By Brad Hutchcraft

 

I heard some whispers in church recently that made me smile. That Sunday, we sat down after singing, and a video played introducing a new teaching series. This particular video had some clips about the life of Jesus and the first disciples. As the images appeared on the screen, I heard the voices of two nearby children whisper, "It's Jesus!" Not just once, but they repeated it a few times in their whispers - hushed yet filled with wonder.

 

And a smile crept across my face.

 

Then the thought hit - do I have that hushed wonder in my heart and my words about Jesus? I would like to say that I do, but the reality is that I think it depends. When momentous things happen, like an eclipse, I feel the wonder.

 

"God made two great lights - the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night... And God saw that it was good" (Genesis 1:16, 18).

 

When I think of how He has rescued me, bringing me out of the darkness of my sin and into the light of His salvation, I feel it.

 

"He brought them out of darkness and the deepest gloom and broke away their chains" (Psalm 107:14).

 

When I sit and look out at the ocean or gaze up at the mountains and think of His power over nature, the wonder is there.

 

"He stilled the waves to a whisper; the waves of the sea were hushed" (Psalm 107:29).

 

What God challenged me with when I heard those whispers, was about how I haven't been finding the wonder in the everyday things. But I'm working on it, because I want to get back there. When I see the trees moving from the barrenness of winter to the new life of spring, may my heart whisper, "It's Jesus."

 

When I watch the funny squirrel my family has named Queso get creative to eat birdseed from our "squirrel-proof" bird feeder, and dangle like Tom Cruise doing a Mission Impossible stunt to drink from the hummingbird feeder - do I have the wonder and whisper, "It's Jesus."

 

When I hear my children bust out in laughter together in the other room, oh that I would pause in the midst of the busyness and rejoice in those joyful sounds, letting my heart ring out once again with "It's Jesus!"

 

Check this out - the Bible says that "out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks" (Luke 6:45). So the equation seems pretty simple: A (seeing the "normal" through eyes of wonder) + B (praising Jesus because so much of what I see is Him at work) = C (speaking more words filled with joy, peace, encouragement and hope).

 

That's the life I want to live with more consistency - so that my wife, my children, and the world around me might catch me whispering those very words of wonder, "It's Jesus!"

 

Check out more from Ron Hutchcraft @Hutchcraft.com