The Encourager!

Harriet, The Encourager! 

I was at a funeral with my dad several years ago were we met a longtime family friend. My mother and this special woman had been friends since I was in elementary school. Immediately, this lady walked toward my dad and me, greeted us with a beautiful smile and words of endearment. Instantly, I was filled with a renewed appreciation for the positive and encouraging heart of this wonderful person. This friend, now on the edge of her golden years, was even more affirming than I had remembered. It was like finding a treasure that you misplaced years ago and found it serendipitously with its value tremendously appreciated over time.

Harriet’s eyes sparkled and a smile broke out across her face with every pause in the conversation. As we stood in the parking lot on a beautiful, windy, spring day, her healthy silvery hair was blowing around her face like an aura of positivity. This lady had the rare ability to always affirm everyone just by the way she tilted her head and looked at them when she listened to every word they said. She always boosted your esteem with comments like, “that’s great!” And “Wow!” which made you feel like you’ve just told her the most wonderful and interesting thing ever, even when in fact it was the most mundane. She made you laugh, and she lifted your spirits with witty words and Barnabas-ish quips in response. Whenever you asked her a question, she always adeptly weaved the focus of the conversation back to the person I like to talk about the most… me! And she did it without you knowing it, until you realized later what had happened. 

The three of us reminisced about the antics and adventures of our yearly family vacations to the beach together and an unforgettable 2-week tour of the Western U.S. with 6 kids (14 and under) and 4 adults in one RV. She recalled specific memorable moments from those adventures that made us all snicker, and laugh, and sigh with fond remembrance. As we visited for just a few minutes, I realized what a precious gem this person was to those who were privileged to interact with her on the regular. She always saw any negative situation from a positive perspective and helped everyone else see it too. Her four children enjoyed the empowerment and success that came from the lifetime of accolades and affirmations of a proud mother.

After seeing this friend again, I was glad to know that nothing had changed about her except maybe that she had become even more adept at saying the most optimistic words at just the right moment. She was an expert encourager and an inspiration to all those around her. I would be thrilled to be half encourager she was.  She was a rich blessing to us all.

I think of Harriet when I read this from God’s Word: “A word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.” (Proverbs 25:11 NIV) Her words were always made you feel like you had just received a great gift that both valued and validated you as a person all at the same time. 

Hang in there people! God is glad to be with us! I’m praying for us all! 

Who are you?

A generous and gracious neighbor and friend who was (and is) an extraordinary Tennessee VOL fan, invited me to a football game to cheer on the Big Orange and stay in his family’s condo for a game in Florida. He drove us down to the Sunshine State in his father’s stretch black limousine, with a phone (long before cell phones were popular or affordable for normal people. This one had a phone cord and handset!) We had more fun in that Limo, people would slow down and look to see who was in the back, squinting to try to see through the tinted windows.  My friend and I had too much fun in the Wendy’s drive-through (He loved everything Wendy’s… Fries, a Frosty and his burger was always “Single, cheese, everything, no pickle”). I would climb into the back and put my dark glasses on day or night. We would give them two separate orders and drive around (he was a very good driver of this extra long vehicle, not bumping any curbs). Just before he would drive up to the window he would put on his chauffeur’s hat and sunglasses, roll down his window, then grab only his order and puuuullll forward slowly, roll down my window so I could grab my order, then roll it up for me while I held the bag and drink.  People would ask my friend, who he had in the back.  He would make up some famous person’s name, tell them with a straight face, then when we pulled away, we would laugh, and I’d climb back up to the front seat to eat our Wendy’s #1 meal deal.  We even got waved through by the traffic cops in football traffic to the special parking area like VIP's… It was fun pretending to be someone famous, but we knew we were just normal people in an extraordinarily long vehicle. This friend, though very blessed, is always especially humble, generous, and really cared about people.

