Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Since entering the ministry in 1978, Max Lucado has served churches in Miami, Florida; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and San Antonio, Texas. He currently serves as Teaching Minister of Oak Hills Church in San Antonio. He is the recipient of the 2021 ECPA Pinnacle Award for his outstanding contribution to the publishing industry and society at large. He is America’s bestselling inspirational author with more than 145 million products in print.

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The Max Lucado Encouraging Word Podcast

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Cast of Characters Lost & Found

Thomas Nelson

Contents

Chapter 1: Jairus Seeing the Unseen.................................................................1Chapter 2: Simon and Mary Risky Love................................................................11Chapter 3: Jacob Wrestling with the Past............................................................21Chapter 4: Cornelius Stable the High Horse..........................................................27Chapter 5: The Woman with the Issue of Blood A Crazy Hunch and a High Hope..........................37Chapter 6: Philip Blast a Few Walls.................................................................47Chapter 7: The Paralyzed Man The Hardest Thing God Ever Did.........................................57Chapter 8: Noah When You're Low on Hope.............................................................67Chapter 9: The Woman Caught in Adultery Overcoming Shame............................................79Chapter 10: Peter and John When Persecution Comes...................................................89Chapter 11: Nicodemus What Only God Can Do..........................................................99Chapter 12: Ananias and Saul Don't Write Off Anyone.................................................109Chapter 13: David Colossal Collapses................................................................119Chapter 14: Jesus' Brothers Feudin' Families Finding Peace..........................................129Chapter 15: The Crippled Man at the Beautiful Gate See the Need; Touch the Hurt.....................139Chapter 16: Isaiah Holy Different...................................................................149Chapter 17: The Gadarene Demoniac Getting the Hell Out..............................................159Chapter 18: The Leper Jesus Healed A Compassionate Touch............................................167Chapter 19: Mephibosheth When Grace Goes Deep.......................................................179Chapter 20: Josiah Overcoming Your Heritage.........................................................189Chapter 21: Job He Speaks Through the Storm.........................................................199Chapter 22: Peter The Crowing Rooster and Me........................................................209Chapter 23: The Thief on the Cross The Tale of the Crucified Crook..................................219Notes................................................................................................227Sources..............................................................................................230

Chapter One

When Jesus went in the boat back to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him there. A leader of the synagogue, named Jairus, came there, saw Jesus, and fell at his feet. He begged Jesus, saying again and again, "My daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so she will be healed and will live." So Jesus went with him....

While Jesus was still speaking, some people came from the house of the synagogue leader. They said, "Your daughter is dead. There is no need to bother the teacher anymore."

But Jesus paid no attention to what they said. He told the synagogue leader, "Don't be afraid; just believe."

Jesus let only Peter, James, and John the brother of James go with him. When they came to the house of the synagogue leader, Jesus found many people there making lots of noise and crying loudly. Jesus entered the house and said to them, "Why are you crying and making so much noise? The child is not dead, only asleep." But they laughed at him. So, after throwing them out of the house, Jesus took the child's father and mother and his three followers into the room where the child was. Taking hold of the girl's hand, he said to her, "Talitha, koum!" (This means, "Young girl, I tell you to stand up!") At once the girl stood right up and began walking. (She was twelve years old.) Everyone was completely amazed. Jesus gave them strict orders not to tell people about this. Then he told them to give the girl something to eat.

—Mark 5:21–24, 35–43

Seeing the Unseen

When my daughters were young, we tried an experiment. I asked Jenna, then eight years old, to go to one side of the den. I had Andrea, six, stand on the other. Three-year-old Sara and I sat on the couch in the middle and watched. Jenna's job was to close her eyes and walk. Andrea's job was to be Jenna's eyes and talk her safely across the room.

With phrases like, "Take two baby steps to the left" and, "Take four giant steps straight ahead," Andrea successfully navigated her sister through a treacherous maze of chairs, a vacuum cleaner, and a laundry basket.

Then Jenna took her turn. She guided Andrea past her mom's favorite lamp and shouted just in time to keep her from colliding into the wall when she thought her right foot was her left foot.

After several treks through the darkness, they stopped and we processed.

"I didn't like it," Jenna complained. "It's scary going where you can't see."

"I was afraid I was going to fall," Andrea agreed. "I kept taking little steps to be safe."

I can relate, can't you? We grown-ups don't like the dark either. But we walk in it. We, like Jenna, often complain about how scary it is to walk where we can't see. And we, like Andrea, often take timid steps so we won't fall.

We've reason to be cautious: We are blind. We can't see the future. We have absolutely no vision beyond the present. I can't tell you with certainty that I will live long enough to finish this paragraph. (Whew, I did!) Nor can you tell me you'll live long enough to read the next one. (Hope you do!)

I'm not talking nearsightedness or obstructed view; I'm talking opaque blindness. I'm not talking about a condition that passes with childhood; I'm describing a condition that passes only with death. We are blind. Blind to the future.

It's one limitation we all share. The wealthy are just as blind as the poor. The educated are just as sightless as the unschooled. And the famous know as little about the future as the unknown.

None of us know how our children will turn out. None of us know the day we will die. No one knows whom he or she will marry or even if marriage lies before him or her. We are universally, absolutely, unalterably blind.

We are all Jenna with her eyes shut, groping through a dark room, listening for a familiar voice—but with one difference. Her surroundings are familiar and friendly. Ours can be hostile and fatal. Her worst fear is a stubbed toe. Our worst fear is more threatening: cancer, divorce, loneliness, death.

And try as we might to walk as straight as we can, chances are a toe is going to get stubbed and we are going to get hurt.

Just ask Jairus. He is a man who has tried to walk as straight as he can. But Jairus was a man whose path has taken a sudden turn into a cave—a dark cave. And he doesn't want to enter it alone.

Jairus is the leader of the synagogue. That may not mean much to you and me, but in the days of Christ the leader of the synagogue was the most important man in the community. The synagogue was the center of religion, education, leadership, and social activity. The leader of the synagogue was the senior...