"What is God up to now?" he wondered. "Are you serious, Lord? Did I hear you correctly? You say you want me to withdraw my money from the bank, stop my newspaper, pull up stakes, leave the friends I have grown up with, and move to a somewhere land which has no name?" God did not even give Abraham an Exxon road atlas and a U-Haul trailer. All that he had to go with was faith. "Now I want to see those inner potentials flex their muscles," God reminded the wandering Aramean.

Even more remarkable for Abraham was that he was not in the prime of his life. He was ten years into retirement! He was seventy-five years old! Obviously, his person-to-person call from God forced his faith to sprout wings. He was mobilized to carve out a highway built on faith in and rapport with his Creator. Statistically, Abraham should have failed. He did not have the services of a PR expert, no computer print-outs on how to organize his campaign. I'll say it again, he had faith ... plus a whole lot of heart.

Like Abraham, at one moment in each of our lives Jesus will confront us with a similar question, "Will you follow me?" "Will I so captivate your interests, your mind, your commitment that everything else will become secondary?" Or will we become like Peter on the eve before the Galilean's execution, relectant to take a truth-stand? "Will you love me more than others? Do you really love me? Are you even my friend?"

Each of us can recall the portrait of Jesus knocking at the door. Looking more closely we discover the door knob is missing. It's on the other side. In order for Jesus to enter, we must open it from our side, the faith side. During the Mexican War President James K. Polk levied a special war tax. David Thoreau refused to pay it and was imprisoned. Ralph Waldo Emerson thought that was carrying the issue a bit too far. While visiting him he said, "Henry, Henry, why are you there?" Thoreau replied, "Mr. Emerson, why aren't you here?" Today, the magnetism of the Christ summons us to that "hereness," to keep his truth sunnyside up. As the Master Carpenter he seeks to take up shop in our character. He sees our wealth of potential. With his hands and our faith, his goodness of hope can happen.

In one of his stories he draws upon the analogy of a mustard seed. It's scarcely larger than a pin head. If given proper nourishment and care, it is capable of growing into the largest of shrubs. Jesus did not instruct with parables to prove his creativity as a teacher. They were shared to incubate truths about God and ourselves. The seeds of faith lie dormant within each of us. When we permit him to nurture it with TLC (tender loving care), then the harvest is on its way. Before dying, Governor James Stephen Hogg requested that no monument be placed on his grave. Instead, he asked that a pecan tree be planted at his head and a walnut tree be planted at his foot. "When these trees shall bear, let the pecans and walnuts be given out among the Plains people of Texas, so that they may plant them and make Texas a land of trees." Jesus is both the Lord of the mustard seed and the harvest.

As with the mustard seed, it makes no difference to him whether we are young, poor, unemployed, bashful, or even clumsy. Jesus, in fact, has given considerable attention to "dark horse" sinners who turn mud holes into rainbows. Jesus not only wants good things to happen to us. He wants to be there when it happens. "Let me in on it; I'm a fun person, too."

Eighty percent of success is perseverance. How do you think Michelangelo got the angel out of the rock? The most successful salespersons are those who try and try again. Through bad weather and fatigue, they will make three more calls after five o'clock. Alson J. Smith makes a similar observation about famous persons. Walt Disney was fired from his first job because he didn't have any good ideas. As a boy Thomas Edison was informed by a teacher that he was too stupid to learn anything. Abraham Lincoln entered the Black Hawk War as a captain and came out a private. Louisa May Alcott was told by an editor that her writings lacked a popular appeal.

Take the Bible: it's about the average guy who, when he or she got his/her act together, became shakers. You remember David, a pre-teen shepherd boy, taking down the big man. You remember Moses, the stuttering herdsman who, in a personal interview with God, was directed to liberate his nation from a two-thousand-year-old dynasty. The word "impossible" is not in God's dictionary. He doesn't expect to find it in his people's mentality and faith, either. In the movie, Splash, a produce broker continued to resurrect these words, "Think big, be big." Wasn't Jesus suggesting the same about us? If we are God's highest biological creatures, then why should he expect anything less than our near best? Jesus went so far as to say that we could accomplish greater things than he! He fed 10,000. Could we feed a million? He changed water to wine - and a good port at that. Could we change water into hydrogen and oxygen and solve forever our energy problems? George Washington Carver revolutionized the agriculture of the South with the peanut and the sweet potato. Think what we could do with kudsu and crabgrass!

Jesus performed his healing and nature miracles to illustrate the workings of God's Spirit. More than that he wanted to demonstrate how his power within our seedling talents could be transformed into major miracles. We have that power now. We have that gift ... now. When Jesus said that he would remain with us always, he included our gifts and talents in that category.

Jesus will never abandon us. We should never abandon our dreams, either. If he has confidence in us, then why can't we have confidence in "us"? The difference between mediocrity. and a giant step for our kind is just that. Believing that we can change things is not enough. We must believe we will change our corner of the world. Remember, life is too short to be caught with our rainbows half-painted. Someone whose name we do not know once observed, "When Jesus came, there was no light; when he left, there was no darkness." For this week alone, what one thing will we do to increase the human kilowatt power on our Planet? The choice comes down to "us" where we can either curse the darkness or light a candle.