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A series exploring Christian healing in a handy coffee-break sized podcast. Plug yourself in, pick up your mug of coffee, and let's go.
CoffeePods
Can Jesus Laugh? Finding Faith in Life's Unexpected Turns
What happens when God surprises us? In moments of unexpected joy, miraculous encounters, or even space pranks, the divine often reveals itself most powerfully.
This episode begins with delightful stories of marriage proposals—one at a lighthouse overlooking the sea, another in a specially-reserved restaurant where the owner literally handed over the keys and disappeared for the evening. These deeply human moments of commitment mirror something profound about our relationship with God, who chooses us as His beloved.
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Coffee Pods, a podcast of the Acorn Christian Healing Foundation exploring what's happening in the world through the lens of Christian healing.
Speaker 2:I actually feel like we need Cilla Black. Do you know Cilla Black, Chris?
Speaker 1:Cilla Black's great, yeah, yes. I feel, like I know Cilla Black. I'm one of the few americans in the world that knows who sylaba black is, and you do is she still alive? I don't think she is oh, she was great.
Speaker 2:I think she died a number of years ago this really uh, unique.
Speaker 1:Look about her and she really she probably was my first real introduction to a Northern way of speaking. You know, I just didn't know my. You know everybody that comes to England as a tourist. You know, back in the day, I think a lot of people were in London. You would come to London and then you would leave London.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So I did England. Did you go to Newcastle? Did you go to Liverpool? That's your diehard Beatles fan or something A lot of people never ventured out. And the good thing is now there are a lot of people going to the Lake District and going to the Cotswolds and going down to Devon.
Speaker 2:Yeah, these pretty beautiful places.
Speaker 1:South coast of england's quite popular because of the uh, the desire to learn more about the battle of britain and dover, and the castle there is fantastic. So, yeah, england's just rich with history. You could go out every weekend of the year and find something new and exciting and surprising, which is actually what we're going to talk about today.
Speaker 1:We took a little break last week. We had a little bit of time for ourselves and to kind of chill, and then I thought, well, let's talk about surprises, because we, you know, I feel like every day I wake up and sometimes the surprises are good and sometimes they're not so good. But surprises are surprises, and so I thought let's do a coffee pot where we just talk about living in the midst of surprises. And I think I told you that I discovered one of the greatest practical jokes ever played.
Speaker 2:Yes, you did, and I'm eager to know what this is.
Speaker 1:So I want to tell this story because it's actually really cool. But let's talk about how unexpected moments whether they're humorous, whether they're funny or whether they're miraculous how surprises can be a place where God's healing and presence and power get revealed. It's kind of like the big reveal in a magic show. Maybe the surprise, the aha moment is filled with the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 2:So maybe does that sound like a good place to go today Sounds like a great place to go, I think also because so much of when we talk in the healing ministry we're looking at the sadness, the hard stuff, the things that actually can weigh us down, and we're not ignoring that today, but actually we want to focus also on the goodness and the joy of God in our lives as well. So I think this is a great place. What's that?
Speaker 1:joke they said I told my friend that I had a surprise for him and he said is it good or is it bad? And he said well, it's unexpected, that's a bad dad joke. I wish I had my. I normally have my bad dad joke coffee mug with me for something that atrocious. You can smell that joke through the the screen I'm. Or if you're listening on, uh, on apple itunes. I humbly apologize. You probably just groaned in the train carriage on your way to london I can't believe but have you ever been caught off guard by something or?
Speaker 2:something surprised you and changed your perspective. I was trying to think about this and it's such a big question, um, of course I know there must be times where that has happened. I I would say that a surprising behavior from someone um has probably changed my perspective.
Speaker 1:I'm trying to think if there's any specific scenarios but when you ask a personal question, yes, how did dan surprise you with the question of asking you to marry them? You don't have to answer that. That's deeply personal. I should have asked you before I asked you know what?
