Expect the Unexpected

Written by Louise Cheek on a women's encouragement thread

Last month I went to a small group women's retreat.  Just an hour away in Norman, OK, it was a time to get away from the busyness of life and have time to think and pray.  On Saturday afternoon we were given about 3 hours of alone time.  It was nice and sunny but not too hot, so I sat outside (with my hat on of course, to shade my face).  I sat for quite awhile, asking the LORD what He wanted me to read, think about, pray about, etc.  I had no "bolt of lightning" answer.  But as I took the time to just sit in His presence, I thought that I would read some scripture in the same way that I work with my therapy students in reading comprehension.  Together we read a sentence, a paragraph, few paragraphs, or a page, depending on their stage of comprehension.  Actually, I will model this technique for them with the first paragraph, then they will do the second paragraph, and so on.  These are the steps we do:  

1) RESTATE the main idea of paragraph in one sentence 

2) choose a vocabulary word to DEFINE

3) ask the other person a QUESTION about the paragraph 

4) PREDICT what will happen next.

I had recently started reading in Acts, so I just picked up where I had left off at chapter 3. The first paragraph was verses 3-5.  Here are my thoughts as I wrote them down that day:

1) RESTATE

When the man crippled from birth requested monetary aid from Peter and John as they approached the entrance to the temple, Peter sought the man's full attention by saying, "Look at us!" 

2) DEFINE

ATTENTION: current thinking, presence of mind, focus of thoughts 

3) QUESTION

Why did Peter seek attention from the man, even as the man was seeking Peter's and John's attention?  (Perhaps the man was mindlessly calling out to each who passed by without paying attention.  Maybe Peter was preparing the man to receive something unexpected, something more than money.)

4) PREDICT

 the unexpected is about to happen, divine intervention!! This was unexpected to the crippled man, but it was not so for Peter.  Peter was prepared, he expected to be used by God that day and was ready for it when the opportunity came along.  Right when the man caught Peter's attention, Peter turned around and caught the man's attention.  Am I expecting God to interact with me and through me today so that I am ready to interact with what circumstances He brings my way?

I was actually amazed at how that familiar passage came alive to me in a different way to such a degree that I continue to think about this passage and am slowly continuing to go through Acts with this comprehension method.  God blessed me with His Word and I pray He blesses you in a special way today.

Louise Cheek is the husband of Earl Cheek, raised three wonderful children who are now all grown up (including myself). She spends her weeks continuing to maintain the Earl Cheek household and working from home as an educational therapist. Above all she is a beautiful woman of God and amazing role model to all who know her.