Tossed by the waves & Two dollars.
(Two separate posts, Originally fall of 2011.)
Tossed by the waves.
God’s love for us is constant. Life is not. All of my emotions, peace, joy, hope, fear, anguish, sadness, etc have been following the ebb and flow of life. How do I get my heart and my emotions to stay steady on the constancy of God’s love?
I believe this is possible. I once read “George Muller of Bristol”. A lovely but dry and factual biography of a man who had so much faith that he almost delighted in the trials of life, because he couldn’t wait to see how God will deliver “this time.”
I don’t think this is a change I can force on myself… rather, I must let God take me where he must. The Holy Spirit will be the instigator of change within my heart as I seek God in all circumstances. “Father, I pray that you change me. I don’t want to be tossed about on the waves of life. I want to have peace and joy knowing you are my loving father who will provide.”
David
“Come on!” Jesus said. Peter then got out of the boat and started walking on the water toward him. But when Peter saw how strong the wind was, he was afraid and started sinking. “Save me, Lord!” he shouted. Right away, Jesus reached out his hand. He helped Peter up and said, “You surely don’t have much faith. Why do you doubt?” (Matthew 14:29–31 CEV)
Two dollar bills, Twice.
Three weeks ago I received two pieces of mail on the same day. The first, a request from John 3:16 Mission asking for $1.92. This is a local non-profit organization who put on a Thanksgiving dinner for those who are down and out. The request said simply that for $1.92 they could feed someone a Thanksgiving dinner. I remember getting these in years past and simply discarding it and thinking… “I bet they paid almost a dollar every time they send that out.” This year I was jogged out of this line of thinking by the second piece of mail. In the next envelope I received a solicitation to complete a survey. To entice me to fill this survey out, they enclosed two crisp $1 bills. “Hmm… I could just put this two dollars in the John 3:16 envelope and I’m not out any money, and someone gets a meal!” So, that’s exactly what I did. Sadly I admit, I felt pretty good about myself.
Tonight, I went through the day’s mail. The first envelope… “Hmm… John 3:16 Mission is pretty persistent. This is the second $1.92 request they’ve sent me. Maybe they thought since I gave $2, I’d give two more.” I didn’t open it. I tossed it to the trash pile. The next piece of mail was clearly some junk solicitation, but I like to shred anything that might have my information on it, so I opened it. “You’re kidding…” Yep, two crisp $1 bills. Wow. That’s pretty coincidental! I folded the bills up and placed them into the John 3:16 enveloped and licked the adhesive… Pause…
I didn’t close then envelope. Something deep within stopped me. I remembered recently having thoughts of trying to loosen the grip money has on me by giving away $50 of my “fun money” each month. I also remembered having discussions with my friend Tim about “It’s God’s money, I want to manage it as he leads me.” Next, I thought how this occurrence is too coincidental to be a coincidence. I grabbed my wallet, I had about $55 in there… I put $50 in the envelope… plus the two $1 bills. Sealed it up.
“Father, please don’t just feed 25 people… Let the meal be the start of a cascade that leads to reconciliation to you. Lead them to be reborn into the spirit. Amen.” David