Speaker 2:one thing I would say that was a surprise I can just say straight away is that it it happened sooner than I thought it was going to happen of course he doesn't want to lose you it happened very quickly. Um, but yeah, but actually what you just said, he didn't want to lose you, I think, um to have well, he was smitten too, how you know, that's yeah, what did?
Speaker 1:he do, though, did he? Did he get down on a knee? And all that jazz, or?
Speaker 2:he didn't know, he didn't get down on a knee, but um I don't think I did either no, we were in um scarborough or sort of, finally up in yorkshire uh east yorkshire. Yeah, and we went to a place called flamborough head, which is um, a big, um, it's a huge lighthouse. You're up on the top of the hill and you got the ocean beautiful, yeah, very romantic wow and it was one of my favorite places, so we went there.
Speaker 1:We should have a framed picture of this place somewhere in your home. We have.
Speaker 2:Not framed, but we do have a lovely photo of it of when it happened, as well on our fridge, oh wow.
Speaker 1:That is nice.
Speaker 2:He just reflected on life for us and was like I want to spend the rest of my life with you Well there you go.
Speaker 1:See, you get to hear a little bit of inside scoop here on the coffee pod. Today I actually had a friend who had a restaurant and I asked him if I could bring Caroline to this restaurant to have dinner and I said I was thinking about asking her to marry me and of course, to be perfectly honest, I think I had asked her like four times. If I ask you to marry me, would? You say yes so I was scared to death of getting rejected so I kind of made sure that you you are going to say yes if I.
Speaker 1:But I'm asking you now, but if I did. And so we agreed with my friend Harley and Sharon, who owned this restaurant. They were retired University of Florida how the world is in circles but they were retired execs at the University of Florida, which is where my daughter now works. But they owned this little restaurant as a retirement gig and and we got all dressed up to go to a fancy restaurant. Caroline had no idea that we weren't going to a fancy restaurant in town, but we were going to this little restaurant which was like a cafe. It was called Cafe Nostalgia. Oh wow.
Speaker 1:And I remember we went through the town where I grew up and we pulled in front of Cafe Nostalgia, which was just a little diner kind of place, and Harley and Sharon were inside and there were candles on the tables and I looked and there was no one in the restaurant and Harley and Sharon had closed the restaurant. And Caroline, we're all dressed up, and she's like, are we going here? Yeah, we're gonna, we're gonna go to Cafe Nostalgia. And so we went in the doors and it's just us and there's a table in the middle of the of the dining room and so I surprised her. This is the theme of today surprise.
Speaker 1:I didn't know I was going to tell you this story today, but since you told me yours and Harley, literally they brought the main course and the food. They put some dessert on a little cart beside and he walked over and he put the keys on the table and he said I've locked the door, this is yours. He said don't worry about the dishes, we'll come do them tomorrow, enjoy yourselves. And he literally left and it was just the two of us in, uh, in the restaurant and of course I was scared to death. You know, you got it, it's it. You know. I was like do I do this? How do I do this? What do I do? And then, uh, so I asked Caroline to to marry me and the really funny thing was, I think, really before I even told my mom this shows you what a small town it was A friend of hers had seen me from the street I think I did get down on my knee actually, because she saw me as she was walking by.
Speaker 1:She saw me and she called my mother and said I think you asked her to marry. I think I saw them getting engaged and um. But yeah, I said in in, in the small town where I grew up, you didn't need indicators on your car, blinkers, uh, turn signals, because everybody knows where you're going. But yes, surprises like that are pretty cool, it's. Those are nice memories to kind of sit and think about that, and scary all the same. You know, it's kind of frightening to think about major life changes, but then there are times when the surprise brings such joy.
Speaker 2:I think it's amazing that we can feel that way. You can feel a way you never thought you would be able to feel or feel again. I was just thinking about how laughter and joy like we're having now thinking about, about our memories, a part of god's design for healing. And is it the chosen the, the tv series? I think jesus is like laughing and having a like.
