Connecting hearts

But Jesus prays for us

Hebrews 7:23-25 There were many priests under the old system, for death prevented them from remaining in office. But because Jesus lives forever, his priesthood lasts forever … He lives forever to intercede with God on our behalf.

Lent. What is it, exactly?

Since I didn’t grow up or live most of my life knowing about or practicing Lent, I’ve been asking God for a concept or image to help me understand it. In the Ash Wednesday service yesterday, we were invited to observe a holy Lent because since early times:

“ … the whole congregation was put in mind of the message of pardon and absolution set forth in the Gospel of our Savior, and of the need that all Christians continually have to renew our repentance and faith. … Let us now pray for grace, that we may faithfully keep this Lent.”

This morning I read chapter 8 of Dane Ortlund’s beautiful book, Gentle and Lowly, The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers, which takes a deep dive into Hebrews 7:25. Ortlund describes Jesus’s heart as so warm toward us that he is constantly talking to the Father about us. “Christ does not intercede because the Father’s heart is tepid toward us but because the Son’s heart is so full toward us. But the Father’s own deepest delight is to say yes to the Son’s pleading on our behalf. … The intercession of Christ is his heart connecting our heart to the Father’s heart.”

This is beautiful. And for me to benefit from Christ’s intercession for me, I need to open my heart to his. Jesus doesn’t force his way. He gently invites me to connect with him.

So this is my image for Lent: my heart open and connecting with his, so that he can cleanse and heal and grow his beauty and grace in me.

But how do I translate that into an image for this blog? My mind flooded with the memory of a very special prayer time with a Christian therapist who helped me heal from PTSD. I found myself in a beautiful sunny meadow, romping with Jesus as a small child, maybe four or five. Just the two of us. Jesus seemed to have all the time in the world, as happy to be playing with me as I was thrilled to be with him.

At one point Jesus fell laughing to the ground, and I ran to sit beside him. A gorgeous blue butterfly settled on his shoulder. He reached out, the butterfly crawled onto his hand, and he extended it to me. “The butterfly will be scared of me and fly away,” I thought. But it didn’t. Breathless, I watched it come to me. I trembled with delight. Jesus and I played with the butterfly for a long time.

When my therapist gently touched me and brought me back from this vision, I knew I was not alone. Whatever I had to deal with, Jesus was with me.

I ran to find paper and colored pencils to try to draw the butterfly. I’m not an artist and couldn’t capture its beauty. But I believe the butterfly was (is) the Holy Spirit.

So that’s the image I’ve placed as the header for this Lenten season. A symbol for me of connection with the Trinity through the Holy Spirit who draws me into Jesus’s heart of love, and through him to the Father.

Jesus’s work on my behalf isn’t just a thing he did in the distant past. He LIVES to intercede for me. And for you. His love for us is as fervent today as the passion that took him to suffering and death. And resurrection. For our transformation.

God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns (Philippians 1:6).

No, don’t be quiet

But Jesus heals us so we can see

Mark 10:46-52 As Jesus and his disciples left Jericho, a blind beggar named Bartimaeus was sitting beside the road. When he heard that Jesus of Nazareth was nearby, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” “Be quiet!” many of the people yelled at him. … But Jesus stopped and said, “Tell him to come here.” So they called the blind man. “Cheer up! Come on, he’s calling you!” Bartimaeus threw aside his coat, jumped up, and came to Jesus. “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked. “My rabbi,” the blind man said. “I want to see!” And Jesus said to him, “Go, for your faith has healed you.” Instantly the man could see, and he followed Jesus.

Epiphany. A season of revelation. Of a clearer vision of Jesus.

It seems fitting that the last story in Mark before the events of Holy Week is about seeing. And that yesterday, Christians around the world considered Jesus’s transfiguration, as a portion of Jesus’s glory was revealed to his followers, Moses (representing the law), and Elijah (representing the prophets). The Father said, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him” (Mark 9:1-8), then Moses and Elijah were gone, and the disciples saw only Jesus.

How have you seen Jesus during these weeks of Epiphany? Has God opened your eyes in some way? Has he spoken to you personally or acted on your behalf to change the direction things were going? What’s your story of encounter with God?

