Happy Friday, everyone!

You know, there’s a great story where we have the road to Emmaus, and two disciples are walking on that road, and Jesus comes alongside them. He walks with them, He listens to them, He speaks truth to them, and yet the Scriptures say they don’t recognize Him. In fact, Luke tells us that when He was at the table with them, He took bread, gave thanks, broke it, and began to give it to them.

Then their eyes were opened, and they finally recognized Him. You know, they didn’t recognize Him on the road while they were walking with Him. They didn’t recognize Him in the conversation—not with the questions—but they did in the breaking. I’ve got questions about that. Why didn’t they recognize Him sooner? What was it about that moment, that breaking, that opened their eyes?

Truth is, Scripture doesn’t give us those answers. But maybe it gets clearer when I think about my own walk down roads that feel super heavy. How many times am I walking with Jesus and don’t recognize Him, trying to solve something complicated, carrying a leadership burden, or working through a decision that feels really big? And I’m thinking, “Where are You, Lord? Don’t You care about this? I feel alone.”

Meanwhile, He’s already there. He’s been walking with me the entire time—asking questions, reminding, guiding through His Word and through His Holy Spirit, through the truth that I’ve already been given. Not always given full understanding, but given enough for the next step—and not just the next step, the next step with Him.

You see, we don’t always recognize Him in the moment, but later we look back and we say, “He was there. He was guiding. He was providing. He’s enough.” And as you go into this week, be reminded: Jesus is on the road. He’s there in the questions. He’s there in the complex and the difficult. He’s there all along—for you, for your family, for your community, for the world that He died and rose again to save.

Prayer
Lord Jesus, open my eyes in the middle of the questions and the weight of responsibility, in the moments I don’t understand. Help me to see You. If anything in me is keeping me from seeing clearly, forgive me and remove the scales from my eyes. And if, in Your wisdom, You choose not to reveal everything yet, then grow my faith to trust Your presence, even when my view is dim. Give me faith when I cannot see, and recognition in Your time, when You choose to reveal. And remind me, again and again, that I am never walking alone. Amen.