March 27, 2009 - John 17

I read Jesus’ prayer for unity yesterday (John 17) and thought all day about what I might be able to write about it that would do it justice. It is such a beautiful prayer and to think that is what was on Jesus’ mind just before going to meet his betrayer makes it even more remarkable to me. Anyway, I am in Chicago for a conference that has been planned a long time. I got a text yesterday morning that Phyllis’ brother’s wife went into labor with their first child and that they would be delivering in the hospital right across the street from my hotel. Needless to say, I was anxious to finish the conference for the day and get to the hospital. There I spent the evening with my brother-in-law’s in-laws, people I have met only 2-3 times over the last 3-4 years. As the evening passed, and the baby, a lovely baby girl with her father’s dimpled chin, was born, it became apparent to me that we, a loosely-bound family, had tremendous unity regarding this blessed event. There was so much unity in fact, that the nurses had to ask us more than once to wait in the Waiting Room rather than hover in the hallway outside the closed door where the family was being enlarged. I pray, with Jesus, that we as believers experience that same kind of unity, through joy and struggle. It certainly will let the world know and draw them toward belief.