Being the hands and feet of Jesus.

    The other night I was watching the DVD collection of the old TV series “Highway to Heaven” starring Michael Landon.  I love that show!  The show (for those who haven’t seen it) was about an angel named Jonathan Smith (Landon) and his best friend/sidekick Mark Gordon.  In the show, Jonathan’s mission is to travel from town to town at God’s prompting doing good deeds and helping people in need.  As I was watching that show I couldn’t help but think, how neat would it be, to be an angel on a mission from God to help and show love to those around me?     

    So often we get so caught up in our own personal trauma that we stop noticing the hurting and the broken.  According to Jesus, one of the greatest commandments is to “love your neighbor as you love yourself”.  But what are some tangible ways that we can love our neighbor?  One of the things that God has been putting on my heart is the desire to help others and set an example of what this verse really means.  About 12 years ago God gave me an opportunity to learn how to walk this one out.  I was on the way to go shopping in Castleton after a hard days work when I noticed a young man standing beside his broken down car on the side of Allisonville rd.  He was standing outside of his car (an older Caprice I think?) and his car had apparently overheated as smoke was wafting out of the cars grill.  Upon noticing this, I pulled over behind him and I asked him if I could help.  He simply asked if I could drop him at the gas station up the road so that he could get some water to fill up his cars radiator.  I drove him to the gas station and when we arrived he told me he would walk back.  I then proceeded to go shopping-- feeling quite good about myself for doing my good deed for the day.  On the way back home (approximately 1 hour later) I noticed thick black smoke on the horizon as I drove towards that location on Allisonville road again.  As I drove up to where I had earlier met the young man--I noticed that his Caprice had caught fire and burned to the ground.  Standing near the burned out car was the owner and a couple of firemen who were finishing hosing the car down.  As I drove by the scene I felt a soft voice speaking to my heart and prompting me to stop and give this young man my cash deposit for the day.  You see, I own a small electronics store and although I hadn’t yet counted my deposit, I knew I had a decent sized sum with me that day.  As I drove by the location I thought of all the reasons why I shouldn’t give this money to this guy.  Maybe I didn’t hear God’s voice correctly?  I began to justify why I needed that money myself.  My business was still struggling through tremendous financial adversity and I had so many bills due.  My house payment was almost 30 days late and my car payment was also late.  Why would I give a large amount of money to someone I don’t even know?  So I drove past the man, ignoring the voice inside, and began headed home.  Before I was 15 minutes down the road, I again felt that voice in my heart softly speaking to me to help this guy.  It was so overwhelming that I had to pull over.  As I sat on the road side pondering what I should do, I called one of my close friends and told her the story.  I asked her a simple question, do you think that it was God speaking to me or was that idea just mine?  Knowing me as well as she did, she jokingly replied that if I was feeling the compulsion to give someone money --it was obviously God. (Lol)   So I got back on the road and headed back towards the burned out Caprice.  When I arrived, the owner of the car was standing alongside a fireman and filling out paperwork.  His eyes were red and swollen and he was obviously very disheartened.  As he noticed me walk up--he thanked me for earlier giving him a ride.  I told him that I was sorry when I saw what happened.  As I handed him an envelope containing my store deposit, I explained to him that God told me to give him the envelope.  As he opened it and in stunned silence looked at the cash inside-- I told him “God sees you and wants you to have this money to help get another car”.  As he began to thank me—I simply told him that it wasn’t my idea—but the creator of the universe wanted him to know that he was profoundly loved by his father in heaven.  I then turned and walked towards my own car as tears were welling up in his eyes.  As I drove back home that evening I was so thankful that God gave me an opportunity to be used to help someone.  I was also thankful that although it was my first inclination to ignore that soft voice in my heart—I was given another opportunity to go back and be obedient to what God called me to do. 
   
    What if we as Christians started being intentional in looking for ways to show Christ’s love to those around us?  What if we, like the angel from Highway to heaven, began to look at ourselves as being on a mission from God to love those around us? What if Christ-followers started doing good deeds for no other reason but to honor God by loving our neighbors?  What if we began praying that God would give us the eyes to see the many needs around us—and then simply tried to meet those needs?  When we noticed that single mom standing in line to buy groceries for her four small children—we paid her bill for her.  When we hear about the older woman whose heat was cut off—we paid her bill for her.  When we find out about the family who was about to lose their home in a tax sale —we pay off that debt anonymously.  Think about it, because changing the world for Christ begins by helping the person right next to you.       

 

1 John 4:7  Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.

"Preach the gospel always, If necessary use words." ~ Francis of Assisi

Being a person of "purpose"

 

     I was having a great discussion the other night with a close friend of mine from Texas about my earnest desire to be a man of purpose.  With every fiber of my being I want to spend the rest of my life impacting the lives of the people around me in whatever capacity I’m able.  So many of us (me included) spent a majority of our lives pursuing comfort and security.  We worked so hard to establish our careers so that we can buy that large house, nice car (or two) and build a comfortable living for us and our families.  Then we work the rest of our lives to “maintain” what we have built—never stopping to realize that in a few short years a lot of what we invested our lives into will be forgotten and all the possessions we worked so hard for will wind up going to someone else.  This whole concept became very real to me years ago while working for a local law office.  I was contacted by a trust attorney in the Indianapolis area and on more than a few occasions his law firm hired me to help liquidate the belongings of someone that was deceased --on the behalf of their estate.  On one occasion in particular, I was retained to help a family liquidate all the remaining furniture and belonging left in their mother’s house so that they could sell the property.  I accepted the job prior to even visiting the property.  When I did eventually get to the house however—I was dumbstruck.  This house was huge and it almost looked like a museum with multiple glass displays cabinets containing collectibles throughout.  From Franklin Mint collectible plates and antique china dolls, to Lladro ceramics and Precious Moments figurines it was obvious that the deceased woman had devoted her life and passion to lovingly collecting and displaying all these beautiful pieces.  And yet, here I was on behalf of her family liquidating all of this woman’s prized possessions online.  At the final auction, as people were swooping in like ravenous vultures to get the best deal on the remaining furniture, it was kind of sad.  Although I didn’t know the deceased woman—I wondered how she would have felt to see the precious collection she worked a lifetime to accumulate-- being separated and sold to the highest bidder?  I had the exact same empty feeling in the pit of my stomach while liquidating the remains of our former business, Havilah’s boutique.  As I sold the last remaining articles from the store in an attempt to liquidate a portion of that massive business debt—it was hard seeing the contents of that business that we put so much time and effort in—being sold for pennies on the dollar.  
    It is times like that when we start to see life in perspective.  Life is short and so much of what we spend our energies pursuing is temporal.  I want to invest my life seeking things of eternal significance.  When all is said and done—nobody will remember how big our house was or how cool of a car we drove.  They won’t remember our impressive resume or how much we accomplished in our given career field.  What people will remember is how much we loved those around us.  Live a life of significance and purpose by loving your neighbor, it’s that easy.

Matthew 6:19-21 “Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust does corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust does corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”