There were many times in my life that I needed to be reminded who I really was in Christ. I was still living like a person who had never connected his life to Jesus. I acted like someone else, like the unchanged old flesh that served myself at the expense of everyone else around me.  I sometimes tried to solve my problems and pain with worldly remedies… solutions that never work in the long run.  There were times I tried to act like I was famous, fancy, or extraordinary, knowing that I was just an ordinary fallen human.  I had engaged in so much unhealthy self-talk about who I was, I forgot who I really was and Who I was really supposed to be acting like… The Good News is that God’s character never changes.  He loves us no matter what and He kept pursuing me.  He sacrifices so that we are blessed. He gives us the gift of an unending relationship with Him and doesn’t take it away even when we forget, or pretend, or act out of character with our New Self.  There will be some discipline from Him for acting badly, but He never disconnects with us, because we are His children.  Paul tells those who are connected to Jesus,  “For God's gifts and His call are irrevocable. [He never withdraws them once they are given, and He does not change His mind about those to whom He gives His grace or to whom He sends His call.]” Romans 11:29 (AMP) We gotta keep asking ourselves, “who am I?”  And be reminded that we are called by God and gifted by God and blessed by God to be a new creation… a person that loves and values God and people well, and doesn’t pretend to be better than anyone else... someone who remembers their connection to Jesus and acts like Him even when we are tired, scared, hurting, or wanting to pretend we are someone we aren’t. He makes us a person whose character doesn’t change regardless of the hat we are wearing, the sunglasses we are wearing, the car we are driving, the church we are attending, the career we are pursuing, the friends we have...

Hang in there people! God is glad to be with us! I’m praying for us all!

Ever Had A Pounding?

 At one of my churches, I had arrived on staff with a big celebration. There was a parade with cars, firetrucks, and lights in the yard of the newly renovated parsonage. The congregation gave us a “pounding.” I was a little anxious about this. Because the only poundings I had received were in Middle School by the prevailing bullies at recess. This pounding, however, was when they brought you a pound of some staple, i.e. a pound of sugar or flour, a pound of butter, or my kids favorite, a pound of their own breakfast cereal. In spite of the wonderful welcome, the church/pastor honeymoon ended pretty quickly. I had only been at this church for a couple of weeks when two couples were embroiled in a disagreement and they weren’t making any progress on resolution; instead each family was pretty insistent on convincing me to take their side. As a new pastor there, I decided to lean in and invite them all to my office to talk through it one Sunday afternoon. I knew I needed to address this interpersonal conflagration since it had literally disrupted Bible Study that day. I also wanted to include the chairman of deacons, a wise man who could possibly speak some wisdom and peace into this situation. I prayed then called the couples and asked them to meet at my office. They agreed. Then I called the chairman of deacons who lived down the street. He said he would be there. I began to pray that the Holy Spirit would guide our meeting, that our words would be pleasing to the Lord and helpful to reconciliation. Everyone arrived at the church, but somewhere in the mile and a half drive to the church the chairman of deacons had completely lost his voice. He had literally just spoken clearly to me on the phone when he was leaving the house, but he could not talk at all when he arrived. I do not know what happened but apparently he would end up being the example of one who listened well rather than speaking into the situation. I listened and spoke with the couples and we came to some resolutions to their issues… for the moment, because apparently it was pretty deep seated conflict and would resurface again in a few months.  

When James the half-brother of Jesus was trying to help the early church remember how to treat each other now that they belonged to Jesus, he said,  “My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.” (James 1:19-20 NIV) Maybe we should all lose our voice temporarily, be more curious, and be quick to listen when there is a conflict. Jesus himself fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy and remained silent before his accusers at his trial which would ultimately accomplish the salvation of many. He certainly could have spoken and silenced them all. 

Hang in there people! God is glad to be with us! I’m praying for us all!

At the Name of Jesus!

                                                        Photo credit: Kalamazoo Candle Company

Years ago, in a church in Austin, God gave us the wonderful opportunity to partner with another congregation to host a Backyard Bible Club in the courtyard of an apartment complex. We wanted to reach out to and connect with some families across town to share the Gospel.  A friend and mentor of mine was the pastor of a missional church ministering with families in this community. He and I used to meet each month to talk, share some coffee, and pray with each other. It was at one of those meetings that God led us to team up together and organize a Backyard Bible Club in one of the government subsidized apartment complexes his church wanted to reach. Several of the young adults in our ministry eagerly jumped in to help. We went door to door in the apartment complex, distributed free Bibles, and invited all the kids to come outside to learn with us, play some games, and enjoy some hot dogs for lunch together. It was a great day. Grandparents sat in lawn chairs in front of their doors and watched as the kids had a day of fun and learning on a hot Texas Summer day. Then they joined us for hot dogs, chips and lemonade. At one point, Anita and I were teaching some 1st graders and things seemed to be going well. We had played a game, had some goldfish and began with to tell the children a Bible story. Then, in the middle of the story, one of the kids grabbed a beer bottle, smashed it against the curb, and began threatening the other kids and us with it with a wild look in his eyes. Everyone froze, except one.  The mother bear protector came out in Anita. She stood up and walked straight toward this broken glass wielding 1st grader pointing at the bottle and saying, “In the name of Jesus, you put down that bottle!” The next sound we heard was glass plinking on the asphalt. The kid had dropped the bottle, the wild look in his eyes had been replaced by shame at the realization what he had just done, and he began to cry. Anita hugged him, told him everything was okay, prayed with him, and sat next to him as we continued with the Bible teaching. We have no idea what that child had experienced in his life that would trigger a fear/anger/fight response so intense. We could not understand why a child would grab a glass bottle, smash the end of it, and use it as a weapon against the other neighbor kids and two adults wearing madras shorts, smiling, and holding Bibles. Something had triggered his fear, but the Good News is, something also triggered his release from that fear - The Name of Jesus! When we finally arrived home with our own kids later that evening, we hugged them, and we once again called on Jesus praising His Name because everyone had made it home alive and in one piece. We rejoiced that we all got to  experience the power of Jesus’ Name, feel the grace of His goodness, and witness His great love!

