REV. DORAL PULLEY | Today’s Church Tampa Bay
Our mantra for today is “I am a marvel, you are a marvel, and we are marvels.” As you were growing up, who was your favorite superhero? Was it Superwoman, Wonder Woman, Batman or Superman? These characters possessed superhuman abilities that surpassed human norms and exceeded earthly limitations. Each of them had a unique superpower. Reflect on who your favorite superhero was and what made them so super. What made them so marvelous was their ability to surpass what was considered normal. They were supernatural, extraordinary, and not ordinary; they were marvels.
I am here to tell you that Jesus was a marvel. He performed miracles, signs, and wonders that were beyond human understanding. Wonders have to do with nature, just like the trees, birds, and water around me. Wonders have to do with your ability to navigate nature and realize the power and authority you have over it.
When Jesus spoke to the winds and the waves and said, “Peace be still,” he realized that he was a marvel and had power over nature. The people around him were amazed, questioning what kind of man this was, that even the winds and the waves obeyed his voice. Jesus was able to perform marvels because he was a marvel himself. He walked on water, defying gravity and even empowered Peter to do the same. He was a wonder. You too are a marvel, but sometimes we cannot manifest our own marvelousness because we do not understand nature.
Many times, when natural occurrences happen, people call it an act of God, a travesty, or a tragedy. They see it as a calamity, but it is simply an occurrence. Floods, hurricanes, fires, tornadoes, and volcanoes are occurrences that will keep happening. You will never be a marvel if these natural occurrences take you off course because they have been happening before we arrived and will continue to happen when we are gone.
Once we realize that these events are just occurrences, we can move toward an understanding that they are the earth’s way of communicating as an organism. The earth has its bodily functions, just like humans. It can have heartburn, gas, cry, and even throw up (volcanoes). All these phenomena occur because the earth is living and breathing. We get our bodily functions and physical beings from the earth and thus should not be shocked when it undergoes its own bodily changes.
Once we understand that natural events are just an organism’s bodily functions, we can begin to see them as opportunities: an opportunity to create, to recreate, to support one another, to take better care of the earth. Once we know that everything that occurs on the earth is an opportunity, we can see things in a different light. I AM a Wonder (Acts 2:22)
Rev. Doral Pulley is the senior pastor of Today’s Church Tampa Bay, 2114 54th Ave. N, St. Petersburg, and 3501 North 26th St., Tampa.