Speaker 1:Literally, he's having a good laugh with his disciples and there's so many people that don't know what to make of that. You know they're like. You know, have we gone too far in in making jesus so human, giving him human emotions and making him a jokester or somebody who would, uh, would laugh? I mean, I, I, um. I remember a movie. It's an old sean connery kind of, it's a. It's a movie called name of the rose and, um, it was based on a book, I think, um, but he stars as um, as this franciscan friar, and they're investigating murders at a friend at an italian monastery.
Speaker 1:It's actually a really good movie and and the whole movie is kind of around this uh, conference. It's kind of like the council, sort of like the Nicene Council or something like that, and so in the movie they're meeting to have this great debate in the early church. So you got to imagine the 1300s and these monks coming together discussing scripture. And there's this one character in the movie. He's sort of this. I don't know how to describe this skinny, scrawny, blind guy who believes that laughter is dangerous and it undermines the reverence of our faith. You know we can't, so Jesus could not have laughed.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:In fact, one of the abbots in this movie was also the bad guy in a james bond movie. That's a trivia question for you okay um, yeah, he's. It's not specter, is he? He's one of the. He's the. Um, oh, he's thunderball. I think he plays the german baddie in one of the early bond movies but, he also is the abbot in this movie in the monastery.
Speaker 1:But the idea in the movie of all these people coming together to debate the veracity of a claim that jesus could have ever laughed, because the bible doesn't say jesus laughed. And so there was this question that it's blasphemy to say that Jesus, the Son of God, laughed. And yet we now think are you kidding me? Sure, I mean surely he laughed.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and shared in joy. I mean, he knew joy and I think a way to express joy is to laugh and feel that emotion. But there is scripture about joy and cheerfulness, isn't there?
Speaker 1:Sure, sure, the cheerful heart is good medicine, proverbs 17. But Jesus was the life of the party. He's the guy that changed water into wine. Are you telling me there wasn't laughter in Cana after the surprise of the, the water being turned into good wine? Um?
Speaker 2:well there's. There's an example of a biblical surprise already just absolutely um. Could you lead us through some more biblical surprises?
Speaker 1:it'll be great you have sarah um. I think she laughed out loud in genesis 18, where sar Sarah's told by God that she's going to have a child and she's she's an old person and I think surely if you tell, if you tell a person that you know, 70 year old woman today you're going to have a baby, I mean the first thing they're going to. I mean I'm not quite sure what they would say first, probably wouldn't't be able to broadcast it, but I think they would laugh. They'd say you're out of your mind, you've got to be kidding. But honestly, I think the biggest surprise moment has to be the end of Luke. The resurrection itself is a big aha surprise moment. The unbelievable has happened. Jesus has risen and I think that surprise is probably the greatest surprise the world has ever known, the surprise that he has come back to life. So I think I had an encounter with I think I've ever shared this before on the podcast, but I had a person praying for healing and the quick version of this story is there was a person who was declared brain dead which in America is and I'm not sure about English law but in America if you're declared brain dead, you are legally dead, you can sign a death
Speaker 1:certificate, even though the heart and respiration continue. And so we had a patient who was technically brain dead by definition, and I was with this patient's spouse and I'll keep it neutral, so it's not about disclosing confidentialities but this spouse looked at me and said you know, could we pray for a miracle? You know, I just desperately want a miracle and I kept thinking is this person wanting their loved one to rise up and walk out of the room? What are they asking for? So, instead of trying to define what they were asking, we prayed together. We absolutely prayed together, and there was this moment where you could feel the surprise of the holy spirit in the room. There was this moment of reality that god was very much alive and active and and it was really as electric. I'm sitting here now remembering what it was like I can, I can literally hear the sounds from that room from that day, as we're sitting here and when we said Amen, she's holding her loved one's hand, her husband I've already said woman, man, she's holding his hand and we finished praying, I anointed him and in that moment she leaned over and she whispered in his ear I love you. And it was so sacred and so beautiful and so rich Because she had been married to this guy for years. I mean, they had been together for so long and they were very frail and he was dying and had been declared dead already. Again, I watched this with my own eyes. He then mouths. He doesn't open his eyes or anything, but he mouths. I love you too to to her he's brain dead.
