OK Then!

I love the story in Acts 10 & 11. It's great in so many ways. For one thing it puts this "Gentile" on a level playing field (following field) with all who have ever followed Jesus of any stripe. Without this amazing experience those such and me (and you, my friend) might have been relegated to being second class Jesus followers. For people such as us to have equal standing for Christ's sake is evidence of the Kingdom come! But I guess the part of the story that is most moving to me is the response of the folks in Jerusalem. They were livid that Peter had done what he had-until they heard the full story. Then it seems like they changed their minds-immediately! To do that they had to be steeped in "knowing" Jesus (i.e. being able to predict WWJD in a situation such as that) and they had to trust Peter (that he was telling the truth about what, by God, had happened). What a lesson for contemporary Jesus followers! We must "know" Jesus (i.e. be so familiar with his teachings and his character as revealed in the gospels) that we can recognize what he is up to on our mission fields. And when something new and revolutionary happens we will not dismiss it out of hand, but weigh it for it "Jesusness" and according to the trust we have built with the one who brings it to our attention. By the same token if we have a new word (or experience) from the Lord we will need to be trustworthy for our testimony of it to be recieved gladly by our tribe.