bigger than words

Something bigger than words happened at camp today.  Something bigger than words always happens at Young Life camps but today I was reminded of how sweet it is to witness when God happens.  At Young Life camps every week there is a period of fifteen minutes where kids just sit still for fifteen minutes and just think about what they have heard about the week.

The entire camp stops.  If you work here you pray.  If you are a leader you pray.  If you’re a kid, well, you do what you do.  At the end of the fifteen minutes the kids go back to their cabins and just talk about about what they did during those fifteen minutes.

During the short period of time when the kids were walking back to their cabins, I walked across camp, passing many faces in the act.  There were those kids that were just walking back, and other kids that started talking to their friend immediately but I passed this one girl and it will stick with me forever.  This girl was by herself and she had tears in her eyes and a smile on her face.  It was obvious that she had been crying.  I noticed the tears but something bigger stuck out to me.  Something bigger had happened in those fifteen minutes that was bigger than words.

Matthew 8:1-4 ¹When he came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him. ²And behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” ³And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. ⁴And Jesus said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a proof to them.”

I read this the other day and I laughed because it is such a brief story but there is so much to it.  First of all, Jesus is funny.  Like, I just imagine Jesus coming down this mountain and one of his disciples is telling him a joke.  The mood just doesn’t really seem serious.

All of the sudden, this leper comes to Jesus and asks him to make him clean and Jesus’ response is just so matter-of fact.  “I will; be clean.”  Jesus didn’t think about it.  The interaction with this man was only four words but it was four words that will change his life for ever.
Just like what happened with that girl during those fifteen minutes, it was a short interaction but there is no doubt that it changed her life forever.

The latter part of this story is what I forget about.  Jesus tells this leper after he heals him to tell no one what happened but rather just go and let his life be proof of what happened.  The leper just needed to let the people see how Jesus had made him clean.

The girl with the tears in her eyes, she didn’t need to tell me anything.  I know that something bigger than words, bigger than life rather happened during those fifteen minutes.  I could see it.  There was something different about her and it was fresh.  It was God making her clean.  I saw God and it was bigger than words.