So this is my attempt at a blog. For those that know me I'm not exactly the blogging type but I figured if you can't beat them, join them. I will do my best to make enlightening post along the way. Some will be good, some (if not most) will not be. The funny thing is I have another blog that I will be writing on that will enlighten the world on my AMAZING sports opinions (thank you Chad Latino). It's called TheGistPerspective and will also hosted at blogspot.com. This blog will mainly be a serious blog and the other one...well you'll just have to read for yourself.
Here we go....
Lesson Learned Today
It's funny how God takes what comes from the pulpit and gives us opportunities to take the lesson learned through His word and gives us the opportunity to use that knowledge outside the walls of the church. After all, what's the point in hearing something and then never applying it. To anyone that may read this that does not go to Harris Creek Baptist Church, you need to Podcast the sermons. We have an amazing teaching pastor in Brady Herbert who is unashamed to bring it as it's meant to be preached, and for that I'm grateful.
We're currently going through a series called Generous Living. One of my favorite quotes from the series is, "This series is not about generous giving, it's about generous living." The premise being that everything we have comes from God, not just our money. I wholeheartedly agree with this. Too often I think we get caught up on what we earned, or what we accomplished, or what we're doing.... Let me stop here and say, more times than not, I'm in this category. I look at what I'm doing and so easily forget that I didn't do a darn thing. God has allowed me to do [fill in the blank with action here]. All our time is borrowed time, let us not forget that. We become so fearful of giving to those people, or to that cause, simply because we're somehow afraid that we won't have enough. That somehow God won't provide enough for me to do [fill in the blank here.] Why is that? Has He not provided you with the ability to have a roof over your head or cloths on your back, or a car to transport yourself to your place of work? If He has provided those things, why would he not continue to bless you with even more for following His commands.
All this to say today I had the opportunity to face what Brady is teaching head on. It was one of those moments where God said to me, "Were you paying attention to what I said or were you dosing again...". Here's the scenario: A former employee I worked with left to go with her new husband, who we all knew was not good for her, and moved away. She had a house that was paid for, a nice savings, and was doing well for herself. He took her for everything she had but she was so blinded by her love for him that she never saw it until it was far too late. As a result, she's now living in and out of her car with her three small dogs. She has a place to stay every now and then but most of the time it's just the four of them all night in her car.
As I left City Hall today I saw her sitting in her car. She rolled down her window and said hello and I walked over there to say hello back. We proceeded to talk for a few minutes. As we talked I began hearing her story of the past several months of horribleness that ended up with her husband in jail and all she had basically gone. She asked whether I knew a place where she could get $10.00 to put some gas in her car to drive to Hillsboro to see him one last time before they transferred him for several months. As we stood there I thought to myself, I don't have any money, there's nothing I can do. All along knowing I had money in the bank to give her. After several minutes of talking I started to walk off without evening offering to help her and thinking I felt really bad for her. As I got two steps from her car it was like God had one of those "cough, cough" moments as if to say really.... did you just ignore what we've been talking about the last few weeks...really?!?! I should note that my car was parked three spaces from hers. The pull to help her was so strong that by space two God all but willed me to help her. Without even thinking twice about it, I told her to follow me to the gas station and I'd fill her up. This isn't a pat-myself-on-the-back, fill better about myself moment. In fact, the fact that God even had to speak to me shows how little I've learned. Furthermore, it shows how far I need to go.
Several of us used our contacts and most likely have found her a temporary place to stay, and we're working on getting her a more steady income that will allow her to get a more permanent place of her own. We're confident we can get her something shortly, but like all things it's going to take her time to re-build.
But the real lesson learned can be best summed up with a quote from the animated movie Robots. The theme of the movie from the main character was "Find a need, fill a need." Today I had an opportunity to fill a need. But I asked myself, how often am I searching or finding a need, and even more so, how often am I filling that need?? My intuition tells me I'm finding lots of need and filling far too few of them. So the lesson learned? When you find a need, fill the need because the reward far outweighs the monetary concession given up. Remember it's not about giving and then hoping/expecting that God will give it back to you here on earth. That's not the point and surely shouldn't be the motivation. Don't worry about whether God will bless you with the money given - remember the treasure you store up here does nothing for you in heaven. But the treasures you store up in heaven.....now that's worth storing up! It carries more value in heaven then anything you could ever accumulate here.
I doubt most posts will be this long, but my heart was very heavy with this today in the wake of the opportunity presented before me. Yes, I may have got it right today, but the real question is, if presented this opportunity again, will I have the same response? Only time and God know the answer to that question...
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