“We want to sit in places of honor next to you … I want to see!” — Mark 10:32-52

One of the most difficult jobs of being a parent is processing what feels like a million requests a day.

Multiple kids take the request numbers through the roof.

“Can I have…?

“I want…

“Can we go…?

All fired at us like a machine gun almost always followed up with the never-ending magic word: “Please, please, please, please…ple-e-e-e-e-ease.”

We do our best under the barrage. In our best moments, we recognize some requests are wonderful teaching opportunities and others just make us smile with joy.

Jesus modeled good request response for us over and over again. James and John wanted honor. Bartimaeus wanted sight.

The first request was made right after Jesus told them of his imminent suffering and death. The second request was made after Jesus heard Bartimaeus’ confession of faith: “Son of David…!”

The first one led to a teaching moment. The second one led to a miracle. All three were forever changed as they followed Jesus down the road.

If you were receiving the personal requests that you are making of Jesus these days, what would they sound like to you?

How has Jesus been responding to them? Does the context of your requests or the requests themselves reveal anything about the condition of your heart?

Requests are a wonderful opportunity for Jesus to respond to us in ways that help us become more like him.

Never forget that the goal for us that has been in the mind of God from the beginning is for us to be like Jesus. As that happens, we get to live the best life possible.

No way

But Moses responded to the Lord, “There are 600,000 foot soldiers here with me, and yet you say, I will give them meat for a whole month!” — Numbers 11:18-23

The disciples replied, “Where would we get enough food here in the wilderness for such a huge crowd?” — Matthew 15:32-39

Honestly, some things are just hard to believe.

While on one of my internet rabbit trails, I stumbled across an article about the guy who holds the world record for keeping the body in the plank position.

It was more than eight hours. Not minutes, hours!

I’m good for like 80 seconds. Eight hours is absolutely staggering. Seriously, in normal life, how many people do you know holding a plank for more than eight hours?

“No way!” We hear those words all the time, don’t we?

And then, we read a story about a “plank master” and think, well, maybe there is a way.

From our scriptures above, we discover people have been saying “No way!” to God for thousands of years.

Moses did. The disciples did.

If we look deeply into most of the Biblical characters, we’ll find a “no way” in there somewhere. I wonder if Jesus chuckled to himself just a little when the disciples told him that there was no way they could feed all these people.

“Do you guys remember the story of the quail, the people of Israel in the wilderness and Moses?”

We spend an awful lot of time and energy constricting our lives to those things that fall under “possible.”

We dismiss the nudge of the Holy Spirit to step out into the “no ways” he’s prepared for us.

After all, no one can walk on water, give sight to the blind and command demons to flee.

No one can heal the diseased, create something out of nothing and certainly not walk out of their own grave.

No way.

We naturally drift toward what we see as predictable, manageable, accessible and ordinary.

Perhaps one day we’ll begin to recognize as Moses and the disciples did that God is more than able to make a way when there is no way.

Wiles is senior minister of Fall Creek Christian Church in Pendleton. He can be reached at 765-778-3166.