Speaker 1:The nurse was on the other side of the room. We saw this. She looked at me and she said I got my miracle. Oh, wow, he died. Um, and we were going. Are we losing our minds? Is this minds? It's kind of like the disciples saying Jesus isn't alive, he's dead. We saw them kill him. This is crazy talk. You're out of your mind.
Speaker 1:I sat there with this woman and she was tearful because she was joyful that this person she loved was in the hands of God. It was like this I know he's okay now. There was that moment and he also was able to reassure her that, yes, I do love you. You know I'm going to be with God, but I do love you and she. You know, and I've seen strange things happen when you extubate people sometime right at the end of life.
Speaker 1:Something happens in the brain chemistry, and I think the Holy Spirit is in the middle of that too, and people will sometimes surprise you with a sudden last second, open their eyes, say something to you before they die. There are weird things that happen that I think science would love to understand. I love the richness of those, of those surprises and the and. And. Then, after that little miracle, hearing the wry humor and learning about the practical jokes that this old chap had done, that the two of them were jokers with each other throughout their married life, that they would pull stunts and and do funny things and and surprise each other and, um you know which? Maybe that's a great segue to the greatest practical joke ever played I feel like I've been waiting for this.
Speaker 2:Are you ready for this?
Speaker 1:okay, all right. So this, there's a um, there's an astronaut in america because I know there's been, uh been one of the astronauts who was in the Apollo mission died this week. So there was a lot of people talking this week about, you know, they were interested in space, space travel and space people and people who've been in rockets bumped into this prank story, um, by the astronaut owen garriott, which a lot of people probably have no idea who owen garriott is, but but in 1973, um, he did something while he was um on the us space station sky lab. So way, way back, um, he, he really was a, um, a prankster, and I think this story, when I read it I said I've got to share this because people probably have never, ever heard about this. But he did this with a cassette tape, you know, back in the day when you'd record with your little button in your cassette tape. And so what happened is, before the mission to Skylab he brought along a tape recorder and on it he actually his wife Helen recorded a few lines and he decided that this was part of this great prank he was going to do on the flight controller, a guy named Robert Crippen who was back at Mission Control.
Speaker 1:So one day, right before the usual check-in with Earth, this voice comes through Skylab. This is Houston, do you read, you know, like they normally would check in. And Garriott stepped up to the transmitter and he pressed play. And so from orbit comes this woman's voice good afternoon houston. This is sky lab, this female voice on this cassette recorder. And there's silence at mission control and everybody's like who is this? Who's speaking a woman's voice? And then he pushed play again and it's helen's voice, obviously. And he says hi, robert, this is helen, owen's wife. And then again back at mission control, there's this long pause and then, of course, you know, the crippled is is panicking. Yeah, his response is what are you doing up there? And he pushed play again and on the cassette player, helen replies oh, I just thought I'd bring the guys something to eat, fresh and homemade. And again, mission Control. There's like radio silence for a minute where everybody's going. What's going on here?
Speaker 2:so confused.
Speaker 1:Suddenly they figured out that this was probably the greatest space prank ever played to make everybody at mission control think that his wife had come to space to bring him some food I think that's such an amazing thing to do, yeah, so it is.
Speaker 1:It's fun to laughter and surprises and thinking outside the box is funny, and you know, and in that moment, there again the response was what got me when mission control, instead of instead of thinking through it carefully, he says what are you doing up there? Yeah, he just went with it. He he's like there's a woman's voice coming through the radio. Why is she in space? You know how? This is 1973. It's not like yeah elon musk's next rocket and go up there. This is really out of the box that is awesome.
Speaker 1:I love that yeah, but I I just think it's a great prank. So, in honor of those who've walked on the moon and traveled in space and so many of the early astronauts have died or are dying and so it's kind of a lost generation it's fun to continue to tell their story.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:One of the first people in space, was it? Alan Shepard, one of the early astronauts, actually took holy communion from his church in his pocket no, I have heard they broke bread in, uh, in space and I thought what a cool thing there's so many little stories like that where, um, he sort of surprised them by pulling out holy communion in the middle of space, like well, here we are in space and we're going to honor god and there's no limits to god.
