by Tad Lindley
The Blue Slip Explained
Many of us in Bethel live in houses with a water tank and a sewer tank. At my house, every two weeks the sewer truck comes and pumps out 1,000 gallons of sewage and drives it to the sewage lagoon and the water truck goes to the pumphouse, fills up, then backs up to my house and pumps 1,000+ gallons of water into the water tank. Most of the time this system works flawlessly. Our water and sewer truck drivers are awesome. But a few times in my life I have come home at the end of Water Day to see a blue slip hanging from the door knob on my front door. The blue slip strikes terror into the heart of Bethelites as it means two things: 1. You did not get water, or your sewer tank did not get pumped out, and 2. You will have to pay $85 to make things right and have them try again.
Common blue slip triggers
A blue slip gets triggered when the water or sewer truck driver cannot successfully do their job, because of an issue that is the homeowner’s fault. If the driveway is plugged with unshoveled snow, or parked vehicles, boats, or snowmachine sleds are blocking access. Another common occurrence is the sewage in the tank has frozen or the water tank access pipe was plugged with ice after the last fillup. And so the driver fills out the reason on the blue slip and walks to the front door and twist ties it on so the wind cannot blow it away. Blue slips are an ugly sight. The driver does not want to have to give one, and the homeowners don’t want to be without water, sewer, and $85.
Jesus’ specialty is the miraculous
You’ve read the Bible, so you know that Jesus worked mighty miracles: blind eyes were opened, fish and bread were multiplied, the dead were raised, lepers were healed, the storm was silenced, the insane were restored to their right minds. And prior to all of that, he created the heavens and the earth, and he made everything that we see in the world around us (John 1:10). As near as we can tell, the only thing that Jesus cannot do, is lie (Hebrews 16:8). And yet suddenly he was attempting to deliver the miraculous, and was completely shut down.
Jesus drops a blue slip
During the course of his ministry, Jesus made a trip back to his hometown, Nazareth. Coming to his hometown, he began teaching the people in their synagogue, and they were amazed. “Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?” they asked. “Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? Aren’t all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” 57 And they took offense at him.
But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town and in his own home.” And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith. (Matthew 13:54-58 NIV)
He was unable to deliver the miracles that he wanted to, because they did not believe in him.
The power of belief
I wonder what miracles the people of Nazareth never got to experience. I wonder what miracles I may have missed due to my own struggles with unbelief. How about you? We might not think of ourselves as being essential partners with the Lord in miracles, yet we are. It’s not a 50-50 partnership, more like a 99-1 partnership, but without our belief, as insignificant as we are in the face of the greatness of God, he is unable to deliver without us. Consider the time that the man brought his demon-possessed son to Jesus, hoping that Jesus could deliver a miracle.
Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”
Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:23-24 NKJV) And Jesus restored the young man to his father.
Don’t get blue-slipped
Sometimes when we look at the chaos around us we can begin to feel hopeless. We might even tell ourselves, “Not even God can fix this.” We are in danger of getting blue-slipped on a miracle when we adopt that mindset. We all battle this. At that point we need to come to the Lord and repent of our unbelief: “Help my unbelief!” After all, in His own words, all things are possible to them that believe.
Reverend Tad Lindley is a minister at the United Pentecostal Church in Bethel, Alaska.