The Apostle Paul told the church he loved, that because of Jesus’ humility to come to the earth and save us, His Name would be powerful and above every name. He says, “For this reason God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow — in heaven and on earth and under the earth — and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2:9-11 CSB What’s in a name? When we are fearful, we can call on the Name of Jesus! When we are blessed, we can praise to the Name of Jesus! His Name is powerful and wonderful...above all names!

Hang in there people! God is glad to be with us! I’m praying for us all!

Keep it shiny side up.

 

                                            Photo credit: Greg’s Mowers and More

Keep it shiny side up. We had a rule when I was growing up: no play until the chores were done. One of my chores as a pre-teen was mowing the yard. When I first started we had a power assisted push mower. If our one acre yard had been flat, the task would not have been as challenging for a kid who had to reach up in order to grab the mower handles, but it was a long sloping hill in the front of the house and a pretty steep terraced hill in the back. It took well over an hour to accomplish this task (which is an eternity for a hyperactive pre-teen boy).  Fortunately for me, the push mower died and Dad bought a Simplicity Lawn Tractor.  This was a dream come true to ride this fancy grass clipping go-cart. When I was learning to mow with the lawn tractor, I had to make some pretty sharp turns on the steep terraced slopes of the back yard. A couple of times the tractor almost flipped over on me. My Dad quickly taught me to slide from the seat to ride the top edge of the uphill tire well while hanging on to the steering wheel to keep the mower from rolling over, kinda like those guys we saw racing in the sailboat regatta who were hanging off the rails of their boats to stay upright.  How I didn’t lose a limb or appendage with that powerful lawn vehicle was simply because of God’s grace and mercy.  Riding mowers we later equipped with a kill switch to stop the engine if you come out of the seat, but this was back in the era of no bike helmets and operating heavy mowing equipment with 36 inches of whirling sharp blades at your own risk. I had more fun on that riding mower.  It was designed to stay shiny side up, but with some speed and a sharp wrong turn on the side of a hill I discovered that it could go dirty side up to my own detriment fairly easily. 

But that is kinda the way I could be sometimes as a person who belonged to the Light. When I started following Jesus, I knew I was designed to stay shiny side up, to walk in the Light. But with a wrong turn here or there, in my anger, upset, or fear, I could just as easily reveal my dirty and dangerous side.  I could easily forget that Jesus' people are made for shininess.  Jesus reminded those who were following him to : “let your light shine before others,a that they may see your good deedsb and glorifyc your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:16. He reminded them that they too were “the light of the world,” a title that was divinely His, that he bestowed on everyone who follows Him. 

Hang in there people! God is glad to be with us! I’m praying for us all!

He said, "I'm Lost." I almost sent him to the wrong place.

 