Speaker 2:Wherever you are, god will meet with you absolutely we've got about five minutes left, so what I, what I was hoping we could do is, as christians, we do often say we will believe in the unbelievable, we believe in the miraculous of god, and I wondered if we could just touch on that a little bit before coming to a close, because it can be a challenge, can't it? Um, you know expressing that we do believe in god's surprises and miracles it is mark nine.
Speaker 1:We're told everything is possible for somebody who believes. Um, believing the truth of that scripture sometimes is the hardest hurdle, finding faith. And, as someone told me yesterday, there was a cartoon that was sent around and it said some guy was going to lost and found and he said I'm looking for my faith. Occasionally I lose it. And I think the idea is that sometimes faith is hard and it's hard to believe and knowing that even if we lose hold of God, god doesn't lose hold of us. And so the idea of surprise in some funny way. It's kind of like when you fall and discover someone catches you, when you find yourself doubting and then suddenly God surprises you with a bit of joy and maybe it is in laughter. I mean, so many times I bump into stupid old jokes and I think of my dad or something, and I think thank you, god, to remind me that.
Speaker 1:You know, there's a scripture that I always go to about. It's a verse from the liturgy which comes from scripture, but you say it at the end of Holy Communion, right after consecration. You say with the saints and angels and all the company of heaven surround the heavenly throne, and this idea that that concept of the saints and angels. Suddenly we start knowing so many of these people who are now with the saints and angels. They have become our cloud of witnesses from Hebrew 12, that we're surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses.
Speaker 1:And so if we believe that, then it just gives us joy to think that we're in that place of glory and that we serve a God who, um, who calls us to himself and, uh, you know, that, I guess, is one of the greatest surprises of all. Just like you know, we chose our partners to live with and love and be married to, and all that good stuff to think that we have, uh, um, a Lord Jesus who chose us to be the bride of Christ I mean, you think about the concept of the church being the bride of Christ and to think he's asking us to commit ourselves forever to him. In the same way that we started this podcast by talking about how we made a decision to commit our lives to other people in the same way, so I guess that's a little bit of encouragement for the old coffee pod this week.
Speaker 2:A massive bit of encouragement. When you really take that, take just what you said and it was brief but so deep. You take that and you just go back and reflect on that truth, you're going to be blessed and you might grapple with it and you might be like, well, this seems irrational, that I would, you know, think this and that God loves me so much that I am, you know, I'm identified as a bride of Christ or the churches, but definitely go away, and not you, chris. Not go away, chris, but those of you listening. Go away and really bring that to God, because it's such a massive truth. And is there anything else, chris, we can just encourage our listeners to do, just to help them with the surprises of God.
Speaker 1:I think, as you said, people use irrationality as a weapon sometimes. People use irrationality as a weapon sometimes and they say, you know, I won't believe it because it's irrational. And I say you know, sometimes, if you learn to dance to the syncopation of the music, the kind of out of step, out of time, the funkiness of life comes in a really strange way, and it doesn't always have to be rational.
Speaker 1:It's okay for it not to be rational and linear and scientific and provable. It's okay just to say you know, I don't know, I really don't understand, I can't really explain it, but I believe I embrace it. It's okay and I laugh. That's the part. Somebody sent me this week this wonderful quote and I have no idea where it comes from. But they said many people see only a hopeless end, but with Jesus you can enjoy an endless hope.
Speaker 2:Can you say that one more time?
Speaker 1:Many people see only a hopeless end. I know so many people are. Many people only see a hopeless end. But with Jesus you can enjoy an endless hope. And so I say laugh more, hope more, believe more, even when it feels unbelievable, Lean into the irony, into the joy, into the craziness and just find God there and have a good laugh, and maybe that will help make life a little better.
