Sunday. Quiet. Spent a good part of the morning studying a psalm. Wanted to really connect with God, but the time feel a bit flat. Not for lack of trying. Don't know why.
Finally around 11:00 I gave it up and went to a near-by spa to get a foot treatment. I have a lot of rough, dead skin (from walking around in sandals all the time, I guess) and have been feeling kind of bad about how ugly my feet looked. Besides that, it's a nicely decorated, quiet place and always makes me feel peaceful.
Except that time a few weeks ago when I snapped at the receptionist who waited until AFTER I was undressed and on the massage table to tell me it would be a 10 minute wait until a masseuse was available.
But today I was the only customer. All was well, even though I recognized the girl who sat down to treat my feet as the girl to whom I had shown my temper last month. She was nice, I was nice. Very good. Let the relaxation begin.
So I leaned back and closed my eyes. I pictured myself under the weeping willow tree, and started a conversation with Jesus. We chatted a bit about what I had been reading earlier, and about questions I had. The masseuse was working my calves and it felt really good. Ahhhh. Perfect.
Then Jesus said, "Well, aren't you going to introduce me?"
And I was like, "You're kidding, right??" I do not do that. I'm not the type of person who evangelizes total strangers.
But he said, "We're all three right here in this room. It isn't polite not to introduce people who don't know each other."
I argued, reasoned, rationalized, whined. But I was rather sure there was no getting around it. I told Jesus I wasn't taking Him along on any more massages. He said that I didn't have any choice.
So I stalled longer, making sure I had all the words I needed, trying to predict how the conversation would go. He assured me all I needed was the first question, "Have you ever heard about Jesus?" and He'd take care of the rest.
Finally I was all out of excuses. So I opened my mouth and asked. "Have you ever heard about Jesus?"
And the earth did not shudder to a halt. The building did not cave in. She didn't even pause in her scrubbing with the pumice stone. She said she had from people doing door to door evangelization, but hadn't really had time to listen. She added that she had a sister-in-law who was a believer.
I told her if she ever had any questions she could feel free to ask me. She was quiet a bit, and then said, "Well, all religions are good." I've heard that one before. So I responded, "But only one can get you to heaven."
I told her I knew that Buddhism teaches that you are reincarnated again and again until you do enough good things to hopefully, maybe reach heaven someday after a very long time. But followers of Jesus go to heaven immediately after they die.
She seemed surprised. "They go right to heaven?" Yep. I had caught her interest, but that was the end of the conversation. She kept working my feet, and I, satisfied that I had done my part, leaned back to enjoy the rest of the treatment.
I told Jesus I could tell all this "practicing His presence" was going to be trouble. I mean, if you really truly think of Him tangibly there beside you, it's going to have a huge impact on how you behave.
Then I remembered the verse, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news." (Well, duh, if you share the good news while getting a pedicure!!) ;-) But really, I guess I didn't actually need the pedicure after all, to have nice feet.
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