Just read this it will explain itself ... (Part 4) It was about four weeks later when I got a phone call on Sunday morning as I was getting ready for church, it was Pastor he wanted to let me know my friend from the motel and his family were up there. You got to be kidding?! They actually came! I sent them a few messages to see how things were, over the weeks and remind them of my invitation, but wow, really? There would be no sitting on the idiot bench for me this week! (The idiot bench~ where the well intentioned sit by the entrance of the church, waiting for the people they invited that said they might come this Sunday.) He had however been saying they would come for weeks. Heck I about died when he said they would be there the first time, I was concerned though as my wife and I were out of town and wouldnt be there to greet them, how would the others in church take to the man with such questionable and frankly culturally shocking tattoo choices coming in for the first time? Would they look down on him? I was quite confident they would welcome then as they had me years ago, but I felt inclined to set the stage so I sent frantic messages from our vacation location to many trusted friends to tell them to be on the lookout for my young friend and his family and love on them as the churchy people like to say. They didnt show that week, but on the plus side I did now have several more people praying for them in earnest. Then that one glorious Sunday four weeks later, Pastor said they showed up! I franticly rushed to get up there and sure enough, they did! There they were, standing there in the foyer live and in person! Now what? Oh, yeah, simple, LOVE THEM! After all Jesus direct us to... A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another (John 13;34). And I do. Kevin, from the motel, introduced his lovely sweet tempered girlfriend, Stacy and I got to play with their three beautiful children for a bit that first day, I miss having little children, so this was and is a true joy and blessing. Our families all sat together, I was more in awe of God that Sunday than I had been in a while.... I may have even shed a tear of joy and admiration, Im like that. And so goes the story.... all is well in the world. Well, no not quite. This story isnt that simple. We had a nice time at church I was left however feeling like my part of this was not done, but what was I supposed to do, give them money, rent an apartment for them? No, that wasnt what they needed, what they needed was HOPE, through Christ you have come to trust in God. And you have placed your faith and hope in God because he raised Christ from the dead and gave him great glory. (1 PETER 1:21; one of my favorite books by the way) I had seen that hope in my own life and I KNOW it will sustain through any hardship, this is what I was given to do, it was becoming clearer and clearer, but again how this would happen would take an entire church, thankfully thats right where He put them. It was early that same week when I decided unexpectedly, to go into town first thing in the morning before work and drop off a few things a friend asked to borrow for some a task in the works. While sitting at the stop light, I glanced over and saw Kevin standing outside the motel room on his phone, neat I thought, I know him now. As I turned the corner my phone rang, it was Kevin; Hey, Jack? Its Kevin. Stacy and I have a really BIG problem, her mother died last night and we dont know what to do, we dont have any way to get to her fathers house. My heart sank, I could barely catch my breath, the tears flowed. God why now? Why make it harder? Because he wanted the entire family to draw closer to him. And thats just what is happening.... youtube/watch?v=2pWAZ_tNNQE ___________________________________________________________________ Once again; if you liked where this is going and want to read more of this story, like it and Ill be sure to post more of it. Please share it to if you feel so led. I truly feel God wants some of you reading this to be a part of this too. If you are tagged, you are either wittingly or un-wittingly a part of this, thats how God works. We rarely know the extent of our involvement in His will, so why not choose to be a willing participant?
Posted on: Wed, 17 Sep 2014 20:10:25 +0000
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