You know what’s great? The Unexpected. Like this photo of my favourite window in Cambridge. Because that Santa hat is still there, and it was there when I was working here in the summer as well.
And what I was reading in my Bible yesterday reminded me of this because I was reading Acts 12, Peter’s miraculous escape from prison, and the servant Rhoda gets a shout-out in verses 13-14 for being absolutely wonderful:
13 Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant named Rhoda came to answer the door. 14 When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, “Peter is at the door!”
I just love how eager and surprised Rhoda is here, and I love the humanity of what she does – forgetting what she’s meant to be doing because of her excitement. There are so many times when I’m reading scripture that I stop and just marvel at how amazing it is that certain things are included. I think it’s fantastic that the absent-mindedness of a servant features in the account of a miracle orchestrated by God.
And actually, this is the whole beauty of the gospel and of scripture too. Reality doesn’t fit into neat boxes and doesn’t go the way you’d expect, and that’s so hugely apparent in Christianity. It’s a religion that you couldn’t have guessed. The universe it offers us, the King it gives us, isn’t the one we’d make up for ourselves. The events of scripture have these peculiar twists, the oddness of humanity, in such a way that their truthfulness shines through.
thejoyofrachel 