It’s always fun when my daughter Victoria comes home from college for the weekend.

On the Saturday night of a recent visit, she asked me to wake her up for church in the morning. That’s a task that is much easier said than done.

I quietly opened the door to her room the next morning, tiptoed to the edge of her bed and whispered, “Victoria, time to wake up.” There was no movement.

“Victoria, the Keurig is on. Come downstairs and you can get a cup of coffee.” Still nothing.

I continued to whisper, “I just took a pan of homemade cinnamon rolls out of the oven. They’re still warm.”

At this point, she rolled over, moved her hand over the long mane of curly hair that covered her face, fished a pink foam earplug out of her ear, looked in my direction through barely opened eyes, and said, “Stop yelling at me.”

I walked out of the room thinking about how much I wanted to yell at her.

The experience also made me reconsider a verse in the Bible that always caused me to wonder.

“As He stood at the tomb of Lazarus, “Jesus called out in a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out!’” (John 11:43)

I had always thought that Jesus spoke loudly to make sure that everyone heard what He was about to do. Now I’m wondering if it was because Lazarus, like my Victoria, was difficult to awaken.

Whatever the reason, the fact remains that once Jesus arrived on the scene, it was a game changer. It still is. Jesus can turn any situation around, regardless of how dead it seems.

At Lazarus’ tomb, He looked beyond what He saw to what He knew. He knew that He had the power over death. When He told those gathered to take away the stone, I believe He was also speaking to future generations — to us. 

Whether our prayer is for a relationship, circumstance, job or dream, we have to take away what’s blocking us from receiving the blessing.

There are times we have to roll away the doubt to get to the dream, and look past the problem to the promises of God.

Ronny Michel may be reached at rmichel@rtconline.com.