Edgewater Grace

I went to the mall today. I NEVER go to the mall. My son Matt and I were walking down the hallway, checking out the sites…And some distance later this man began talking to my son. Our son has Downs Syndrome and I am super protective. The man was holding a card towards us and I grabbed it. The next thing I know was I was drawn right into the sale.
What he said next stunned me. “So are you married or happy?” I replied I was married and he started to say “I’m sorry” but I asked to be sure I heard him correctly.  “What did you say?” He repeated it and I said “Married and happy for 35 years”. He was surprised. “Well congratulations. That’s unusual. What do you attribute the success to?” I replied “Jesus”. He was floored. “But he’s dead!” I chuckled and thought ‘yes here we go…’
“Well, he did die but maybe you haven’t heard the rest of the story. Maybe you need to look into him a little more.
He looked at me like I was nuts. “I’m a Jew. Its like I would be worshipping a brother,you see, as if that would explain his end of that problem…
He finished redoing my makeup and sold me one or two products “at a hugely discounted cost, but you have to give me a pinky promise squeeze that you won’t tell anyone. And I promised not to reveal a thing. When the sale was finalized, I said ” O.K. Your turn. Pinky finger squeeze.” He hesitantly held up his pinky and I joined it with mine and said, “Promise me that you will check out more about Jesus Christ.” He hesitated for the first time. Finally, he said “Let’s not talk about religion. Besides, I might make you a Jew.” And I left it at that and parted with”yeah you just never know. I mean after all I’m already really fond of one member of the family.”
One just never knows when the conversation will occur. My family was Jewish at one time before they became Catholics in the nineteenth century. I love them so much and wish they could understand who Jesus really is.
But God has promised to once again reveal his truths, after the time of the gentiles is over. Zechariah 12:10 begins the promise. “And I will pour out on the house of David a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look up on me- the one they have pierced- and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a first born son.” Jesus will finally be revealed to his own brothers and sisters. Praise the Lord! Have a safe week.

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It was only recently that I sat down to watch Duck Dynasty. What a wonderful and refreshing surprise it was to find a strong Christian ethic demonstrated on the show. And while the Robertson gents may reside in a world I don’t recognize, their trust in an all powerful and loving God comes through loud and clear.
‘Uncle Si’ from the show says its important to quote John 3:16 & 17.  I had to look up verse 17 to see why that was. Continuing from the famous verse in John 3:16; the bible says, “For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”
I wonder if good ole Uncle Si doesn’t have a point there? What if we could toss out the habits of judging each other and offered love instead?
In the early Christian church the main effort the believers strived towards was loving each other as much as they loved God. We should join with them and proclaim Gods love for only in His love can we ever love each other.

I first saw it in the Message bible.  While every bible I’ve read has issued the same commands spoken by Jesus, I didn’t fully understand what he meant until the Message bible proclaimed the Word in our lingo.  I understand now how deeply paramount to the world the work of the bible translators really is.  But, I digress.

Jesus said that we are not to strive for the things that we want for ourselves any longer.  We are to ‘take up our crosses and walk’, following Jesus and doing what He commands.  But, it is only in the Message bible where I see the command that I am supposed to strive to help others.  As a matter of fact, it says that just like God the Father acts to meet our needs before it is released from our mouths, we are to do the same for our brothers and sisters in this world.  We are to act on it – First.

Driving to work should no longer spent pondering what I want to do, where I want to go, or what I want to purchase for myself.  It has actually become even more exciting than that.  Now, when I remember Jesus’ command, I focus all of my energy on how I can bring joy to another person.  How I can strive to do so, and to meet a need prior to them even being aware of it. I have to admit, its one of the most exciting things I can think of to be engaged in.  I just don’t understand why I don’t engage in the activity more often.  I think that events happen and we can quickly return to a disengaged attitude and plod along on autopilot, not even seeing how far from glory we have fallen yet again.

Sometimes I don’t know a need exists, and so it is hard to discover everything a brother or sister might need.  But, it’s so much fun to strive to give even more when someone asks a favor of us.  Maybe you don’t have a lot of cash, or time.  But, you have something that God has lavishly given you, and out of sheer generosity, you can share that abundance with those around you.  God didn’t give it to you alone.  He meant for you to share the abundance of His love.

I challenge you to spend the drive to work in the morning striving hard to bring joy to your bosses or colleagues day.  Do something extraordinary for them.  Bring them the Love of God.  Don’t expect or even look for them to give anything back.  Do it out of sheer generosity.  Just like God has treated you.  I can say that you will relish the experience, and find yourself actively engaged in loving your brothers and sisters the way Jesus really recommended that we do it.

Okay, so how many of you have tried the Love Dare?  And where are you on the 40 day schedule?  I love some of the challenges inherit in the new walk.  For instance, thinking on only pure things, only wholesome things, and how I can bring more wholesome joy to my spouse is so much more exciting than anything I have ever tried before.   Greeting him kindly and warmly and letting him know above all else  he is the  most important human being to me is thrilling and downright exciting.

But, it is still hard to go to work each day and hear the selfish comments being made by so many people about their mates or their children.  I try to lighten up the mood a bit by bringing some of what I have learned in the Love Dare, but most of them don’t want to hear.  I am finding myself seeking out prayer so that the Lord can remove the selfishness of the comments from my mind, and to return my heart back to the joyfulness of that morning.

One of the girls doesn’t want a man at all.  She shared that she just plain didn’t want to have to take the time to go and see her man.  I have been married for close to 31 years, and I just don’t understand where that attitude comes from.  Another girl shared with me her need to be recognized by the man she is now dating.  She is a recent divorcee, and was worried about starting up a new relationship with a man just like the one she had just left.  The ex apparently paid her no attention at best, and treated her and her daughters with major disrespect.

