God uses me
because sometimes other people don't say yes to Him.
i am a moron.
and i don't just mean that when grandpa made me sundaes
and he got to the chocolate syrup i said,
"put moron."
i mean that in forty years
i have missed way more than i have learned.
example:
something will happen.
i will say,
"this feels familiar."
and God will bring to my memory
the coaches, teachers, friends,
situations, locations, parents, aunts, uncles,
preachers and ads on the sides of buses
that He has used to say the same thing.
some people learn the first time.
and their socks probably match.
and they make right choices in relationships.
and they can make pies.
i am a master cook.
i can't make pies.
sadly, i can admit i make quiche that would melt your heart.
real men don't eat quiche.
so on top of being a moron,
i am an unreal man.
i LOVE quiche.
and what is pizza
but quiche that has been run over by a steam roller?
there was a Christian mystic who called himself "the dumb ox."
reading his writings,
i noticed that he seemed to breathe life into his teachings.
being a 21st century moron,
i thought,
"he shouldn't be so hard on himself."
can you imagine?
i sat there reading words that were centuries old,
and suggested that he could do something better than he did.
a time-traveling, unrequested bit of advice for the man.
yet in the thing i live for, writing,
he is successful through centuries and translations.
my compositions sometimes have all of three readers.
two of those probably missed their bus and needed something to fill their time.
my life is rich beyond measure.
i can breathe today.
i have a kitten who thinks i am her playground.
dean ornish, md, in his book "love and survival"
points out that wherever we feel connection,
including Internet chat, E-mails, messaging,
it thrusts us toward health.
he even includes pets.
even the elderly in poor health to start with
thrive when they have significant connection.
the polar opposite of connection,
feeling total isolation,
can have an amazing ability
to aim us toward suicide.
i have long thought that the last symptom of being suicidal,
giving away you personal treasures,
is the best feeling they have had in a long time,
and the suicide is their way of getting away
before it is discovered that giving "things" away
is a counterfeit form of caring.
but how many of us are just too chicken to do something like that?
and how many are helped at the last moment
by someone who doesn't even know that we need help?
Jesus responded to the people in front of Him.
He didn't moralize to the woman at the well.
He didn't make an example of the woman
caught by peeping toms in the act of adultery.
He healed people and didn't push them to join a church.
He just said, "quit sinning."
if someone healed me,
they would have the right to offer one suggestion ...
start connecting early.
some sundays my goal when i leave my home
is to notice every child at the church that day
and make them feel special for coming.
folks who were kids 40 years ago
come up to me and thank me for making them feel special
all those years ago.
how lonely are we if that memory is strong
so many years later?
it appears that one of the most significant things we can do
is one of the simplest
but so hard for some.
it is quite simply to encourage.
these super-church pastors
who flip out and get caught in sin
are isolated.
i tried to reach our local super-church pastor.
oh, yeah, you'd know his name.
he has a moat, castle walls, ninjas and irritable goats
guarding his space.
James Bond couldn't get through to encourage him.
my pastor who is heard in every corner of the world
lets you call or write or approach him any way you can.
we NEED contact.
we NEED connection.
and in loving we become loved.
love one another.
Jesus' one "new commandment."
it's not a suggestion.
it is a need.
see you in Heaven.
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