Turn the other cheek. Did he say, ‘turn the other cheek’? That was just crazy. What would that accomplish? From the sound of the crowd it was plain I wasn’t the only one who felt that way. “Listen to me.” Jesus raised his hands to get people’s attention. “The law that said, ‘an eye for…
Chapter 30
I couldn’t contain myself. “That’s fine the first time, but how many times do we need to forgive someone? Five times? Six times? Seven times? Won’t they just keep taking advantage of us if we keep forgiving them?” Jesus looked at me and said, “Let me tell you a story. Suppose a man owed a…
Really?
Don’t you hate it when you have a bad customer experience? And often, our first reaction is to complain to someone or post a negative review. That’s what Thomas Colucci had in mind when he called the police. The Florida man called 911 to complain that the meth he had just purchased wasn’t the quality…
Chapter 31
I was sitting by the fire thinking about all that Jesus had been teaching us. Some of what he said made complete sense, but there were still things that baffled me, and others I outright disagreed with. We were on our way to Nain and there was the usual group tagging along. “Peter or would…
Chapter 32
Mary must have sensed my disbelief: “I know. You wouldn’t be the first one to doubt what happened. How do you think Joseph felt? “Within days I knew I was pregnant, that a life was growing inside of me, and I realized that Joseph would have to know. “I still remember the look of shock…
Chapter 33
It wasn’t long after we had arrived in Caesarea Philippi that some religious leaders came to the house where we were staying. Without so much as a greeting, they started in at Jesus, telling him if he was going to teach in God’s name and claim the authority that he was taking that he needed…
Chapter 34
The next day we were back at the beach and it wasn't very long before a crowd had gathered to hear Jesus teach. “Jesus, Jesus, I need to see Jesus, please let me through.” Everyone turned to see who was making all the commotion and out of the crowd came Jairus, the leader of the…
Chapter 35
It was just like the last time when Mary approached me to finish her story. The rest of the group had gone to bed, and I was sitting by the fire, waiting for it to burn itself out. I was in my nowhere place, not thinking of anything in particular when she joined me. “May…
Chapter 36
Egypt was incredible, we spent three years there, and I can’t even begin to describe what we saw. The trip was hardly longer than the journey would have been back to Nazareth, but we knew that we would be safe from Herod’s insanity once we left Israel. His reach didn’t extend across the border. It…
What Next?
What happens when you’ve finished? You know? When there was something that you set out to do, you dreamed a dream; you set a goal; you did the work, and then, just like that, you were done. What next? Three years ago, I started working on a book entitled: A Fisherman’s Tale. It was a…