When I was a Senior pastor at a church in East Nashville, I was getting ready to preach on a Wednesday night after our church family had a meal together. A church member came to find me and said there was someone standing in the stairwell who was lost. This was nothing new, people frequently got lost in our neighborhood because our church was on McGavock Pike. The Opryland Hotel, Grand Ol’ Opry, and Opry Mills shopping center, as well as some other restaurants and hotels were also located on McGavock Pike, but they were on the other side of the river. To remedy the problem, we had printed up some maps that showed people how they could get to the bridge that would take them to the Famous Country Music Mecca, a huge indoor shopping mall,  and a fancy Hotel that featured 9 acres of beautiful indoor gardens. As I walked across our fellowship hall and up the steps, I was wondering to myself, “why didn’t that church member just give him directions?” As I walked up to him, I introduced myself as the pastor and asked him if he was lost. He answered “yes, I’m lost.” I said, “hold on, I have a map in my office that will get you where you need to go,” and I quickly started up the next set of stairs because I was supposed to preach in just a few minutes. The sweaty man with a painter's hat, dressed in a t-shirt and jorts with paint on them, began to take large steps to catch up to me with a pained look on his face.  He exclaimed once again, “Pastor, I’m lost.” To which I responded, don’t worry, I have a map that will help. He grabbed my arm and said, "you don’t understand, I am lost and going to hell and I need Jesus!” I was speechless and chuckled out loud at my own spiritual insensitivity, but it finally registered and I said, “Ooooh! Well let’s get you saved right now!” He told me that he had been painting the second story of his house and God told him that he was lost and he needed to get off that ladder right then and go to the church on the corner and get saved. And that’s what he did. A few moments later, when I had given a very simple presentation of the Gospel story, that man prayed a prayer asking Jesus to save him.  I invited him to dinner, but he was embarrassed by his sweat and paint covered clothes, but he went home as a new man who had been found by Jesus. Though I was late to our Wednesday night service, I definitely had a story to tell my congregation.  How silly of me to offer something so second rate like a map to hear some of the best country music, or shop in some of the best retail space at the time, or stay in a four-star hotel, when the man wanted to know how to get to heaven. I still get chill bumps when I think that I was in the presence of the Holy Spirit in those moments and that God had involved me in the eternal salvation of someone, even when I was so clueless. There were 25 other churches in a 3 mile radius of ours, one of which I could reach with a well thrown rock, but somehow God sent him to our church for that divine mid-week intervention.

Jesus had just saved a small lost man up in a tree in Jericho named Zacchaeus when… “Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”(Luke 19:9-10 NIV11) After that incident in Nashville, I was reminded that we should always be expecting Jesus to be saving lost people around us and He may even use us to be a part of His lifesaving work.

There’s no place like home.

After a trip many years ago to the beautiful country of South Africa, I was glad to be back on American soil, enjoying the freedoms and blessings of the good ol’ U.S. of A! I enjoyed the raw beauty of a safari in the wild... lions, strong and majestic, seeing and hearing them a couple of times too close for comfort… seeing baby elephants between their mommy’s feet… warthogs, wild dogs, zebras by the thousands, giraffes, kudu, impala, hippos, crocodiles, and hundreds of other wild birds and beasts. I saw two oceans and their tumultuous converging from a perspective of mountainous beauty, rolling plains, gorgeous beaches that met majestic mountains. I saw the very rich and the desperately poor. I felt the discomfort of at least 23 different people groups Asian, Indian, Afrikaans, English, and several different African tribes all vying for power, peace or just human validation. I met wonderfully welcoming people and the not so nice. I was well received by friends and rejected by a church I wanted to visit because I didn't look or sound like them. I tasted the great diversity of delicious foods, fresh fruits, biltong, and some that didn’t agree with my southern American palate. I stayed in beautiful homes and slept in a car one night fearing for my life. I enjoyed privileged status at borders and experienced being misunderstood in the wrong place at the wrong time and the great fear of being incarcerated by an officer of the law shouting at me in another language I didn’t understand, Uzis drawn and lights flashing. It was overall a wonderful experience but I was ready to kiss the ground when I arrived home. There is something about being home.

As comfy and cozy our homes may be, they are not still not our real eternal home with Jesus. We are going to a home that is always full of love, and comfort, and no pain. Peter reminds us of what he heard from Jesus Himself that Christ has a place ready for us. He warns everyone who belongs to Jesus, not to get too caught up in our worldly comforts to the detriment of our forever relationships with these words, “Friends, this world is not your home, so don't make yourselves cozy in it. Don't indulge your ego at the expense of your soul. Live an exemplary life among the natives so that your actions will refute their prejudices. Then they'll be won over to God's side and be there to join in the celebration when He arrives.” 1 Peter 2:11-12 (MSG) We gotta be thankful for the blessings of our earthly homes while keeping our Heavenly Father’s home and blessings always in view, inviting as many to join us as we can! There’s no place like our heavenly home!

 

Hang in there people! God is glad to be with us! I’m praying for us all!

Project, Protect, or Process our Pain?