Between Epiphany and Holy Week, we walk with Jesus through Lent. Many evangelical Christians don’t have experience with observing Lent. I knew nothing about it when I was growing up. On Thursday I plan to post my current thoughts and recent experience of Lent. Perhaps you’ll want to take steps toward honoring this in-between season, observed by many in Christ’s church almost from the beginning.

Also during the weeks of Lent (Feb. 23-April 1), I want to publish your story about how you have seen God’s revelation of Jesus during Epiphany. Write it down in one page and send it to me at debrakornfield@gmail.com. Your story will encourage others and you’ll have it to refer to yourself when you need reassurance that God sees you and cares for you.

During Epiphany, we’ve been looking at the question, “Who is this man?” from Mark’s point of view. Perhaps you’d like to look back over the topics we’ve considered since January 6. Ask God to open your eyes to see what he wants to show you and to open your ears to hear the words of love he is always speaking to you.

“I want to see!” The passion and desire of a lifetime poured into Bartimaeus’s words. I love that Jesus asked him what he wanted, giving this man the opportunity to use his voice and express what had been stomped down inside him his whole life.

Do you, too, want to see? Don’t be quiet. Cry out to the Lord for his mercy and healing.

Are you salty?

But Jesus was a poet

Mark 9:50 Salt is good for seasoning. But if it loses its flavor, how do you make it salty again? You must have the qualities of salt among yourselves and live in peace with each other.

A doctor. A groom. Old cloth and new cloth. Old wineskins and new. Civil war. A farmer, seed, thorns, birds, good and bad soil. A lamp, a basket, and a bed. A mustard seed. Food. A cup of water. A millstone. Salt.

Jesus may not have written poetry per se, but he was a poet. In the first nine chapters of his Gospel, Mark recorded Jesus using all these images. Imagery—described by Ezra Pound as “an intellectual and emotional complex in an instant of time”—is the primary resource of poets, using concrete objects to elicit sensory responses. Imagery, a product of imagination, touches our own imaginations and communicates both more deeply and broadly than simple prose. The more we think about an image, the more we learn from it.

Take salt, for example. We mostly think of salt as providing flavor. In Jesus’s time, though, fish and meat were preserved by drying and salting. It’s still done today. I was surprised our first Christmas in Brazil to see rows of fish hanging from the ceiling of supermarkets or heaped in large bins. I learned this was bacalhau, dried and salted cod. Bacalhau is used in a variety of Brazilian dishes, but it’s now expensive enough to be reserved by most people for special holidays.

Salt has also been used since ancient times as a disinfectant. Gargling with salt water can help a sore throat. If you skin your knee while camping and didn’t bring a disinfectant with you, you can clean the wound with salt water. It kills microbes by dehydrating them.

A high school friend of Karis’s once told me that if she approached a group of classmates sometimes one of them would say, “Stay away a minute, Karis. You won’t like this story I’m telling.” Gossip and off-color stories weren’t part of the conversation when she was around. “But,” her friend said, “she was so much fun we loved having her with us. She was always up to something intriguing or mischievous.”

Jesus’s hearers would not have associated being salty with our concept of a “salty conversation,” or reacting to a slight or minor loss in a “salty” manner. These more recent idioms mean the opposite of what Jesus was saying!

We don’t “get” how salt can lose its flavor. But Jesus’s hearers would have known that the salt in the Dead Sea didn’t taste salty. It looked like salt and had other qualities of salt, but it contained gypsum, which altered its flavor.

So how can the qualities of salt help us (and could have helped Jesus’s followers) to live in peace with each other? Adding flavor (the delight of different personalities!), preserving the life-giving dynamics of friendships, cleansing away damaging elements … All this and more (what are your thoughts?) is summed up in one simple poetic image: salt.

The upside-down Kingdom

But God’s Kingdom functions differently Feb 13, 2023

Mark 9:35 Whoever wants to be first must take last place and be the servant of everyone else.

Mark 10:31 Many who are the greatest now will be least important in the world to come, and those who seem least important now will be the greatest then.

