The Hey You Lady

Earlier this week I was thinking of how God shows His love for us, in the big ways and the small ways. Sunrises. The fact that we wake another day, that our bodies even sustain life. That God in His holiness and perfection would actually want to be in a relationship with us. Then I thought, Why do we stop with what we receive when we talk about experiencing God's love? God loves us so much that He keeps giving. Shouldn't part of our experience of God's love be in our own giving, in paying His love forward? A few years ago I had the privilege of being a counselor for a crisis telephone hotline affiliated with a large church in California. How it happened was one of those things where I felt the prompting of the Holy Spirit, met with some close friends in prayer, God opened doors, and next thing I know, I'm in training to be a counselor. (The timing and process was almost that simple. Really.) As a counselor I spoke with callers with problems ranging from the lon...

A few days ago I was typing out some thoughts for my weekly post. But today when I went back to put the thoughts into some coherent format, the notes were not where I thought they were. Which means that the beginnings of what could have been a work of literary genius (yeah, right) are now *poof* gone. Don't you hate when that happens? Something you hoped would work one way suddenly changes its course, without first asking your input. There's a word for that ... " C H A L L E N G E " Yes, I am now challenged with starting my post over, from scratch. If only all of life's challenges were of that caliber. But, alas, they are often somewhat more complex. For example, your boss asks you to forgo a pay increase so the company can stay afloat, and the following week your spouse loses his job, leaving you with the challenge of seriously renegotiating financial priorities. Or, here's another one. Your 19 year old college student son totals his car, leaving your...

A few days ago I spent a little more time than usual catching up on reading blogs online and ended up running behind in my morning routine. Even though I knew I had enough time to get to work, I felt the need to make up for my lollygagging. Now, normally I drive close to the speed limit on my route to work since there are a few places where motorcycle officers like to rest on their Hondas (or whatever they ride), but that particular morning I felt the need to drive a little faster than usual. And I thought, if character is who you are when no one is looking, then what does this morning say about me? I asked a couple of people what traits a person of "good character" would have. Some of the responses were Honesty---Integrity---Loyalty---Good morals---Decency---Modesty---Reliability Of course, this is not an all-inclusive list. One of the people that answered went on to say that someone of good character is someone who strives to be Christ-like. That's an honorable a...

A mother and her young daughter were walking in a downtown shopping district on a January afternoon. In the urban hustle and bustle, the little girl noticed a homeless man shivering against the bitter cold. As her mother tried to pull her closer, the girl walked over to the man. She pulled her fuzzy scarf from around her neck and placed it around his. The mother's heart welled up, that her daughter had more compassion than any of the hundreds of people who walked by that same man that day. As they started to walk away, the homeless man called to them, motioning them back. He held out his hand, holding a dime -- probably all the money he had -- and said to the girl, "This is for you." The mother politely refused, saying that payment is not necessary. "But I want to give this to her," he replied, holding the dime out further, tears of gratitude forming in his eyes. It was then that the young mother realized that this man, who by the world's standards ha...