Not long ago I had to be in Baltimore, Maryland, and took time to visit a couple of patients at The Johns Hopkins Medical Center -- it's one of the few hospitals I absolutely love visiting. That's because when I was a teenager, just a few months after the diving accident in which I became paralyzed, I was sent to Johns Hopkins for surgery (they had to remove my fingernails, but that's another story).
Anyway, I will never forget as a kid when the ambulance driver pushed me on my gurney into the old lobby of Johns Hopkins Hospital. It was a cold wintry day and he situated my stretcher up against a radiator so I could stay warm while I waited for my appointment. After he locked my stretcher, I turned my head and – oh my – I couldn't believe it. Right there in the center of the lobby was a huge marble statue of Jesus Christ with his arms outstretched; over 20 feet tall. It took my breath away. That's when my eyes fell on the Bible verse that was inscribed on a metal plate at the base of the statue. It read, "Come unto me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Oh, lying there on that hospital stretcher that was just what I needed to hear. My heart was still heavy and hurting from the diagnosis of my paralysis, but that day at Johns Hopkins, lying there at Jesus’ feet, I received all the rest, all the peace of heart and mind I desperately was looking for.
That experience was many decades ago. But still, whenever I'm in Baltimore and when ever I have time, I like to go visit Johns Hopkins and make that right hand turn down to the old lobby of the hospital. And there, I will gaze up at that statue – it's always a reminder to thank the Lord Jesus for all that he has done in my life since that cold wintry day I went there for surgery.
By the way, one of my favorite stories about that statue was told to me recently by a friend who was there at the hospital for an appointment. She was walking down the hallway and happen to pass a mother with her little boy in tow – he was about four or five years old. But as she passed them, she heard the child say, “Mommy, I want to go see the Big Jesus!” My friend giggled when she passed him, and she knew what he meant. And I do, too. Oh, sure, that thing about the statue. But more so, in real life we do want our Savior to be big. To be huge, especially when we're hurting. So many times we sell him short to ourselves and to others. But he's anything but small! Jesus is big – big enough to wrap his arms around your most overwhelming problems. Remember that today if your mind is troubled and your heart is at unrest. Your very big God wants you to come to him for rest, and peace of mind and heart. That's a huge thing... but you know what? No problem is so big that God and his grace is bigger – much bigger – still. It’s a lesson that you just might learn at the foot of that marble statue of Jesus in Johns Hopkins.
Used by permission of
JONI AND FRIENDS
P.O. Box 3333
Agoura Hills, CA 93176
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