Saturday we had a delightful women’s retreat at our church that was a total group effort. Besides our planning team of five, we had ten table leaders, three intercessors, a musician who came to help with the worship, three babysitters, three caterers, two custodians, one artist who designed the cover of our handout, and at least six others who helped in various ways behind the scenes. Every person’s contribution mattered.

Thank you, Elise!

For me, part of what made the retreat lovely was the wonderful attitude of each person involved. I detected zero ambition to impress, to be noticed (even for being a great servant!), or to profit from the event for some private self-serving agenda.

I believe God smiled. And we felt his joy.

I’ve thought of a way you can serve people you don’t even know, honor the Lord, and make me smile:

Stop for a moment and think about your last week or month. Where has God met you or cared for you in a special way? In what situation did you face difficulty BUT GOD intervened and changed the outcome in ways only he can do? Perhaps you are still dealing with that situation but God has changed your attitude about it … Sometimes we’re so busy or focused on resolving the challenges of life that we don’t stop to notice what God is doing, loving us through others, surprising us with his provision … Or maybe he has encouraged you by bringing to mind something special he did for you in the past.

Write down one of those “God encounters” in one page and send it to me (debrakornfield@gmail.com) to post during Lent. I want the blog posts during Lent to be full of YOUR God-honoring stories, giving evidence of his involvement and care in our world now. I’m looking for ten stories to share between Ash Wednesday (2/22) and Good Friday (4/7).

The “God encounter” stories eight women spontaneously shared at the retreat were some of the richest takeaways for me personally. You don’t know how much your experience can bless and encourage someone else. And writing it down will preserve the memory of God’s goodness for you to refer to when you need encouragement.

I KNOW God is at work in your life, loving you and caring for you. If you don’t see it, ask him to show you, and maybe talk through with someone you trust what you’re experiencing. It can even be anonymous if you feel better that way, though I believe God is honored when we “own” his love for us.

I can’t wait to read and share your story!

All the children of the world

But Jesus says the Kingdom belongs to those who receive it like a child

Mark 9:34-37 The disciples had been arguing about which of them was the greatest. Jesus called them over to him, and said, “Whoever wants to be first must take last place and be the servant of everyone else. Then he put a little child among them. Taking the child in his arms, he said to them, “Anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes not only me but also my Father who sent me.”

Mark 10:13-17 One day some parents brought their children to Jesus so he could bless them. But the disciples scolded the parents for bothering him. When Jesus saw what was happening, he was angry with his disciples. He said to them, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children. I tell you the truth, anyone who doesn’t receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.” Then he took the children in his arms and placed his hands on their heads and blessed them.

If you’re like me, the most heart-wrenching stories and photos coming out of southern Turkey are the children, injured if they’re still alive, freezing, hungry, without shelter and often without their families. Lord, have mercy.

In my imagination, Karis and her brother Michael are among those welcoming into Heaven the children who did not survive the earthquake, caring for them with tender love.

Heaven feels so close.

And our petty quarrels and power struggles so ridiculous.

Jesus loves me. This, I know.

Remembering Karis, by Valerie Kornfield Schalm, Pittsburgh

But God’s grace is wonderful

Acts 20:24 But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned my by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God.

Valerie posted this reflection yesterday on her Facebook page.

Nine years ago, we said goodbye to Karis Joy.

With our family gathered today, we lit a candle, said a prayer, and remembered Karis with gratitude and longing (saudades)!

Among other things, we talked about…

…how delighted she would have been to welcome Dan to Pittsburgh, and how she would have loved his new house – with the big picture window, the deck in the back with a beautiful view, and the spacious kitchen…

…how Mom and Karis used to plan escapes from Montefiore Hospital during her free time and have great adventures, Mom pushing her wheelchair and IV pole up and down the Oakland streets, to the library (she had to be taken back to the hospital by the police), getting shut out of Montefiore in the maze of underground passageways connecting the various Oakland hospitals, popping up once in the psychiatric hospital and being taken as one of their patients, taking tunnels or going overland to the Children’s Hospital to visit patients there, to the Phipps Conservatory outdoor garden, even making it through upper Pitt campus all the way to the Franzen’s house once…

…how vibrant and strong and full of life she was, vivacious, passionate, excited about a million plans and projects and people, especially in times when illness did not limit her as much…

