Welcome to the Encouragement for Today friends~ Click here to see the photo video of my daughter's trip to Ethiopia.
And then pop back over here and join in something we're doing I'm convinced will help insure this will be one of the most meaningful Christmas Seasons we've ever had...37 days of kindness. Yesterday was day one, you can read about it by clicking here.
Now for day 2...
Let's start today with a question: Why did Jesus come?
There are many amazing reasons Jesus traded the riches of heaven for the rags of earth. To save us. To redeem us. To forgive us. To provide a direct connection between us and God. To heal us. To love us. To teach us. To direct us.
Yes. All of those are true.
But why did Jesus Himself, toward the end of His life, say He came?
I'll answer that question in just a minute. First, I want you to meet someone.
I boarded a shuttle bus on Monday in Chicago, tired from a long weekend and without much thought took a seat toward the back of the bus. Across from me sat a white haired gentleman in stylish jeans. I was impressed that a man his age would care to look so hip.
But more than his jeans, it was the expression on his face that caught my attention. He was tired, drawn, and maybe a little sad. Or was that expression on his face just a blank stare that meant nothing? I didn't want to pry. Who was I to ask him?
We were just two strangers on a random bus in the rush of a Chicago morning.
In a few minutes, he'd go his way and I'd go mine. And that's perfectly acceptable. Strangers pass unaware of each other all the time. We don't talk. We don't connect. Because really, who has time for people we don't know.
Except I'm not a stranger. Oh, he probably would have labeled me in that way- he didn't know me and had never seen me before. But that's not how I'd label myself. I'm a Jesus girl called to be more than just an observer in life.
I've been called to reach across the silence of a commuter bus and say something. So, I did. And it wasn't some deeply theological thought. It wasn't a quick thrusting of my religion in his face. It was just a hello and what brought you to Chicago.
"I was visiting my niece. I'm her only living relative and she was just told last week she's dying of bone cancer."
I asked for her name.
"Catherine."
And with that, a flood of love rushed through my heart for both a man I barely knew and I girl I would never meet this side of heaven.
"Catherine," I whispered. "Sir, I will pray for your Catherine."
"Thank you," he said quietly. "Thank you so much."
He smiled. I smiled. He got off the bus and headed back to his world. I got off the bus and headed back to my world. But a connection had been made- a divine appointment kept.
A crucial connection, a simple offer of prayers that would absolutely be prayed, a small gesture of my willingness lifted up to Jesus. A Jesus who is able to make much of my small gesture.
My Jesus who says in John 18:37 the reason He came was to make sure we could have truth.
The truth that sets us free from our selfish perspectives and prompts us to see His world through eyes of care and kindness. The truth that we don't have to be ruled by our emotions and how we are feeling, but instead be compelled by the truth and take a second or two to consider how others are feeling.
I got off that bus less tired. Less spent.
I got off that bus full.
Because a man I don't know and a dying niece I'll never meet were the perfect match for the Jesus in me. I won't soon forget Catherine. I've prayed for her everyday since. And I'm asking you to pray as well.
Today, I pray there is another person in Catherine's life who dares to be more than an observer. May they fulfill the next assignment to show her Jesus does care, He does hear her cries, He is available, He is her Savior, and He came to bring her this truth through His people that care.
37 days of kindness may not send us across the world, like it did with my daughter's trip to Ethiopia. It may simply send us across the street, or across the grocery store aisle or across a crowded bus.
Wherever God sends us, I pray we dare to be more than just an observer today.
And then pop back over here and join in something we're doing I'm convinced will help insure this will be one of the most meaningful Christmas Seasons we've ever had...37 days of kindness. Yesterday was day one, you can read about it by clicking here.
Now for day 2...
Let's start today with a question: Why did Jesus come?
There are many amazing reasons Jesus traded the riches of heaven for the rags of earth. To save us. To redeem us. To forgive us. To provide a direct connection between us and God. To heal us. To love us. To teach us. To direct us.
Yes. All of those are true.
But why did Jesus Himself, toward the end of His life, say He came?
I'll answer that question in just a minute. First, I want you to meet someone.
I boarded a shuttle bus on Monday in Chicago, tired from a long weekend and without much thought took a seat toward the back of the bus. Across from me sat a white haired gentleman in stylish jeans. I was impressed that a man his age would care to look so hip.
But more than his jeans, it was the expression on his face that caught my attention. He was tired, drawn, and maybe a little sad. Or was that expression on his face just a blank stare that meant nothing? I didn't want to pry. Who was I to ask him?
We were just two strangers on a random bus in the rush of a Chicago morning.
In a few minutes, he'd go his way and I'd go mine. And that's perfectly acceptable. Strangers pass unaware of each other all the time. We don't talk. We don't connect. Because really, who has time for people we don't know.
Except I'm not a stranger. Oh, he probably would have labeled me in that way- he didn't know me and had never seen me before. But that's not how I'd label myself. I'm a Jesus girl called to be more than just an observer in life.
I've been called to reach across the silence of a commuter bus and say something. So, I did. And it wasn't some deeply theological thought. It wasn't a quick thrusting of my religion in his face. It was just a hello and what brought you to Chicago.
"I was visiting my niece. I'm her only living relative and she was just told last week she's dying of bone cancer."
I asked for her name.
"Catherine."
And with that, a flood of love rushed through my heart for both a man I barely knew and I girl I would never meet this side of heaven.
"Catherine," I whispered. "Sir, I will pray for your Catherine."
"Thank you," he said quietly. "Thank you so much."
He smiled. I smiled. He got off the bus and headed back to his world. I got off the bus and headed back to my world. But a connection had been made- a divine appointment kept.
A crucial connection, a simple offer of prayers that would absolutely be prayed, a small gesture of my willingness lifted up to Jesus. A Jesus who is able to make much of my small gesture.
My Jesus who says in John 18:37 the reason He came was to make sure we could have truth.
The truth that sets us free from our selfish perspectives and prompts us to see His world through eyes of care and kindness. The truth that we don't have to be ruled by our emotions and how we are feeling, but instead be compelled by the truth and take a second or two to consider how others are feeling.
I got off that bus less tired. Less spent.
I got off that bus full.
Because a man I don't know and a dying niece I'll never meet were the perfect match for the Jesus in me. I won't soon forget Catherine. I've prayed for her everyday since. And I'm asking you to pray as well.
Today, I pray there is another person in Catherine's life who dares to be more than an observer. May they fulfill the next assignment to show her Jesus does care, He does hear her cries, He is available, He is her Savior, and He came to bring her this truth through His people that care.
37 days of kindness may not send us across the world, like it did with my daughter's trip to Ethiopia. It may simply send us across the street, or across the grocery store aisle or across a crowded bus.
Wherever God sends us, I pray we dare to be more than just an observer today.
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