“When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?”  John 5:6 NKJV

I can relate to that paralyzed man laying beside the Pool of Bethesda for 38 years.  Crippled.  Watching others walk past him and into the healing waters as they stirred.  Knowing that those life-healing waters were so close, and so far away for a man paralyzed or incapable or unwilling to allow the healing waters of God Almighty to wash over him.

I can relate to the Children of Israel, paralyzed by the generations of enslavement, depending on the instructions of human masters telling them what mattered, what to do, how to act, what to expect.  Even after seeing the Creator God of all things take the lives of Egypt’s first born, lavishing them with the wealth of the most powerful country in the World, their enslaved minds chose fear and doubt.  They chose fear and 40 years of wandering in exchange for the 14 day walk that would have rewarded them with the land promised to their ancestors by the God who never fails those who trust him.

I can relate to those 11 disciples who fled in fear as God in human form, who they had witnessed perform miracle after miracle for 3 years, was crucified on that evil and life assuring cross.  As Peter, the man on whom Jesus would build his church, denied him three times in minutes.  I can relate to bold Thomas as he doubted and required physical proof after declaring earlier in John 11 “Let us go, that we may die with him (Jesus).”

I can relate to the flawed man who tormented and persecuted God’s early Christian Church because of flawed faith and fear.  The man who held the coats of those who killed Christianity’s first martyr, Stephen.  The man who God struck down and made blind so that he could and would see.  The man that God assigned to be the theological and operational protector of the early Church.  The man of action, so committed to travel, preaching, correcting, that God chose to imprison so he would take them time to write the letters of hope, direction and instruction that Christians now read every day and use as life instructions.

I cannot relate to the man that Jesus asked, ‘do you want to get well,’ who then sold him out to the Jewish leaders, hellbent on enforcing man-made rules meant to enslave who God intended to walk in freedom, grace, mercy and purpose.  Do you, (insert your name here), want to get well?

“Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, “See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.”  The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.”  John 5:14-15 NKJV

As I chose and choose to believe and pursue the life that God intends for me, I cannot fathom all that he has and is doing in me.  As I sit here and write these words, I marvel that they come from me.  A simple man of irrepressible hope.  A broken man gifted with the truth of healing.  A man perpetually getting ‘well-er.’  More well.  More healed.  More purposeful.  A man that God is making more.  A man who said, “yes, I want to get well.”  And every day I grow, heal and step into the life of wellness that only Jesus delivers to those who ask and believe.

So, where are you?  Do you want to get well?  Will you allow me to gift you with the introduction to the only Giver of ‘well.’  Meet Jesus, friend.  He is the one standing before you with nail scared hands outstretched, offering love like you have never experienced before.  He is the one who washes away the trauma, scars and pain caused by the equally broken and needing that have contributed to your being here, now.  “(Your name here), meet Jesus.  No need for me to tell him your name.  He knows you and has known you before you were formed in your mom’s womb.”  

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.”  Revelation 3:20 NKJV

Rest friend.  The journey to ‘well’ is but a short walk into the precious blood of Jesus.