…how the struggle of her decline was a combination of losing physical and mental capacity…

…how she tried so many times to fix Abuelita’s (my Dad’s mom’s) old piano and took it with her from South Bend to each of her homes in Pittsburgh…

…how her dreams sometimes seemed too lofty, but sometimes found serendipity, like when she planned a fundraising website for a program serving underprivileged children near our home in São Paulo, and received a donation of $10,000…

…how she loved to create and enjoy art, and took several of us to local art shows and exhibits…

…how my work is connected to her life, both in the PICU and with wound and ostomy care. I hope to honor her and bless other patients and families as I connect with them in times of need…

Karis, we love you and miss you! Thank you for the ways you continue to walk with us. We look forward to the day when our eyes touch again!

Who is this man?

But Jesus cares

Mark 4:35-41 As evening came, Jesus said to his disciples, “Let’s cross to the other side of the lake.” So they took Jesus in the boat and started out. … But soon a fierce storm came up. … Jesus was sleeping at the back of the boat. The disciples woke him up, shouting, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to drown?” Jesus rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Silence! Be still! Suddenly the wind stopped and there was a great calm. Then he asked them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?” The disciples were absolutely terrified. “Who is this man?” they asked each other. “Even the wind and waves obey him!”

Mark 8:27-29 Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do people say I am?” “Well,” they replied. “Some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say you are one of the other prophets.” Then Jesus asked them, “But who do you say I am?” Peter replied, “You are the Messiah.”

Teacher … Messiah. What a huge leap from one to the other. Messiah, the Anointed One, the Son of God, the Savior, Redeemer, Rescuer, Lord.

A friend recently told me, “I admire Jesus. I learn a lot from him. But I don’t believe he is God.” I thought but didn’t say, You’re in Mark 4. But Mark 8 is coming!

A lot happened between Mark 4 and Mark 8. The disciples saw Jesus bring peace to a man who had been tortured by a legion of demons, heal a frightened woman sick for twelve years, bring a dead twelve-year-old back to life, suffer rejection in his home town, give them authority to heal, feed five thousand men plus women and children from one boy’s lunch, walk on water, free a Gentile child from a plaguing demon, restore hearing to a deaf man and sight to a blind one, feed four thousand more people …

What do you need to make the jump from “Teacher” to “Messiah”? Can you accept the testimony of those who walked with Jesus day in and day out, who witnessed his power and compassion and listened to his wisdom? Ask the Father. Don’t stop asking, seeking, knocking.

In The Inner Voice of Love, Henri Nouwen writes beautifully about Jesus calming the wind and waves in the story told in Mark 6:45-50, when the disciples still didn’t “get” who he really was. Here’s part of what Nouwen says:

… waves cover you and want to sweep you off your feet … feeling rejected, forgotten, misunderstood. Feeling anger, resentment, or even the desire for revenge, self-pity, self-rejection. These waves make you feel powerless. What are you to do? Make the conscious choice to move the attention of your anxious heart away from these waves and direct it to the One who walks on them and says, “It’s me. Don’t be afraid.” … He is very close to you and will put your soul to rest.

Jesus does care.

What’s in a name?

But Jesus gave nicknames

Mark 3:16-17 These are the twelve Jesus chose: Simon (whom he named Peter), James and John (the sons of Zebedee, but Jesus nicknamed them ‘Sons of Thunder’).

Isaiah 49:1, 15-16 The Lord called me before my birth; from within the womb he called me by name. … Can a mother forget her nursing child? Can she feel no love for the child she has borne? But even if that were possible, I would not forget you! See, I have written your name on the palms of my hands.

John 10:3 The sheep recognize his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name.

1 Peter 1:2 God the Father knew you and chose you long ago.

Some nicknames are affectionate and delightful. Others carry a sting. And others represent a change in language or culture or context. Saul, for example, began calling himself Paul on his first missionary journey, switching from a Hebrew name to a Greco-Roman name as he reached out to non-Jewish people.

A prayer warrior name Leanne Payne (now in heaven) used to say, “Listen to the words of love God is always saying to you.” Think about it: the sovereign Lord of the universe always speaking words of love to YOU. We miss them because we’re so focused on or distracted by everything else in our lives. But if we’re quiet before him and ask him to open our ears, we can hear his voice centering, calming, nourishing, and encouraging us with his love.

