Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.” – Luke 24:31

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 2, 2017): Luke 24

In 2005, Jon Bon Jovi released his song “Welcome to Wherever You Are.” The song is an anthem of self-affirmation that was apparently written during the 2004 United States Presidential Election season. During the campaign, Bon Jovi had campaigned for John Kerry, who ended up losing to George W. Bush. The song was intended to be a universal anthem of unity. During an interview with Larry King, Bon Jovi admitted "I thought for sure this was going to be a universal, timeless theme song of unity, diversity. Not a hit, not even close. Swing and a miss.”

Still, whether the song was a hit or miss, the lyrics seem to apply to all of us –

Maybe we're all different, but we're still the same
We all got the blood of Eden running through our veins
I know sometimes it's hard for you to see
You're caught between just who you are and who you want to be

If you feel alone and lost and need a friend
Remember every new beginning is some beginning's end

Welcome to wherever you are …

Maybe one of the biggest misconceptions is that in order to come to God, there is movement that we have to make. But that has never been the case. Every parable about God that Jesus told describes this God who came to us. He wasn’t waiting for us to go to him. A perfect illustration of this might be the parable of the Prodigal Son. At the climax of the story, the Father runs toward the son. He doesn’t give him time for his little boy to make his excuses and get cleaned up; he merely wraps his arm around the child that he loves.

Jesus illustrates this same principle with his disciples. When the going got tough, they had run and hid, or denied that they even knew Jesus. And at this moment, while they were still in hiding, Jesus comes to the place where they were. He meets them in the midst of their doubt and their fear and offers to allow them to feel the nail marks in his hands. He doesn’t wait for the disciples to think about the past three years and get their theology straight. He stands in their midst pleading for them to really see him.

This is our God. He is the God who always comes and meets us exactly where we are. Where we are is the place that God starts. It is the place that his love surrounds us. Or, as Jon Bono Jovi says –

When you want to give up, and your heart's about to break
Remember that you're perfect, God makes no mistakes.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: John 20