 In 5th grade I changed schools, it was a traumatic experience. I had moved from a small safe setting designed for kids who had learning differences. The new school had large open classrooms (a nightmare for ADHD learners). One of my teachers didn't even know my name 6 weeks into the school year. There also happened to be an extra-large, almost full grown young man who was a student in my fifth grade class. I had never heard the kind of language that came out of his mouth and I had never experienced my head being shoved into a water fountain, until I met Raymond. I was undersized for 5th grade, so as I saw it, my options were few. I now recognize that the world he grew up in probably had few tools to cope with life other than physical strength, harsh language, and whatever strong arm tactics would ensure “survival of the fittest.” I also recognized that my life and pain coping tool box had little more than silent, numbing and hiding behaviors that included eating a half a loaf of cinnamon toast smothered in butter and powdered sugar, then going to bed all afternoon on the hard days, so I could dull the pain. 

There seem to be three basic ways we deal with our pain. There are two ways we handle our pain and they are bad for us and those around us. When we 1. project our pain outward on others or we attempt to 2. protect ourselves by numbing and escaping inward. Either way we harm healthy relationships. There is however a relationally healthy way of handling our pain, we can 3. process it. Jerrod Justice tells us, “Our pain is either transmitted or transformed.” When we project our pain, we hurt other people.  It can be someone who hurt us, as we exact revenge, or it could just be someone around us, unrelated to the hurt, who happens to be weaker and convenient. We can gossip, berate, or belittle others. We can also intentionally ignore, exclude or abandon these people or even physically harm them.  We can become the worst version of ourselves. When we protect ourselves from pain, we hide from other people. We try any way we can to just escape the pain. We just want it to stop. We do need to protect ourselves from further harm, but there are some really unhealthy ways to do it which diminish who we are. We can numb ourselves with food, drugs, other chemicals, porn, alcohol and unhealthy relationships. We can even convince ourselves that excessive exercise, religion, work, or sleep is a good option here.  We may hide behind an armored persona never showing who we really are for fear we will be hurt again.  When we hide our true self, we have cheated the world out of experiencing the very relationships to which we are meant to bring life.  Processing our pain with the Wonderful Counselor, Jesus is the best option. It allows us to connect with other people instead of hiding from them or hurting them. We need to process our pain with the God who sees us, hears us, and cares about us. We do this by praying and seeking some comfort from His presence, His Word and His people (maybe a trained counselor). 

The Apostle Paul reminds us that it is because of Who we belong to that we can process our pain in a good way. He says in 1 Thessalonians 5:5-8b (CEV) “You belong to the light and live in the day. We don't live in the night or belong to the dark. Others may sleep, but we should stay awake and be alert.  People sleep during the night, and some even get drunk. But we belong to the day. So we must stay sober and let our faith and love be like a suit of armor.” So, the next time we find ourselves projecting you pain on others or doing everything we can to protect ourselves from it, we need to remember that we belong to the One who will help us process it so we can bring our best self to those around us.

Are you up and gone to Carolina?

We had a group of family friends that would take an annual trek to the Carolina coast when I was a child.  Those times were filled with beach days, crabbing, mini-golf, and lots of fried shrimp.  The place made it fun, but the people made it special... family time uninterrupted by all the work, school and activities of home… fun times making memories with family and friends in the sun, surf and sand. Cause "loves the finest thing around."  Then, from the time Anita and I started dating, the Carolina coast has been special to us too.  Her Aunt, who lived on the Isle of Palms used to host a reunion about every other year. Everyone would gather for a week-long celebration of all the birthdays, anniversaries, and milestones we had missed together. She made every person feel special and made matching T-shirts so that everyone who belonged to our family crew (blood relatives and friends so close they were like cousins) got the T-shirt. Kind encouraging words were spoken and many coastal meals were shared shoulder to shoulder and laughter was only a moment away.  The Carolina cousins have tried keep the tradition going since her aunt’s passing.  Once again, the place is wonderful, but the people are what make it special. Cause "loves the finest thing around." Of course, one of our favorite songs is “Carolina in My Mind.” James Taylor apparently wrote the song from a faraway place, homesick for the people he loved and belonged to.  The love of the people who spoke gentle and kind words to him and familiarity of the place seemed to call out to him.   I love the lines he sings: 

“There ain't no doubt in no one's mind

That love's the finest thing around

Whisper something soft and kind

And hey babe, the sky's on fire

I'm dying, ain't I?