I meet weekly on Zoom with a group of women from several different South American countries. We rotate leadership of our meetings. A few weeks ago, our leader surprised us by giving each of us a nickname which had come to her as she prayed for us. It felt like a glimpse into God’s heart of love for each of us individually; we felt “seen” for something special about who we are. The gals have referred to this in later meetings. It clearly had deep impact for each of us.

So, I invite you to ask the Lord for his special name for you. Don’t overthink this. Simply set aside a few minutes be still, ask him, and listen to his response. If you’d like to share with me, I would love to hear what happens. If it’s hard for you to hear him, you might want to ask someone else to pray and listen with you.

My prayer is that you find this experience so rewarding you can’t wait to do it again. Maybe every day!

Next time we’ll think about the names we use for God.

Gentle, meek, and mild?

But Jesus got angry

Mark 3:1-5 Jesus went into the synagogue again and noticed a man with a deformed hand. Since it was the Sabbath, Jesus’ enemies watched him closely. If he healed the man’s hand, they planned to accuse him of working on the Sabbath. Jesus said to the man with the deformed hand, “Come and stand in front of everyone.” Then he turned to his critics and asked, “Does the law permit good deeds on the Sabbath, or is it a day for doing evil? Is this a day to save life or destroy it?” But they wouldn’t answer him. He looked around at them angrily and was deeply saddened by their hard hearts.

Ephesians 4:26 Don’t sin by letting anger control you. Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry.

Hebrews 12:15 Look after each other so that none of you fails to receive the grace of God. Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many.

James 3:14-15 If you are bitterly jealous and there is selfish ambition in your heart, don’t cover up the truth with boasting and lying. For jealousy and selfishness are not God’s kind of wisdom.

All my life I’ve been afraid of anger, because in my experience anger was linked to emotional and physical violence. So when I came to this story in Mark, my first instinct was to skip over it in favor of something more positive and cheerful. I could write, for example, about the stunning rainbow that hovered over Pittsburgh Wednesday afternoon …

Shutterstock: Pushish Images

But God didn’t let me get away with that. In the background of my thoughts, I kept wrestling with the issue of anger and how I would just shrivel up or melt into a puddle on the floor if I perceived Jesus was angry with me.

I am in no way an expert on dealing with anger. Far from it! But here are a few simple guidelines that seem helpful to me at this moment in my journey.

Anger is an emotion we all feel—unless we’re in denial. Ignoring it doesn’t make it go away. If we don’t give it proper attention, it may instead turn inward and become a “secondary” emotion, hurting us and others through depression, bitterness, apathy, resentment, unhealed grief, or other emotional states. When anger settles in, as part of our emotional furniture, it becomes harmful. Hence the wisdom of Ephesians 4:26.

If we feel anger, we need to pay attention to it. “Primary” emotions, I’m told, surge and then recede in our bodies in about 90 seconds. Until the emotion has passed through, we shouldn’t take any action. But once the emotion has dissipated, we can ask ourselves questions: What was the source of the anger? Against what or whom was it directed? Was it appropriate, i.e. did its intensity match the severity of the provocation? What did I want to do while I was feeling the emotion? Is that action appropriate, i.e. will it reduce or escalate the perceived threat? What else is going on in my life that could intensify the feeling of anger (fear, fatigue, stress, the sense of repeated offense, a feeling of impotence, a narrative I am telling myself about this person or situation …)? Anger can show us a lot about ourselves and the condition of our souls.

Anger is our body’s response to the perception that something is wrong. We need to pay attention to this and decide what to do about it. There is always something we can do about perceived injustice, even if it is “only” relinquishing our pain to God and praying for those who have offended or hurt us. The Scriptures are full of references to God’s justice and the wisdom of entrusting to him those situations we are not properly positioned to do anything about. But often there is something positive we can do, contributing to God’s purposes of healing and redemption, rather than harm and destruction.

