My lost Nehemiah book

Jesus came to this earth to save the lost, and usually we’re talking about people.  Me, you, and everyone.  But just as the parable in Luke 15 mentions a lost coin, this past Sunday my lost item was my Nehemiah book.  I asked the Lord to reveal it in order for me to teach from it.  Days passed, I didn’t know where it was, and I began to wonder if indeed the Lord was leading me to teach about Nehemiah, then perhaps I didn’t need this same book because He would supply me new perspective.  The next day I remembered this particular Nehemiah study was part of a 3-section book.  The following day I remembered it was one of the smaller-sized Precept books.  This past Sunday I thought to look again on the bedroom shelves.  We drove home from church, and there it was.  Bit by bit, the Lord had revealed my book.  To paraphrase Luke 15:9, I say now, “Rejoice with me; I found my lost book!”  And may the Lord bless you today in whatever way you’re feeling something’s lost.  The title of my Nehemiah book is Overcoming Fear and Discouragement.  Certainly the Lord offers encouragement for us all.

A storyteller's first step

Follow Jesus?  How do you do that?  This past Friday was key for me.  I’ve held this notion for a long time that my bus stories might be part of some storytelling.  Having once played sound effects on piano for a theater group, I’ve looked forward for years to incorporating piano alongside the bus stories, though still not knowing when.  My bus book has sat atop our piano, and I've reread the stories and jotted down tidbits of thought occasionally, though it's been only theory to this point.  Certainly prayer has been a part.  Then this past Friday afternoon the whole notion of piano resurfaced with a new momentum.  The piano bench compelled me to sit and pull together a set of TV and movie themes to play at the coffeehouse that night.  First it was “Heigh-Ho” from Snow White, then the theme from the game show Jeopardy! and the theme from Mission: Impossible.  The list went on and on, but still with only a loose image in my head of how the tunes might fit together.  The clock hit 7:15, which meant time to drive to the coffeehouse, and my eyes and my heart stood hopeful toward finding the Lord there working the details ahead of me.  We set up sound equipment and proceeded through several songs, but piano wasn't seeming to fit in the lineup.  After about an hour, I said to my husband, “I might play a little piano here.”  Yet even in that moment, I still didn’t know exactly what I would play, though I sat and started talking with the audience.  As conversation led, I inserted some piano tunes.  What developed was a very fun time of people getting to know each other.  Not quite bus stories, but rather a first step toward storytelling.  The show tunes ended up being background for talking about everybody’s workday.  Kind of a way to relax and chuckle and even include the children and the youth and their happenings from school.  Largely unrehearsed, it became sort of an interactive door for our coffeehouse crowd.  The Lord worked a whole bundle of blessings that night through guitar, oboe, and voice, and most certainly through piano.  My job was to trust Him to guide me and keep my feet from slipping, just as Psalm 121 says.  And I did gather a glimpse of how Me and the Lord on the Bus might become part of some future storytelling.  Perhaps this calls for a celebratory white chocolate latte.

Off-stage with the cashier

Last week I walked into a restaurant and heard some disturbing words.  “I’m going to hell,” the cashier laughed.  But I didn’t laugh.  Hell is too terrible a place, and it lasts forever.  I wanted to be sure the cashier knew she had a choice.  Did I take her comment too seriously?  I’ve met people who say “go to hell” so casually, as if the idea is harmless, as if it’s not real.  I’ve met people who don’t recognize the name of Jesus as the one who can save them from hell.  I’ve asked the Lord to give me His love for people that I may genuinely reach out.  For dinner, our waitress placed some scrumptious chicken and cornbread on the table, but nothing swayed me from hoping to talk to the cashier again, and I asked the Lord for an open door.  Time came to pay our bill, and sure enough, I see the same cashier still on duty.  I paid my tab, and lo and behold, I hear my voice aloud, “I kept thinking about what you said when we walked in tonight.  I’m so thankful Jesus saved me.  And because no one has to go to hell [meaning we all have a choice], do you know Jesus? ”  She smiled to answer, “Yes.  I know I shouldn’t be saying what I did.  It’s just that I did something bad.”  And as she spoke, my heart sighed to know that deep down she did know the Lord.  What relief.  And how blessed I always feel to speak the Lord’s name into public air.  Throughout the week the Lord set me in the middle of several similar interactions.  All happening 6 hours from home on a theater trip.  All woven amidst my usual theater nervousness and my usual lack of sleep.  All this impossible if I had chosen not to follow the Lord into this realm of theater that’s new for me.  But when the Lord orchestrates, my attention turns, and my nervousness dissipates.  I love to see Him at work.

Out of theater's nervousness

Theater rehearsals make me nervous.  Shakiness enters my chest.  My focus struggles.  It’s difficult to sit still, and I hardly sleep.  This past Tuesday was no different.  I hopped in the car before 6 AM and drove to my director’s house.  Remembering lines and trying to blend all the critique, I needed just to keep moving.  No time for asking why this or why that.  Just handle the music cues and the props and stay at it.  Rehearsal finished, and as I’d seen our various roles fitting into place, I knew the Lord had been rehearsing right there with me.  In my chest where I used to feel shaky I now felt warmth and fullness.  Yet still a wider door of wonder was about to open.  My mom told me she had prayed for me to find joy in the midst of rehearsal.  Actually her words stunned me a bit.  I had prayed more about the mechanics of rehearsal whereas she had considered the spirit of it all.  And so I pondered with new perspective and quickly smiled to remember our laughter during rehearsal.  The Lord had given me gracious friends who let my brain relax enough to just enjoy everyday life and everyday talk.  He had led the way for this tightly-woven bundle of nerves to loosen and unwind and see Him at work.  I experienced Him walking alongside through another segment of this theater path that seems scary at times, but He faithfully keeps pointing the flashlight to guide my next step.  There’s a lot of on-the-job training in this Christian walk.  But He constantly delivers joy into the lives of those who love Him (Romans 8:28 adapted).