Gone to Carolina in my mind”

Paul, the Apostle, was writing to some people he loved, who had apparently forgotten how to treat the people to whom they belonged.  He writes to them from a faraway place reminding them, “love’s the finest thing around.” He says, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails...  And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” 1 Corinthians 13:4-8,13 (NIV)  For a few years now the Carolina reunion has been postponed, but memories of the love and laughter of those to whom we belong are calling out to us, reminding us that “love’s the finest thing around!” We all need to let Jesus whisper words soft and kind to us and then we can pass them along to those we love whether we are close to them or faraway. 

Hang in there people! God is glad to be with us! I’m praying for us all!

The Fall

 One of my chores at my childhood home was raking leaves with the rest of the family.  I didn’t enjoy it, but the crisp Fall air, the smell of freshly fallen leaves that crunched under your feet helped make the task bearable. Also, the sound of everyone’s rakes scraping the ground in rhythm, as the leaves danced from high in the tree and floated to the ground soothed the soul.  Even the clean yard afterward that gave us the shot of dopamine of a completed task, made the Autumn ritual tolerable.  And there was also another fun bonus at the end.  After raking a huge, chest high, pile of leaves, my sister and I would get a running start and jump right in the middle, rake them up and jump in again and again. After the last jump we would recline in them and stare at the sky. It was a fun fall ritual in East Tennessee where the leaves were so abundant, it could take a couple of hours to rake them all each weekend until the last ones were gone. One year, we blissfully jumped into the pile but quickly noticed an unpleasant smell. A dog had been in the yard and did his business, but the leaves had hidden it and covered its smell. As we raked, the smelly stink bomb was rolled up to the middle of the leaf pile unknown to us until we jumped right into it. We were expecting fun and bliss, but instead our stomachs were turned by the stench.  The bonus at the end of our labor was ruined by something stinky. It was on our clothes, so they had to be shed at the door and put in the washer.

The wisest man ever, once warned that foolishness on our part can ruin a reputation of a lifetime of good things done. He says,  “As dead flies cause even a bottle of perfume to stink, so a little foolishness spoils great wisdom and honor.”(Ecclesiastes 10:1) King Solomon certainly knew this. He had a lifetime of wise decisions made and yet his foolishness in just a few areas of his life tainted his legacy. The thing is, even the wisest man to ever live couldn’t keep himself from messing up. Every single one of us needs Jesus to change our hearts and minds to redeem us from our stinkiest mess ups.  That is why Jesus’ story is called Good News! He makes us a new creation and renews our hearts and minds to act like Him, like giving us a fresh new set of clean clothes to put on and taking the soiled ones off. 

Hang in there people. God is glad to be with us. I’m praying for us all.

Tires on Gravel and Dust Boiling Anticipation

Photo Credit: RNR Tire Express

As a preteen boy, my family had a small 7-acre farm on the Little River in Blount County, TN with a little farmhouse that had a red tin roof. We used to go there in the evenings and on weekends to garden, fish, and enjoy the pleasant sights and sounds of the bucolic setting.  One day while all 4 of us were in the garden, we heard the sound of tires on gravel. We couldn’t see the car yet because the road berm prevented it, but you could see the dust boiling. Then as the car rolled into sight, I was surprised to see the face of a cute girl from my class peering out the back window. I wasn’t sure what to do with the weird warm anxious emotions that were new to my preteen self as the car slowed to round the curve just past our riverside farm. So, I just stared, waved, turned red, and then quickly, awkwardly looked down to keep hoeing potatoes. The rush of adrenaline, dopamine, and cortisol flooded my whole body, bringing butterflies to my stomach when the car stopped, backed up, and pulled into our driveway. My head was spinning, with both glee and agony.  My parents, my sister, and I went to greet our guests who were apparently just out for a drive. I couldn’t figure out what to do with my arms and legs.  All four appendages had seemingly lost any connection with my brain.  Our parents talked and we tried not to look at each other.  Unable to stand still, I kicked the dirt and picked up a rock to throw at the huge sycamore tree just a few yards away. I missed the tree, so my sister laughed at me, the girl giggled, and my face turned even more red. After a few moments our serendipitous guests climbed back in the car and drove away. And just like that they were gone, but after that, every time we went to the farm, I listened for tires on gravel and looked for dust boiling into the air, anticipating who may stop in our driveway next. 

The Apostle Paul reminds us that literally everything anticipates the day that those who belong to Jesus will be set free from our fleshly awkwardness and mess ups and fully embrace the blessings and bliss of our Spiritual freedom in Christ. He says,  “For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us.”(Romans 8:19-23 NLT-SE)

Hang in there people! God is glad to be with us! I’m praying for us all!