The energy of anger propels us to act. This can be a good thing, or it can be terrible. Good actions can be carried out calmly. The impulse of the feeling of anger, though, can often be harmful. Self-control includes hanging in there with the seemingly interminable 90 seconds so we can then evaluate possible actions with our rational brain engaged, not just our impulsive brain. If I yell and hit back when my child yells and hits, for a moment I may feel relief, but the fruit of those actions will damage my child and his or her trust in me.

Thinking about all this took me back to the story in Mark 3, and to the other references cited above. One thought I had (and I would love to hear yours!) is that Jesus’s frustration with the religious leaders opened a window of opportunity for them to see things differently. They placed enforcement of their (mis)interpretation of the law ahead of the wellbeing of one of their congregants. Had their hearts been in tune with God’s loving heart, they could have seen grace in what Jesus did, and wonderful rejoicing could have strengthened all present. Instead, they went away to plot how they could kill Jesus.

Jesus was not for one second out of control of himself and his actions. The religious leaders’ offense had become engrained. Not even Jesus could “make” them change their minds and hearts. Yet he offered them an invitation, through bringing to light the condition of their hearts. An opportunity to repent, to change, to grow. To respond positively to truth.

Your thoughts about this complex topic?

It’s only a matter of time

But Jesus’s perspective is different

Mark 1:34, 41; 2:11 Jesus healed many people who were sick with various diseases … Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out and healed the leper. “I am willing,” he said. “Be healed!” … Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home.”

2 Corinthians 12:8-9 Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away [a tormenting “thorn” in Paul’s body]. Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.”

How can a loving father with power to heal, NOT heal his beloved daughter?

Karis took this vexing question to the Lord again and again during her life. At age 11, she chose 2 Corinthians 12:8-9 as her life verses. She referred to them often in journals when she details her intimate conversations with God. Another frequent phrase is, “Don’t ask why. Ask what for.” Her high view of God’s sovereignty, combined with her absolute trust in his love for her, led her to look constantly for what he was doing through her difficult circumstances. I came to expect this question when we were once again in crisis and on the way to the hospital: “I wonder who’s there this time who needs to see God’s love?”

I mentioned on the last blog that the conversation between Jesus and Little James in the second episode of Season 3 of The Chosen could have been lifted from Karis’s journals. Here’s my transcript. It’s not complete but most of the conversation is there, in case you want to refer back to it later.

Jesus has just instructed the twelve disciples to go out two by two in different directions, giving them the authority to heal, as they have seen him heal many people. Lame Little James asks Jesus for a conversation afterwards.

James: How can I heal others when you haven’t healed me?

Jesus: Do you want to be healed?

James: Yes. Why haven’t you?

Jesus: Because I trust you.

James: What?

Jesus: Precious Little James, listen carefully. Within the Father’s will, I could heal you right now, and you would have a good story to tell.

James: That you do miracles.

Jesus: Yes. That’s a good story to tell. But there are already dozens who can tell that story, and there will be hundreds more, even thousands. But think of the story that you have if I don’t heal you. That you still praise God in spite of this [disability]. That you know how to focus on all that matters so much more than the body. That you show people you can be patient with your suffering her on earth, because you know you can spend eternity with no suffering. Not everyone can understand that. How many people do you think the Father and I trust this with? Not many.

James: But the other disciples—they’re so much more …

Jesus: Are you fast, impressive when you walk? Maybe not. But these are things the Father doesn’t care about. You are going to do more for me than most people ever dream. So many people need healing in order to believe in me … That doesn’t apply to you. And many are healed or not healed because the Father has a plan for them which may be a mystery. And we remember what Job says, “The Lord gives and the Lord takes away.”

James joins Jesus saying: “Blessed be the name of the Lord.”

Jesus: When you pass from this earth and you meet your Father in heaven, Isaiah promises you will leap like a deer. Your reward will be great. So hold on a little longer. And when you discover yourself finding true strength because of your weakness, and when you do great things in my name in spite of this [your lameness], the impact will last for generations. Do you understand?

James, with tears: Yes. Thank you, Master.

Jesus: A man like you healing others. Oh, what a sight! I can’t wait to hear your stories.

Jesus starts to walk away after they bless each other but turns back.

Jesus: And James, you will be healed. It’s only a matter of time.

Karis’s famous smile … on a Christmas day in the hospital