Speaker 1:There's so much misery and negativity around that. If we can do anything with this podcast to help people, to say you know what? The world's not a horrible place. It's a place filled with good people, people who love, and, as I said in a previous episode, when somebody falls down on the platform by the train, you watch how many people run to help. Oh, you're right, Watch how people jump. I was on the bus yesterday coming home and three strangers helped this lady off the bus because she couldn't see very well. There's goodness in the heart of people and I think the more we focus on the goodness, the more we laugh. And the more we laugh, the happier we'll be. And everybody knows good doctors will tell you laughter is actually good for your body, your health, and so I hope people will learn to not sit like those old monks questioning whether Jesus could possibly laugh but in fact say there is no way I would want to believe in a Jesus who isn't laughing and laughing at me and with me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, that's my philosophy, though. I love it, chris. I think that's such a good philosophy and I was just thinking as well that if, if people are in that place where they're like, actually, that's really what I want Come to a healing hub, because you're guaranteed to experience God's joy there. People will pray for you but just the people themselves are joyful people and come to the Healing Academy on the 6th of September, where we will get together like this and we'll hear stories We'll share and the goodness and joy of the lord will be with us. Um, any, any teasing points for the next episode?
Speaker 1:chris, what's coming up? Oh gosh, I, you know I've been making some notes about other things and, uh, I, I think, I think we just uh, keep rolling through the summer. The part of me wanted to talk about heat and how we tolerate hot things in hot places. So, maybe hot topics and how to how to live in a world that that blisters us every day with with heat, and uh, how do we get through the summer and have faith that that, uh, one day it will snow again? And uh, but uh, for me, i'm'm going to spend some time enjoying the flowers in the back garden, and I know we've got a bucket load of tomatoes coming in, or tomatoes.
Speaker 1:But yeah, I hope people who are listening will, in fact, go to the website and check out the Academy offerings this year. And hey, it's free too. We're not going to charge. We're just sort of doing a love offering this year because we don't want barriers to prevent people from coming and checking it out. Since I'm the new guy, I want people to come and then go. Wow, that was really fun, it was educational, it deepened me, it opened me up, and so check out the academy register because we want to find out.
Speaker 1:Yes, we got room for everybody, but it's always good to be able to communicate with those who register and get more information to you and and um, there are some groups that are going to be watching the academy from hubs and different places. So if you register and reach out to us we can kind of point you to places where you can watch the academy live with other people because some people would rather be in a church or in a hub watching with others instead of sitting in front of their computer.
Speaker 1:But yeah whatever works for you, is is, is fine and uh, maybe this week we should all go to a comedy club or go to a west end show that, uh, where there's humor and do something that just makes you laugh, relax, feel good yeah I think, uh, I think my youtube uh watches are all to do with humor and things that are funny and and, uh, and don't laugh at people, laugh with people. I think that's one of the funny things about English. Humor often is self-deprecating.
Speaker 1:We laugh at ourselves and that there's great joy in knowing how absurd we are at our core and also how good we are at our core and instead of being the kind of person that points a finger at other people and laughs at the foibles of the people around us, finger at other people and laughs at the foibles of of the people around us, Um, be be the person who, who laughs itself, and instead of laughing at other people so that you feel better about yourself Cause that's really not a good way to no, but that's that's kind of all I've got this week, so I just hope I just I just hope people have a fantastic week.
Speaker 1:If you're listening to us in the South of France, I'm sorry it's so hot. You're in Spain, Maybe you need to go to to the mountains and honestly, I hope people are safe. It's really scary to know that the world is is hot and warm and and that we do have some climate issues. That probably should be a podcast one day. We talk about climate change and social activism and things like that, but it's very real that there are some at-risk people who today, we pray for there to be ways for them to be cared for and to cooling centers and things of that sort, and to cooling centers and things of that sort.
Speaker 1:But God bless you wherever you are and we're thrilled that you're part of the CoffeePod world and until next time, make sure that you like and subscribe to CoffeePods and that way you won't miss a single episode. We're going to try and record at least one a week for you and keep you entertained and maybe make you laugh. I promise no more bad dad jokes.
Speaker 2:Thank you.
