Close Enough to Help

Sometimes, I have a “lightbulb” moment, and I begin to see things a little more clearly. Tonight as we were sitting at the table having a sub sandwich and soda, my children and I were talking about church. My son said, “I don’t like that they put so many church services on the television and internet because then people feel like they don’t have to go to church.” My daughter, who loves to debate, said, “they can go to church without getting too close to people.” As my daughter said this, the light bulb kicked on. How can I help and encourage people if I’m at a distance? I can’t. Sometimes, at work, in my neighborhood, in my circles I have found that we often fail to get close enough to people to help them. If I was walking across the road and fell, in order to help me you would need to come to where I was. You would need to come beside me. It’s why Christians need to meet with other Christians too. We need the encouragement that they can offer. The world can wear us down and by Sunday we need someone to come along side of us and tell us it’s going to be fine. Sometimes we just need the friendly hug or a smile because all we see all week is frowns from people with many cares, cares that we can only carry to God for them. Somehow meeting with God’s family on Sunday can destressing they rest of the week. Just knowing that someone has our back, and they are not looking for a bus to throw us under make a HUGE difference. The rest of the week, we’ll be ready to get close to those around us because we got close to God and our “God family” first.

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Live Fearlessly

As I was driving home today, I passed a person walking on the side of the road. Since it was cold, and snowy, I thought I should stop and offer the person a ride. As I drove on by, I was irritated with myself for not stopping. I could have and should have but I didn't. Why? I was scared! Maybe that wouldn't bother you, but I'm willing to bet there are things that make you afraid. It may be snakes or spiders that send the ticker into overdrive. Or maybe it's your job and finances that keep you up at night when you should be resting. Then again perhaps it's relationships that consume your thoughts and energy. As followers of God, we know that we are told not to be afraid. Yet we often are afraid despite everything we know. As I was driving away from a missed opportunity, I began thinking about what it is that makes us afraid. I honestly am not sure what it is that causes us to be afraid when we should be bold, but I

Tragedy: A Christian Response

I want to start by telling you a story. We were new parents. When Our oldest, a son, was about eighteen to twenty months we had another baby, a girl with brown hair and huge eyes. One day as I went to feed her, my son who may have been two at the time wandered off to another part of the house. The next thing I heard was a thud. I grabbed my baby girl and ran to see what happened. There was my son with a table on top of him. He had pulled it over on himself and more blood than I had ever seen was running all over. We put him in the car and dashed for the ER. It was not a fun trip. He had a skull fracture and many stitches. Fast forward about fourteen or fifteen years, I’m at a stop light and watch my youngest daughter about ten start across a street on a bike start across a street just as a truck comes around a corner into the path of the bike. She hit the side of the truck and bounced onto the road. I grabbed her up and checked her over there were no injuries, but

Just A Word of Praise!!

On Sunday, after church, we went to a town about thirty minutes away. On the way we drove through an area where they were working on the road. It was no big deal. We had lunch, bought some food for the week, and drove back home. Later, as we were on our way to church for the evening service, I heard the ominous flapping sound that a tire makes when it’s flat. Yikes! I pulled over and while I was debating how I was going to change a tire. A car coming in the opposite direction drove by and stopped. As the driver appeared from the vehicle, I recognized him as a neighbor and fellow believer. He approached the car, and asked if I had an air compressor to inflate the tire. My answer, “Yes, but I’m not sure how good it is. I’ve never actually managed to inflate a tire using it. I may not be using it properly.” I produced it from the trunk of the car and handed it to him. Within a few minutes, he had it hooked up and running. As it turned out, I was using it properly,

Inspirations

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