⁹ The next day as Cornelius’s messengers were nearing the town, Peter went up on the flat roof to pray. It was about noon, ¹⁰ and he was hungry. But while a meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. ¹¹ He saw the sky open, and something like a large sheet was let down by its four corners. ¹² In the sheet were all sorts of animals, reptiles, and birds. ¹³ Then a voice said to him, “Get up, Peter; kill and eat them.”

¹⁴ “No, Lord,” Peter declared. “I have never eaten anything that our Jewish laws have declared impure and unclean.”

¹⁵ But the voice spoke again: “Do not call something unclean if God has made it clean.” ¹⁶ The same vision was repeated three times. Then the sheet was suddenly pulled up to heaven.

¹⁷ Peter was very perplexed. What could the vision mean? Just then the men sent by Cornelius found Simon’s house. Standing outside the gate, ¹⁸ they asked if a man named Simon Peter was staying there.

¹⁹ Meanwhile, as Peter was puzzling over the vision, the Holy Spirit said to him, “Three men have come looking for you. ²⁰ Get up, go downstairs, and go with them without hesitation. Don’t worry, for I have sent them.”

Acts 10:9-20

Dear God, it’s easy to make Cornelius the protagonist of this story, but I think it’s really the journey you have Peter on. But before I get into that, I had another thought about Cornelius yesterday while I continued to ponder this story: He got an angel visit! That’s amazing. This Yahweh-worshipping Gentile got an angel visit. Amazing! Jesus’s blood is truly for us all.

So the next part of the story is for Peter to evolve. Is there another way you could have gotten him to where you wanted him to be in terms of thinking of Gentiles as part of your kingdom? Maybe. But I think this one is the most powerful because it met him where he was and then took him where you wanted him to go. Was he “sinning” before his vision and then words from the Holy Spirit? No. But he was ignorant and blind. He didn’t know everything you know. He was learning. Working out his faith with fear and trembling. And this story starts from his perspective from the time he took to pray. He didn’t get this Holy Spirit communication from walking around and talking to people. He got it from setting aside time to get alone and pray to you.

Father, I am reminded of the movies line from Shadowlands when C.S. Lewis is quoted as saying, “I don’t pray because it changes God. I pray because it changes me.” I’m not trying to change you, Father, Jesus, or Holy Spirit. I’m not trying to align your will to mine. But I am trying to align my thinking to your thinking. I am trying to see the world the way you see the world. I am trying to love the way you love. And I am trying to come along side you and lend my heart and prayers to the work you are doing in the world, both for those I know and love and those I don’t know. So move through me. Love through me. And unleash your will on this earth. Use me however you wish to.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen