Unseen

Morphine did not erase the underlying anxiety from her surgical complication.  I visited my friend in the hospital.  As I sat on the side of her bed, this sweet friend asked me to pray.  I held her hand and asked for the Lord’s presence ultimately.  Beeping sounds and blinking lights don’t make for calmness.  Even the dings of the elevators remind us something’s wrong and we’re not at home.  I hoped for the peace of prayer to ease my friend’s mind, and indeed she said later that she felt the Lord’s peace.  Yet when opening my eyes after our prayer, I noticed someone standing beyond my right shoulder.  A member of the surgical team had been waiting while we prayed.  Her presence was unanticipated by us, yet I was happy she was there for however long.  Then the opportunity to pray broadened to include blessings upon this surgical team member.  The Lord’s orchestration again.  We simply go about living as He teaches, and He handles the connecting of people.  Unseen at first.

Not just paper & ink

Try it.  I just wonder. … It has happened in a McDonald’s.  It’s happened on the city bus.  It happened this week in a public school teacher’s lounge.  Simply an open Bible.  It attracts.  People say, “Are you taking a class?”  “What are you studying?”  “I’ve been meaning to go to church.”  Without an audible word from me, the Bible inspires conversation.  Sometimes I study when I’m waiting for a friend.  Sometimes I read in order for the Lord to calm my unrest.  Consequently He speaks – and to more souls than the one person turning the pages.

Acoustic rehab

We became troubadours.  Strum the guitar here.  Sing a song there.  First in the physical therapy room with a patient who liked rock-n-roll.  Then down the hallway to meet a lady whose friends came to visit, and they all welcomed the music.  A few doors down, another lady was so happy she could hardly wait to tell her family she was personally serenaded in the hospital.  And when we met a lady who spoke mostly Spanish, we were immensely blessed to find in our music bag a copy of “Supe Que Me Amabas,” at which point I knew the Lord had packed our bag that day.  We did meet one lady who could not speak audibly at all, and so we loved her smile all the more.  From “Bless the Broken Road” to “I’ve Got a River of Life.”  From Martina McBride to Todd Agnew to Randy Travis.  The Lord inspired it all.  Isaiah 61 mentions the brokenhearted and the captive.  The Lord sends us to them, and blessings abound.

More than Santa and cascarones

What a privilege.  I met some children who said the word Easter reminded them of eggs and bunnies, especially those eggs we call cascarones that are refilled with surprise confetti.  The occasion was an opportunity to talk about Jesus’ death and resurrection.  More than once, I’ve met children who thought Santa Claus was born at Christmas.  On those occasions, it was an opportunity to tell about Jesus’ birth.  Each was an unexpected conversation that brought the utmost delight. . .  To speak the name of Jesus our Christ is a humble honor.  When my heart flutters to realize an open door for conversation, I silently ask the Lord to lead. . . May you be blessed to seek His pleasures first.

The video puzzle

Stroll, or skip, or race?  What to do when a new idea hits?  Do we run like Jonah?  Very specifically, he told some sailors he was running from God.  Unlike Jonah, I haven't paid fare to board a ship to flee from the Lord, but I do remember feeling intimidated by the notion to write a book.  I can also remember resisting God’s call to direct a particular choir.  Yet the Lord has blessed me immensely.  And the Lord blessed Jonah in releasing him from the belly of a fish. . .  Months ago, a new thought entered my brain.  Make a video.  A video regarding Me and the Lord on the Bus.  But I don’t know how to make a video.  Don't know the particulars of recording and splicing audio and visual together.  Little did I know that yesterday would reveal some pieces of the video puzzle.  This morning, another puzzle piece appeared.  Now the joy is almost inexplicable, and I’m eager to recognize the next component.  I will continue to pray for guidance.  And I can leisurely stroll while knowing the Lord provides in the moment.  I can figuratively and literally frolic in enjoyment of the Lord’s simple pleasures.  And I will run with the Lord, knowing He wonderfully orchestrates the starting gates and finishing lines of our races.

In the checkout aisle

Furled eyebrows.  Slumped shoulders.  And a distinct series of grunts and groans that conveyed frustration.  Yet the corners of her mouth started to slip into a smile.  As the previous customers departed, she now pleaded to us, “Will somebody help me out here and tell me the 7 sins?”  Evidently while she bagged groceries, she had posed the same question to the cashier, and she honestly wanted to know.  I obliged, “My understanding is that there are many more than 7 ways to sin.”  From there, we talked about reading the Bible and how the Lord can teach and give understanding.  Such an encouraging exchange reminded me of Jabez.  In 1 Chronicles 4, Jabez asks the Lord to enlarge his territory.  Tonight, indeed the Lord had walked us into blessed circumstances.  And I ask the Lord to increase your territory as well and bless your next visit to buy groceries.

A juror's outlook

I’ve served on 2 juries.  One case of fraud was intricately technical on the insurance side.  It lasted a week, and I was mentally exhausted.  I entered that courtroom with the idea of proudly serving my part as a juror.  I was even happy to receive my summons because I’d heard so many complaints about jury verdicts.  How can we complain about verdicts if we ourselves squirm to avoid serving?  Naïve, you say?  Perhaps.  But I honestly endeavored toward a positive attitude regarding jury duty.  Yet the Lord has shown me repeatedly that labels don’t tell whole stories. A jury summons may actually call us to more than one role.  That big room of jury candidates may contain someone whom the Lord deems perfect for us.  A perfect connection simply because the Lord designed it.  On one occasion, I shared a lunch table with a fellow jury candidate, and conversation ensued about the Lord.  It was a time to discuss and encourage, and God revealed again His wonderful orchestration of people.  Jury duty gone wildly exhilarating. 

Fifteen miles

I knew something was different when I saw the list of emergency numbers.  I had expected blood and guts on this trip.  I knew South Texas was hunting ground for deer and hogs.  I knew we had driven south for hours.  Yet only when I saw the phone number for the Border Patrol at the top of the emergency list, did our proximity to the Mexico border finally register in my brain.  I thought of all the news reports of people trying to illegally cross the border.  What’s it like to run for your life?  Fast.  Panicked.  Maybe in the dark of night.  And maybe running without shoes, as our friends told stories of finding stray shoes out amongst the cactus-filled, arid land, now 15 miles from the border.  I imagined the faces of exhausted people, probably scratched and bloodied and burned.  Whom had they trusted?  Who would deliver them?  I have never physically run for my life, but I have endured days when the walls of life seemed to cave in on me.  Trusting the Lord for a way out is not a loose trust.  The Lord provides the most reliable trust.  He is omniscient.  He loves His children and answers their prayers.

Rethinking medically

My dermatologist’s office called.  Benign, she said.  And, yes, I’m thankful.  Benign is usually better than malignant.  But as I had to rethink before the doctor’s visit, I needed to rethink afterward also.  Why are we so relieved to hear a seemingly favorable doctor’s report?  The brain quits looping in fear when a doctor says certain words.  It’s not as if medical reports are absolute.  Mistakes happen.  Labels switch, and tests can be incomplete.  Even if the word malignant had been spoken to me, it too could have been falsely derived.  The only place we find inerrancy is in God.  With only Him, can I truly sigh in peace. The Lord certainly uses doctors for good.  I love my friends who are physicians, yet they too know they're merely human.  Weeks ago, when I found the spot that the dermatologist eventually biopsied, the Lord took care of me and gently bent my knees to pray.  Now with the biopsy result, I know again that any peace comes ultimately from the Lord.  Whether the medical storm has truly subsided, or whether it continues perhaps under the surface, I seek the Lord either way.  He rests the heart.  He heals.

Banana Split Cake

How does the Lord speak to us?  In this case, very simply in the form of a recurring thought.  Regarding my neighbor, the thought was to take her some dessert one afternoon.  Just gather one spatula and one plate, and deliver one slice of cake down the street.  A privilege indeed, yet a gesture I have overlooked at times.  A smile greeted me in my neighbor's driveway, and a dose of  her laughter made the occasion so sweet.  James 1:27 tells us to look after the needs of those who are widowed, yet by one slice of Banana Split Cake, I could testify also to the enormous blessing bestowed upon us when we give. . . Our Lord is very much alive and wonderfully communicating with us.