I want to be like Thomas

Well, here I am starting a new blog. I think it's about time! I've missed writing. But before I get into some new stuff I think it would be good to connect the new with the old blog (www.xanga.com/cookie_monster44) So in honor of my time invested with xanga I'm re-posting my favorite five posts from my years with xanga. And for all the other good posts that didn't make the cut, I've provided links (in order of oldest to most recent) at the bottom of this post to all the ones I think worth preserving so that they may not slide into oblivion. Go ahead, read a couple of them!

The first of my top five is one I've actually posted twice already, and I find worthy of sharing again. Every time I read it it connects deeply with something in my heart and I find myself remembering that I really want to be like the Thomas in this story.
http://www.xanga.com/cookie_monster44/247685329/item.html
http://www.xanga.com/cookie_monster44/525816350/item.html

"As I write about these things, I'm reminded of an evening some companions and I ministered in an orphanage outside Bloemfontein, South Africa. It was a bare-bones, penniless, forgotten operation in the middle of a bare-bones, penniless, forgotten township. The conditions were hard to look at, and even harder to smell, but still miles above what these children would face on the street.

After we spoke to the kids, we prayed for them one by one. It was all very hard on our hearts. These kids had tasted more atrocity in their few years than any dozen people should face in a hundred lifetimes. I was barely hanging on to my emotions the whole evening.

One of my partners was a rugged young guy named Thomas, a strong, zealous kid of about 20 who reminded me of Simon Peter---raw and "out there," and not the most sophisticated guy in the world; but what a burning love for Jesus and compassion for lost and hurting people he had. This was Thomas' first ministry outreach experience.

A little girl in a dirty pink T-shirt went to him for prayer. She was about 12, and like the other kids, she had lived a tale of woe no one should ever have been subjected to, let alone this barefoot beauty. The woman who ran the orphanage told me her story: One day when she was eight, she'd skipped home from school only to find her mother and father gone. The night came and went, the next day came and went, and the next day, and the next. There was no note, no message with a neighbor, nothing---they were just gone. Four years had passed, and that little girl was still hoping, still waiting every day for her mom and dad to come home.

Well, Thomas no sooner began to pray for her than her huge brown eyes filled with tears; and as Thomas continued, she completely broke down, shaking and collapsing into his arms. Thomas broke down right along with her. He fell to his knees, weeping and praying, holding her skinny little frame to his chest. He clutched her as tightly as he could, as if to squeeze the pain out of her.

Thomas held that little girl for a good hour. There was no way he was going to abandon her, no matter how long she needed him to hold her. Finally she cried herself out and just hung in his embrace. To be held like that, to feel loved---it was the whole world to her.

We began to leave around 11:30 P.M. As I was saying goodbye to the staff and kids, Thomas was still on his knees, holding and loving that girl. Barely awake and limp with fatigue, she was finally lifted out of his arms and carried to bed. Thomas remained there by himself for the longest time, his face blotched, his T-shirt soaked with sweat and tears. Eventually he rose to his feet and silently made his way to the car where everyone was waiting.

I can't speak for what anyone else was thinking that night, but as I looked at Thomas collapsed on the floor, clinging to that little girl, I saw Jesus. I saw Jesus with the leper; I saw Jesus with Mary Magdalene; I saw Jesus with me. I just plain saw Jesus."

(excerpt from In The Footsteps of Jesus by Bruce Marchiano, a book you should all read if you haven't already)
































First post ever: On a mission of redemptive love
http://www.xanga.com/cookie_monster44/241796792/item.html

Marchiano leper
http://www.xanga.com/cookie_monster44/245050098/item.html

Marchiano Mary
http://www.xanga.com/cookie_monster44/246421839/item.html

Marchiano Thomas
http://www.xanga.com/cookie_monster44/247685329/item.html

What would I ask for from God above all else?
http://www.xanga.com/cookie_monster44/256592305/item.html

What I would ask for from God above all else.
http://www.xanga.com/cookie_monster44/263820937/item.html

Arthur Blessitt walking alone through South America.
http://www.xanga.com/cookie_monster44/270018418/item.html

The beginning of life again.
http://www.xanga.com/cookie_monster44/419997303/item.html

Life again pt.2
http://www.xanga.com/cookie_monster44/422223209/item.html

Failure to have quiet time
http://www.xanga.com/cookie_monster44/422887459/item.html

Hyde on the boat wrestling over future.
http://www.xanga.com/cookie_monster44/424522295/item.html

Discovering passion again.
http://www.xanga.com/cookie_monster44/428584149/item.html

To die would be a simple thing
http://www.xanga.com/cookie_monster44/432578787/item.html

Christ has no hands but ours
http://www.xanga.com/cookie_monster44/434159829/item.html

