I’m not trying to be funny or offensive here. I’m just telling you what happened.
The day was August 18th, 2019. I woke up that morning, rolled out of bed, and stumbled into the kitchen to make some pancakes (I love pancakes). I put on my apron, got out my frying pan, and started cooking.
I flipped the first pancake and it landed in the pan with a loud sizzle—a good sign! I leaned over the stove to take a closer look because it looked like it was pretty much done. I was right! It was light golden brown all over, ready for me to flip.
But when I turned it over, I couldn’t believe my eyes: Jesus had come to me in a pancake that morning! Right there in front of me, on top of this pancake, were the unmistakable facial features of Jesus Christ! Light brown hair, beard, eyes looking upwards as if in prayer… It’s like he came down from heaven just to say hello!
But… why?
I’d heard about it happening before, but it never seemed like anything more than an urban legend. I mean, holy moly—how can something like that happen?! It’s like a miracle!
So there I was, sitting in my kitchen with this pancake in front of me. The Jesus Christ pancake. And then… well, believe it or not, he started talking to me.
He said he wanted me to write down everything we talked about so I could share it with the world. So that’s what I did. Here are the seven pieces of advice Jesus gave me over breakfast that morning:
1) Don’t Forget To Enjoy The Little Things
Jesus told me that one of his favorite hobbies is watching baseball games on TV. He said he loves the sounds of leather gloves popping against each other, crowd noises, and the crack of wood as a bat hits a fastball. He also likes going for long walks on the beach and sitting around fires with friends at night.
“You can learn a lot about people by listening to them,” He told me.
2) The World Is In A Dark Place. Do Something About It.
The world is in a dark place. It always has been and always will be. So if you want to make a difference, if you want to do something about it, then you’re going to have to accept that darkness exists. But, you can’t let it consume your life. You can’t let it become the defining characteristic of your life because the darkness will only win if you give in to it completely, or give up all hope of ever bringing goodness into your life and the lives of others.
You can’t allow that to happen. Ever!
3) Make The Most Of Your Time Here On Earth.
“Stop what you’re doing. Take a moment and really think about this,” Jesus said.
“You will only be here on Earth for a small portion of time, so make the most of it.”
I quickly started to list all the things I wanted to accomplish. “I want to travel and see the world, I want to get married and have kids…”
He smiled and interrupted me, “Those are all great things. But I’m talking about something more important. What are you going to do with your life? What is your purpose?”
“You know the whole thing with ‘Time Is Money,’ right?” He asked me.
“No, actually, I don’t really know that whole thing,” I said.
“Well, it’s a big deal in the business world. It basically means that time is money and if you don’t have money, you don’t have time. Which is why you need to make big bucks fast so that you can have lots of time to spend them on your passions, like painting or horseback riding or whatever it is that makes you happy.”
I told Jesus that my passions were reading and writing and even though I used to make a fair amount of income doing those things, now I was too busy just trying to survive to do much of either one.
Jesus took a long sip of his cappuccino before speaking again.
“If you want to make your life mean something beyond just surviving, which is what most people do at your level on this planet—survive—you need to invest in yourself. You need to take risks and learn new things.”
4) Love Yourself.
Life is too short to be a slave to your past. Forgive the people who have hurt you and move on. Love others and love yourself. Everyone deserves a second chance, for once you’ve decided to forgive, there’s no reason to hold a grudge. If you feel angry at someone or something, it might be that you need to concentrate on things in your life that make you feel good. It’s important to recognize that being angry all the time can be destructive and ultimately, it won’t change anything. Instead of being upset over what’s not working in your life, focus instead on what is going right. Think about what makes you happy and let yourself enjoy it.
“Life gets easier when we learn to be grateful for what we have instead of resentful, jealous or angry over what we don’t have.”
5) Help Each Other.
We can’t do it alone. We need help from others along the way. By the same token, we have an obligation to help others in return — to be part of the solution and not part of the problem.
“When you help others, you are helping me. When you love others, you are loving me.” (Matthew 25:40)
Jesus told me that helping other people is one of the most fulfilling things we can do in this life. And not only is it fulfilling to us, but when we help others, we’re also serving God—which means that the more we help and serve others, the more we’re actually helping Christ himself.
6) Be Kind. You’re Going To Meet A Lot Of People In This Life, So Be Kind To All Of Them.
What does it mean to be kind?
Kindness is a way of behaving toward others. It means being polite and considerate. Kindness is showing other people that we care about them, about their feelings, and about how they are treated.
It’s easy to be kind when someone is nice to you, but what about when they aren’t?
Even then, it’s important that we treat everyone with respect and kindness. Being kind doesn’t mean you have to like everyone or agree with everything they do—it just means you respect who they are as human beings and treat them as such. Being kind means we show compassion for others, even when they don’t deserve it!
7) Keep Coming Back To Me. I Want A Relationship With Every Single Person Who Believes In Me—And That Includes You.
“You know it’s funny…” Jesus said. “I’ve been talking to tons of people recently, and guess what? Almost everyone I’ve talked to has a story about how they were just about to give up on something, or someone, or forgive someone, or ask for help. And then I showed up.”
He went on to say, “and for one reason or another, every single person I talked to—everyone—changed their minds. They acted on my advice (sometimes even when it was against everything else they believed in) and then went on to succeed or find love or whatever else they were hoping for.”
“And you know what? This is all because you let me into your life. Because you didn’t just read this; you let me into your thoughts—your heart—and I changed the way you looked at the world. And now we’re changing the world together! So yeah… thank YOU for that.”