But, marriage is supposed to be the earthly version of the holy relationship between God and mankind.  I want to open my associate’s minds like peeling an apple and thrust the knowlege of the Lord’s awesome love into their brains.  When I get the cold shoulder or the person ‘suddenly gets busy’ when I try to share Christ, I feel a great sense of sadness.  And a great sense of loss.  Can you imagine how Christ must feel when this kind of stuff happens?

So, I am determined to build up my own marriage by using the Love Dare and then continuing the Dare throughout the rest of my life.  That way, my kids will never have to experience the broken lifestyles that so many people have today.  If others commit to this type of lifestyle, and others see how beautiful it can really be, then they will be attracted to it and ask how we did that.  Then, we can share with them what they lack in their relationship and introduce them to Jesus.

That is the only way to be married.  And the only way to have an abundant life.  Worship Jesus.  Adore Him for his joyful and sweet abandon – He couldn’t wait to come down and rescue us.  And, if you are reading this today, and know nothing of these topics, type in the Love Dare into your search line and you’ll get to see what its all about.

Even better, if you don’t know Jesus, pray the simple prayer like this one:  Father, I have sinned.  I have hurt you in ways that I can’t even imagine, and I have not lived my life according to your ways.  I am so grateful that Jesus volunteered to die on the cross and pay the penalty for my sins.  I ask you now to come in and take up residence in my life.  Be my Savior, Lord and my King.  Take my hand and lead me into the sweet, peaceful pastures of your abundant life.  I thank you, Father for hearing my prayer and forgiving me today.  I commit to follow Jesus from this day forth, and to give Him first place in my life.  In Jesus name I pray, Amen.

So be it.  Come Lord Jesus!  🙂

I was driving to work the other day and noticed an old man dressed exquisitely in a black suit, white shirt and red tie.  He had thrown on an old corduroy brown jacket, because it was cold out, and his clothing created it’s own statement of opposites.  He had thinning black hair with streaks of silver at his temple.  He was a handsome man, and he was dragging his trash can out to the curb.

He paused long enough to make sure the lid was sealed tightly, and then turned to walk back to his car.  And that is when he did it.  Something caught his eye, and he ran over with his dress black shoes and pounded down a mole hile.  The look on his face had already turned to disgust, and he searched the area around the hill, evidently looking to see if there were anymore.

And then he realized a car was coming, and you could see him sheepishly shrink into himself, and peek a glance back over his shoulder to see if I was watching.  And then he looked away.  It was a fascinating glimpse into this man’s life, and the side of a working man that most of us never get to see.  I wondered if it would bother him all day, and he would stop off at the hardware store that night for more mole killer stuff.  I wondered if he was married, and if his wife harassed him about the moles in the yard.  I wondered if they had a neighborhood organization that would complain if you had mole hills all over the yard.  Maybe he was just determined to get rid of the moles.

I will never know.  But, I am glad I got to witness the actions of this man.  To see him attack the hill like he did and to wonder how this would affect his day.  Was he a Christian?  Would he pray for strength, or seek his own strength?  Again, I will never know, but we all have blessings and troubles that confront us every day.  They build up character in us, and build us up and as we ponder the meaning behind it all, we grow closer to the King.

Why did I see all of this so clearly?  I’m still trying to find that out.

The next day, I followed a semi-trailer down one of the roads I travel.  The kids were waiting for the school bus, and a young 8 year old was tugging his arm up and down really quickly.  I thought,  “what in the world” and then heard the truck driver blowing his horn.  Another glimpse into another man’s life.  A man who obviously loved kids and liked to entertain them.  He took the time out of his busy day to answer the little boys dreams, and as we drove on by, the young guy was jumping up and down for joy.  You could see him stating, “Wow, a Semi Truck!! Cool!”  It brought a smile to my face yet again.

That’s real life.  And I want to remain as observant as I can so I don’t miss these tiny little blessings that occur as I make the 30 minute trip every day.

The Moley Yard and the School Boy.  Who would have figured?

Today I had the opportunity to publicly disrespect someone.  I was assigned the role by a lesser ranked associate at work who had attended a workshop on the subject.  She was giving a demo of the class, and put me on the spot (unlike the folks who had taught the class who got to practice beforehand). Anyway, she was trying to teach the difference between respect and disrespect.  I was told to be disrespectful to my boss.  I couldn’t do it even though it was a game.  I felt a huge tug by the Holy Spirit not to engage in this little fiasco.

So, I told them I couldn’t be disrespectful to my boss.  So, they reversed our roles.  I was told me to be respectful, and that was very easy to accomplish.  When it came time for my boss to disrespect me, she really couldn’t do it either.  I learned a valuable lesson.

Our words hurt.  Even when spoken in such a setting, words can come back to haunt you.  Maybe its because I really like my boss, and feel so grateful to her for all she has taught me and mentored me on.  Or, maybe deep down inside I recognized this for what it was. A deceptive game meant to get another person to stand up to authority and challenge it as this girl was apt to do.  But, we are told to pray for those in authority, not to do everything in our power to abuse them for having to serve in an authoritative position.

Later on my husband told me I should have told my very conservative boss that “her purple hair was really getting on my last nerve…”  That is funny, and I wish I had thought of it.  But, I’m not an improvisator and don’t have a ready supply of jokes to pull from a hat at will.

I’m glad I didn’t participate.  No one left with bad feelings, and I stood up to the challenger (who handpicked me by the way) and told her no.  That made me feel even better.  I earned the respect from the Director and the two supervisors who were present when this event occurred.  And I let the others know that I had a brain and would stand on my own two feet with or without their approval.

Our words can hurt.  So, even if her purple hair is getting on my last nerve, who am I to tell her that? 

Have a fabulous day in the Lord