I've Not the Time Nor the... Wait, I do Have the Means

I walked out of the doctor's office today and got into my car only to hear a tapping at the window. I looked, and there stood a lady wearing a tattered leather jacket holding an equally tattered piece of paper. I rolled down the window and accepted the paper, which basically said that she was deaf and collecting spare change. I'd already rolled my window down, so I couldn't just roll it back up and take off... I reached into me wallet and gave her two quarters. I wouldn't have driven off anyway... If I'd wanted to I would have done so before she handed me the paper. What struck me about this was the look in her eyes. I saw a measure of pain in her eyes that I don't usually see in people that are asking me for money. That struck me as odd. Thinking about it as I drove off, I wondered what it was that she really needed. Then I realized that I knew what she needed, it's the same thing everybody needs. She needed someone to take a few minutes out of their day and show her a little bit of the love and acceptance that God has shown them. Then I thought "How, Lord? I've not the time!" Honestly though, she looked like she was in a hurry and therefore would not have been able to let me spend even the smallest amount of time with her anyway. I became utterly convicted today that we've told God we're too busy to be like Christ. We spend our entire lives living for the next moment that we don't realize the people around us who can't even guarantee their next moment. When you really think about it, none of us can. But what are we going to do with the moment we've already been given? That's the question. We as Christians have the power to change the world one person at a time. Not by preaching, not by teaching, not by prophecy, speaking in tongues, "evangelizing", judging, condemning, hating, criticizing, or even praying, but by being a friend. Sometimes that involves most of the things on that list... but far too often one of those things becomes our end goal. Our end goal is people... God's people... We need to remember that everyday, not just when we catch a glimpse of pain in somebody's eyes.

 
Ephesians 4:29 (NASB)

29 Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.

BibleGateway.com

 
Turning the Leaves

Hey peoples, thought I should write something in here now that I actually have a blog. I find it a little annoying to have something and not use it. OK, I find it a lot annoying. So here I go:

I just read Crystal's last post on her blog and a little bit of it hit home with me. My family has never been very open about our emotions, simply saying that we love each other, hugging or anything like that. It's not like we don't, we just don't say it. I guess I've been thinking about this a lot after seeing how open Marie's family is with each other and even with me. Since the point of this blog is to stay positive, I'm going to suggest something. I encourage you all to make a point of telling your family that you love them. It's my mom's birthday today and I really can't remember the last time I told her I loved her, so I'm gonna make that part of my gift to her. This is going to be hard for me after years of never really saying how I feel or hearing how they feel, but it's becoming a lot more impotant to me now.

On a different (slightly related) note, I just want to say how much I love the fall. Fall really gets me in the mood to think, I could just sit in one spot and think for hours. I don't know what it is… I just enjoy watching it happen. Everything prepares itself for what seems like impending death, shedding what's not needed and storing up the essentials. This would be a sad occasion if you didn't know that in 7 months everything will thaw, sprout and grow as if nothing could ever stop it again. I enjoy how the awesome power of the cold is used to preserve and renew. I guess I just can't help but relate it to my own life and the same power God uses within my Soul.

 
Welcome

I told you all that I would never start a blog unless it was seriously different than most other blogs I've been reading lately. No offense intended to anyone, I get a lot out of the other blogs I read. I just want the sole purpose of this blog to be the edification of the church through encouragement. I may be of a dying breed, but those who know me well know that I'm a little bit of an optimist. As my subtitle reads, I just want to start some fires. The other thing is I'm too much of a geek not to have a blog... I've worked on it for like 2 hours and I've already learned how to use style sheets and customized my entire template… I love it… ok I'm going now.