Wrestling with sin and perfection.
http://www.xanga.com/cookie_monster44/437384295/item.html

What does perfect or holy mean?
http://www.xanga.com/cookie_monster44/438524161/item.html

Telios
http://www.xanga.com/cookie_monster44/439977676/item.html

Modern Psalms
http://www.xanga.com/cookie_monster44/440114853/item.html

Mom goes to hospital
http://www.xanga.com/cookie_monster44/445033856/item.html

How to live in victory over secular boob-tube-itis
http://www.xanga.com/cookie_monster44/453875431/how-to-live-in-victory-over-secular-boob-tube-itis.html

The real american idol
http://www.xanga.com/cookie_monster44/454415992/item.html

Under attack
http://www.xanga.com/cookie_monster44/457892201/item.html

Praying Hyde Satan fights hardest where he is most afraid of defeat
http://www.xanga.com/cookie_monster44/458367346/doin-somewhat-better.html

My heart--Christ's home: the mind
http://www.xanga.com/cookie_monster44/459807157/item.html

Renewing your mind notes
http://www.xanga.com/cookie_monster44/462840614/item.html

Love is a person
http://www.xanga.com/cookie_monster44/464256864/item.html

What you feed your mind matters http://www.xanga.com/cookie_monster44/466100350/what-you-feed-your-mind-matters.html

Loving What you love
http://www.xanga.com/cookie_monster44/472469817/loving-what-you-love.html

Photographer searching for the money shot of self-discovery
http://www.xanga.com/cookie_monster44/491615717/item.html

Help me to see myself through my lover's eyes
http://www.xanga.com/cookie_monster44/494866370/item.html

The exchanged life
http://www.xanga.com/cookie_monster44/499414629/item.html

Best. Weekend. Ever.
http://www.xanga.com/cookie_monster44/501631797/item.html

First thoughts on Christ in me
http://www.xanga.com/cookie_monster44/502484263/item.html

Marchiano You're just like Jesus
http://www.xanga.com/cookie_monster44/503587343/item.html

Mangled metaphors
http://www.xanga.com/cookie_monster44/505361006/item.html

Marchiano A man of integrity
http://www.xanga.com/cookie_monster44/507671021/item.html

2 Questions part 1
http://www.xanga.com/cookie_monster44/509114434/questions.html

2 Questions part 2
http://www.xanga.com/cookie_monster44/510213074/item.html

Christ in you, the hope of glory
http://www.xanga.com/cookie_monster44/512369544/christ-in-you-the-hope-of-glory.html

Corrie Ten Boom forgiveness
http://www.xanga.com/cookie_monster44/519303394/item.html

Prayer Meeting Attendance and persistence
http://www.xanga.com/cookie_monster44/522594272/item.html

Bloemfontein
http://www.xanga.com/cookie_monster44/525816350/item.html

The Eve of FED 2006
http://www.xanga.com/cookie_monster44/531325664/item.html

The Great Divorce
http://www.xanga.com/cookie_monster44/547273705/item.html

Unity and cells
http://www.xanga.com/cookie_monster44/549256303/item.html

Waiting in the desert...
http://www.xanga.com/cookie_monster44/552278120/item.html

Turning 21
http://www.xanga.com/cookie_monster44/558014279/item.html

Israelite Weddings
http://www.xanga.com/cookie_monster44/558765373/item.html

Onething notes: day 2
http://www.xanga.com/cookie_monster44/559586319/item.html

Every self-defense mechanism I've ever developed tells me not to write this
http://www.xanga.com/cookie_monster44/574910804/item.html

Marchiano: Easter
http://www.xanga.com/cookie_monster44/582646403/item.html

My Last Lecture
http://www.xanga.com/cookie_monster44/586050824/item.html

Manning: palsy-faced
http://www.xanga.com/cookie_monster44/586500139/item.html

Bone of His bone
http://www.xanga.com/cookie_monster44/586707353/item.html

Called to business
http://www.xanga.com/cookie_monster44/587599836/item.html

God Memorandum
http://www.xanga.com/cookie_monster44/591491282/item.html

New Computer
http://www.xanga.com/cookie_monster44/592844621/item.html

How To Write Like Joe
http://www.xanga.com/cookie_monster44/593491443/item.html

At the Name
http://www.xanga.com/cookie_monster44/608559468/item.html

Painting with babies
http://www.xanga.com/cookie_monster44/611095754/item.html

Listening
http://www.xanga.com/cookie_monster44/621904246/item.html

A man of respect for women
http://www.xanga.com/cookie_monster44/624646809/item.html

His coronation
http://www.xanga.com/cookie_monster44/625869344/item.html

Death to the teacher
http://www.xanga.com/cookie_monster44/628856315/item.html

Adaption
http://www.xanga.com/cookie_monster44/643070691/item.html