some claimed that he was.
Others said, "No, he only looks like him."
But he himself insisted, "I am the man."

10"How then were your eyes opened?" they demanded.

11 He replied, "The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see."

12 "Where is this man?" they asked him.
"I don't know," he said.

The Pharisees Investigate the Healing

13 They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind.
14 Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man's eyes was a Sabbath.
15 Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. "He put mud on my eyes," the man replied, "and I washed, and now I see."

16 Some of the Pharisees said, "This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath."
But others asked, "How can a sinner do such miraculous signs?" So they were divided.


24A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. "Give glory to God,[b]" they said. "We know this man is a sinner."(Jesus..the One who broke the law of Sabbath)

25 He replied, "Whether he is a sinner or not, I don't know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!"


"The ONE thing I do know. I was blind and now I see!"

In a blind darkness, where for me, lost free in my own black perceptions,......the healing of the spit and mud came personally.....walked in....gently laid Hands on scaly eyes; Breathed a fresh wind (Hebrew: Ruchach) of life......
My life's motto had been:"Do what feels good"; "be independent";....and life on into disappointment in alcoholic parents; and a need to raise a different generation....Caught up in my own way to be free.....in charge....in fear...in search....like the man by the pool...I waited to tip my toe in healing waters...
Jumping in....was that even an option?
Then, He came....at the sound of my crying voice; HE came....at the slightest dip of my foot. His Hands touched my unopened and dark eyes and shut my arguments....shut my Pharisee accusations. Closed my heart to doubt and lifted my hands straight overhead. Where my words once argued,"there cannot be One way to know God".....my spirit now recognized the lie. I washed.....off the old.... and on the new.
The Pharisees, in Jesus' time, were born of rules and a religious knowledge of God. Although God had penned the laws they so vigorously wanted to keep;Jesus washed His hands in mud and spit; manger and straw;blood and water...all the while saying:"come to Me and let Me live with you" so that the laws make sense...so that the order of the universe can be summarized in one Man.....the One Man who can introduce you to the Maker of all things......even the laws of order.....One to die; Once for all.
The religious leaders in this passage were trying to preach a doctrine to the once blind man and to the believers.... they taught that Jesus could not be anything but a sinner since He healed on the religious-rest-day....the Sabbath. I think of how Jesus later says:
Mark 2:27
"The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath."
And how HE stated that "He is our Sabbath-Rest"
And "Come unto ME, all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest."
The once blind man did not try to intellectually argue of Jesus...whether Jesus was sinner or not....
he only knew One thing:
I once was blind, and now I see.
The hand in the mud reached down, touched, made whole, and breathed not a doubt into that man's vision.
The world says, "How can this be...this Man doesn't fit the mold....He cannot be anything but a sinner.....He doesn't follow the rules...and yet
The One Thing I know
I once was blind, and now I see.
How I so desperately need to see like this...through the mud in my eyes; humbled by spit and clay; with new eyes; through the religious preconceptions of who I think God is... or isn't. Through my pain and deception......
Return me ,Oh Lord, to the clay that I am; in death I live; buried in You, I can see. Washed in You, I now have eyes. My hands straight up in the air.
Now what will it take for me to, having received my sight fully; see with those eyes,promised to have clarity from the dirt.
Clear my vision every minute of every day.....
wash my eyes with clay and water.... my Jesus was humbled for me....
He touched me,
He healed me,
He came to me.
I once was blind; but now I see.
Amazing Grace.....How sweet the Sound!
It is the One thing I know!

solace

"I look to the hills ; from where do I find my help? My help comes from the Lord. The Lord mighty to save."
There's a cool breeze that fluttered across my face as I sit still and quiet before my Maker on this what would be expected to be a Hot, Hot summer day. It is not; and the breeze is a sweet reminder of the refreshment that comes with wind of the Holy Spirit. I want to bathe in its quiet as I hear the birds in the background sing their sweet melody to the Lord. The pain in my heart from yesterday's set back eases as the tears are still right behind my eyes. My heart is heavy although my spirit is lifted. Sitting with God "in the cool of the evening" must have been His prescription for us when our hearts are tired and weary. "Come, come be with ME and I will give you rest." I could sleep all day and not have rest like that. Whisper soft in my ear sweet Holy God. I am listening. For once in this day, I am listening...not too busy with cleaning, conversation, and cooking.... distractions that lead me far from the cool waters of your presence. But still; seeing you in all the sounds, breezes,in all the symphony of sound right out my back door. Thank you Lord for the reminder that you are ever so close. I only must be still enough to see. Still enough to hear. Still enough.....
"Be still and know that I AM God." "I AM that I AM."

Resurrection

Branches...cherry blossom...tiny buds...right outside my window beckoning for me to invite inside. "Bring me in and soak my split and broken feet and I will resurrect from dry wood.... to green life.... to full bloom". A cut first... a cut by my hand; sap runs down a scarred tree to bleed for me who caused this cut...this separation from the root.....for me to witness this rebirth of limb to life....of life trapped inside what appears to be death; only to blossom again into life. He is the branch; He is the tree and the root; He is the sap..sweet drippings of the taste that is deep and good; He is the cut; He is the death; He is the new Life; and He is the bloom.

Romans 6:4
Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

Up in the Air

My heart quiets with this entry . The stillness lifts my eyes and the flutter of tenderness touches my weary heart with the joy that through it there is a possible encounter with Him.
"Be still and know that I am God."
I am so afraid to fly....and yet sometimes I must. I did most recently to attend a service for my first cousin who graduated to be with Heavenly Father. I had to be there for her sisters; for me; for the years that I have not been there. I had to be there and fast. No time to drive and yet leaving my nest and my hearth for the coldness of an airplane frightened me once again. I did fly to find hugs and tears; yet I have realized, for me, the slower pace of a drive is more my speed. The invasive noise of the airport and the droning and unnatural roar of a plane lifts me up to a sky that I fear was not made for me to be in. Just because I can be in it, doesn't mean it is best for me to be there. I much prefer the ground..solid beneath my feet. It is a lowly place for me to remember that I can always look up to see the heavens and the sky that were flung with stars and sun and moon... set there by Him for me to gaze into His wonder."Humble thyself in the sight of the Lord...and He will lift you up."
Matthew 11:29
Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

Let's study God's Word

Hebrews 4:12
For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

• The Book of Hebrews was written so that the Christian Jews could renew their strength in the power of "knowing Jesus"/ "trusting Jesus".
  
• It is believed to be written by Paul/ some scholars disagree and attribute the writings to Paul's associates like Barnabus.
  
• The theme of Hebrews is about the message that it was "better" to be a Christian Jew as before they were Jews with the promises of God in earthly revelations. Many had grown weary expecting Christ's return to be eminent. The author was speaking of the working of the Holy Spirit and the fellowship of all believers with the ultimate reward of eternal life in Jesus.
  
• There are many "let us" in the Book of Hebrews and can apply to all believers in that we must allow Christ's resurrection power to lead us through His Holy Spirit.
• "For the word of God is living and powerful" God's promise of a coming Messiah was made alive in Christ. This word is the written promise of the Prophets that came alive when Jesus fulfilled every one of the hundreds of prophecies that spoke of His coming. The book of 1 John says that Jesus is the word of God made flesh. He put on the prophetic word and was alive here and dwelt among us.