Two men walking down a road. Stuff’s been happening. Big stuff. Jerusalem is all a buzz. They’re trying to sort it all out. Suddenly some other man joins them. They’ve never seen him before. Wants to know what they’re talking about. The first two look at each other funny. “Are you the only one around here who doesn’t know?”

“Know what?” says the new guy.

And so as best as they can, they try to bring him up to speed, wrestling the story back and forth between them in a mental tug-of-war of recollection. Suddenly the new one is talking and it’s soon clear that he does know what’s been going on… knows it better than either one of them do… knows it as if he were there. Maybe he was. Then he starts telling them about all the events leading up to this, and connects the dots across a few hundreds years of history and prophecy as they make their way along the countryside. They walk and talk for hours but it seems like minutes. Where on earth did this guy come from and how does he know so much? And what’s the deal with my heart? Stupid thing is burning right here in my chest!

They get to their village and persuade the new traveler to stay. They sit down to dinner and he just keeps on talking and their hearts keep on burning. Wait a minute. Stop everything. They HAVE seen him before. And in an instant they know… it’s the resurrected Lord! And in another instant he is gone.

“Man! Did your heart burn while he talked to us?”

“The whole time.” (See Luke 24:13-32)

Marti and I love this story. I love it most for the passion — the burning hearts. Marti loves it for the walking along the way and talking as they go. She always says that’s the way people find out about Jesus. We walk alongside them, Jesus shows up, and our hearts burn.

Sometimes we know something’s happening. Sometimes we don’t. Marti is a little put out with God for not letting her in on more of this. She wants to know now. She says it’s like a tapestry of people’s lives being woven together, and we can’t always see it. But He can. That’s why we just keep on walking and talking… and burning.

“Walk with me and you will see why I need the Lord,” Marti says. The “why I need” part is really important there. It’s what makes this work. It puts us all on the same level.

The important thing is to walk and talk. Open your heart. Share your life. And when you feel your heart burning, it’s because Jesus showed up… He always does.