Yesterday was one of those red letter days.
It all started early yesterday when I answered a prompting in my heart to meet with a young christian in our church. It seemed simple enough all we started out to do was have a cup of Starbucks coffee.
As we sat there and shared life together I soon learned that his dad was ill and his mother had called to let him know at 3:30 AM a couple of nights earlier. He shared with me that getting a call at 3:30 in the morning was hard enough, but getting it from his mother who he hadn't seen or talked to for over three years was really hard. He went on to share about his poor relationship with his mother. I listened and heard about the hurt, the pain, and the separation that was growing wider and wider. God had prepared me for this very moment, I shared with him about my relationship with my dad and mom and how several years ago I to got the call from my mom, that my dad was ill, I told him how I didn't answer the call because of the hardness in my heart and how my dad died two days later, and how much I wanted to right that wrong, but that for me, it was too late. Then I challenged him to take the initiative to let God use him to reach his mom. I told him that I had personal experience, and that it wasn't easy, but that as we move towards the goal of honoring our father and mother, Like M. Jordan headed for the basket, the blessings and the growth in Christ are awesome. We prayed and went on with our day.
As I was on my way back to the office, I wondered if my friend was going to make that visit or if he was going to allow the hurt and anger to keep him in bondage. Then I got the prompting again to call him and let him in on some more good news that God has shown me. The phone rang and I said "I don't know if you are planning on going, but if you do please ask your mother if she will forgive you for your part in this broken relationship, God will take care of the rest."
The rest of the story goes like this, My friend took the drive, He visited his dad in the hospital and shared with his mom and dad, for the first time that he had started a personal relationship with Jesus. His dad was excited for him and professed his own faith in Jesus. Then he turned his attention towards his mother. The conversation started out very safe and surface only. Then my friend suggested that they take a walk, As they walked he asked her to forgive him for how he had handled things in the past. Her face softened and she began to weep and as she wept she shared some of her hurt and the loss that she felt. They talked on and on for a couple of hours.
Well as you can imagine a huge burden was lifted from my friend and the blessings have just began to flow. He called and blessed me with what had happened, then he called his wife and blessed her with the story, Then he blessed his life group leader with the story then the life group leader asked him to share with the life group, and now I hope you have been blessed by this miracle that God did with a couple of willing hearts. Are you willing? Lets do some life together.
Pastor Dean Jenks
Spring is on the way. There is more daylight everyday and for some reason my house is still for sale. My prayer has been for a quick sale so that my family and I can move to Longview, for some reason God has not brought the desired buyer. It's at times like these that we as humans start to second guess, and ask what Gods plan might be? What is our next step? If the property would have sold right away we would have concluded that yes, yes in deed, it must have been Gods will. But what do we do in this situation? How much do I push? Do I panic?
