areliablefaith

I hit the drive-thru for supper this evening.  At the window I noticed the attendant yawn in boredom as she waited for my order.  A high schooler making a little pocket money perhaps.  Hopefully not a single mom trying to make ends meet.  I meant to slip in, slip out, and quietly eat my gyro in the room while I finished up some work for the plant, but because I had to wait I took the time to notice.

When she turned to hand me my order, I looked her in the eye gave her the most sincere “Thank you, mam” I could.  Behind the thanks was a heartfelt prayer that the Lord bless her and help her to know she is adored by a loving Father in heaven….

I got word a little while ago that a friend’s father passed away suddenly last night.  He had been up and down with illness, but until last night every down was followed by an up.  Actually, I guess last night was the ultimate recovery for one who knows the Lord.  But it is still a time of separation and loss for the family left behind.  Our heart goes out to them in empathy, sharing a small slice of their pain.  We will grieve with them as they offer up their last goodbyes to Big John.

At 55 years old I am most likely past the halfway point in my earthly life – closer to the end than the beginning.  Since I gave Jesus my life almost 33 years ago I have not worried about dying.  With my heart issue, I really haven’t fretted about dying even though I was on the cusp of a potentially fatal heart attack.  But I have pondered becoming irrelevant.

I want my life to count.  Not in a famous or noteworthy way, but in accomplishing those things that God wants me to accomplish.  Ephesians 2:10 says: “We are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”  I know God is at work, but I also understand he has not made me a puppet.  I am given choices.  I can choose to take the easier way, the popular path.  I can go with the flow if I decide to.  But that is not what I sense in my spirit is God’s best.  Simply sliding through life does not line up with where I hear God calling me.  I don’t think it is where God is calling you either, dear reader.

The call is becoming clearer.  It is birthed in intimacy with God, our Father, in blessed union with Jesus our Lord and Savior, and confirmed by His Holy Spirit in our inner being as we willingly submit to His direction in our life.  It is a life of supreme relevance to those the Lord brings into our lives, regardless of how long or how brief that contact may be.

Tonight as I come to the end of the day, I ask for guidance on how to make these final moments count.  “Lord, please pray through me.”  “Father, show me who needs a word of encouragement.”  “Jesus, please prepare me for a day of relevance in your kingdom work and the lives you touch through me tomorrow.”

You are loved and you are relevant my friend.  God has called you into the deepest intimacy with Him.  It is beyond our reckoning.  But that’s okay because He will initiate it, He will draw us deeper, and He will accomplish His purpose as we simply seek Him with all that we are.  From out of that intimacy He makes us relevant.  It is tied first to the fact that we are His adopted children (Romans 8:15), but it is made manifest in the people we meet and get to love on every single day.

Be blessed today and be a blessing!