Signs in the Sky

A few days ago I made the trek from Pennsylvania to Michigan again to celebrate the life of my Gramps after his short (just 2 week) fight with cancer. I was supposed to drive up today to visit him, but instead I went to his funeral this past weekend. Sometimes life does not go to plan, but I do believe God is still in control.

On my all day drive I had lots of time to think and process. It was a healthy car ride and one that I found rather inspiring. Let me enlighten you…

For starters it felt weird to purposely drive out of sunshine and into a storm. It seemed almost wrong, but I knew that the journey was worth it. It made me think about the rest of life and the challenges we sometimes would rather not face, but how much stronger, happier, more fulfilled we would be in the end if we were willing to keep taking the next step on the journey…no matter what storms we might face.

 

A little later I saw this and did a double take. That wasn’t just a hole in the clouds where the sun was shining through, it was one cloud shining while the rest clung to their dreariness. Kind of like humans, it was one choosing to respond differently than what is considered normal. That lone cloud couldn’t make it not be a cloudy day, but it did add a bright spot into a cloudy day. I thought about the hard things in life, my friends in jail who’s families will celebrate Christmas without them. The many refugees all around the world who are just trying to survive the day. The homeless. The sick. I can’t make all of their days good, happy, or safe. But I can be a bright spot on a cloudy day…and even that makes a difference.

 

And then I wondered why does God go to all the effort to add extra beauty to each beginning and ending of our days? Honestly, I don’t know that it’s extra effort. I’m sure there’s scientific reason…but I also know it doesn’t have to be so beautiful. I believe God created some things in such detail just simply to wow us. He wows me all the time.

 

Beggars Can’t Be Choosers.

So I wouldn’t classify myself as a ‘beggar’, but I was reminded this week not to be a ‘chooser’. See I’ve been studying a little bit about Jesus’ interactions with broken people for a College Bible study I lead and that title could be shortened down to just Jesus’ interactions with people – because we’re all broken. Those who are really bad, whose sins are obvious, they’re broken. Those who look really good, whose sins are hidden, they’re broken. The fact of the matter is we are all sinners (Rom 3:23). And the world is broken because of sin. You’re broken. I’m broken. The people in jail are broken. And our pastors are broken. It’s just a fact. BUT Jesus offers redemption. He paid the price for our sin and brokenness and He is willing to welcome us home to Him! How amazing! 

So back to being choosey… well, my job is serving people. I clean houses. I set up volunteers to go help people. I recruit people to make food for other people. I meet up with people for coffee. These aren’t hard things, but it’s just the reality – my job is to serve people. And I love it. But sometimes I find it more natural to serve my ‘friends without houses’ or the people I come into contact with while working, than the people I come into contact with when I’m “off the clock”. But lets be real…as believers, we are never off the clock. God told us to love each other and a powerful way to do that is to serve. So this week when I got invited to go watch a basketball game with friends, it seemed like a fun, low key, no effort outing. But let’s be real, my life doesn’t include ‘boring, uneventful events’. So during the game I ended up getting recruited to help induce vomiting in the pet dog because it ate something it shouldn’t have. Well that was a first for me! We got out the turkey baster and the rest is history. Another item I can check off my life to-do list that I didn’t even know was on there! But the moral of the story is, let’s all be people who are willing to do what it takes to help the people around us. Be they someone you’ve never met or a good friend, because that’s what Jesus does for us.