You Just Never Know

Wednesday, 05 Jun 2002

You just never know what's around the corner, what the day may hold, and who will be a part of that day. This evening I headed off to church, as we normally do on a Wednesday night, and enjoyed a great service. After the service a friend came up to give me a hug. A warm, enthusiastic, energetic hug followed by the same kind of conversation. Her energy and love of God just poured out of her all over onto me in a way that is hard to describe. Her eyes were lit with excitement and her speech was rapid and full of the wonder of God in her life. It was the kind of encounter we should all have each day to send us on our way ready to face the world!

As I was driving home the song came on from Steven Curtis Chapman called "Live out Loud", I believe. It was exactly what I had just witnessed in my friend. A way of living life that shouts from the mountain tops, "God is Great! He is wonderful! He is doing marvelous things in my life and I just need to tell you and everyone else about it"!!

The song says:

Imagine this, I get a phone call from Regis, he says, "Do you want to be a millionaire?"
They put me on the show and I win with two life lines to spare.
Now picture this, I act like nothing ever happened and bury all the money in a coffee can.
Well, I've been given more than Regis ever gave away, I was a dead man who was called to come out of my grave and I thank His Son for making some noise.

"Wake the neighbors!! Get the word out! Come on, crank up the music, climb a mountain and shout, "This is life we've been given, it's meant to be lived out, so la la la la live out loud!!"

Think about this, try to keep a bird from singing after it's soared up in the sky,
give the sun a cloudless day and tell it not to shine.
Think about this, if I really have been given the gift of life that will never end
and if we have been filled with living hope we're gonna overflow
and if God's love is burning in our hearts we're gonna go
there just no way to keep it in

"Wake the neighbors...."
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I think you get the idea! :)

Isn't it amazing how God lines things up in our lives to fit together so perfectly. I talked to my friend, she was ooozing with God's love and goodness in her life, and then I listened to this song on the way home in my car, with the top down and the wind in my hair on this beautiful, warm Pleasanton evening!

What a wonderful God we serve! And what a wonderful experience to see His light shine from the eyes of another believer who feels His goodness! That is what we need to see more of! Not the downtrodden miserable believer who thinks that following God is a life of drudgery and rules that zap any fun out of life that is meant to be had. That is not how God wants us to live! What a shame that some live their whole lives thinking that!

That is not to say that there are not times in our lives when the light in our eyes is dimmed a bit. I don't know what people see when they look in my eyes right now. Probably depends on the day and the time because some days are hard and some minutes are hard, but that is to be expected. I lost my son for now, he is no longer here to hug and kiss and tickle and laugh with. I miss him so much, and the light in my eyes grows dim from time to time because my heart aches. I know that God understands that and I know that God will take care of that in time. I hope when others look into my eyes they can still see His light shining, even if right now it may only appear as a small candle in the window, sometimes behind tears on the windowpane. I don't think those tears ever put out His light completely. God burns so deeply in my soul and He gives me His peace on the darkest days. I feel Him more each day and I learn more and more to rest in Him and allow Him to heal my heart. It is a good thing to learn, a very good thing.

But, there are those times in our lives when His light is bright in our eyes, like my friend's eyes tonight. When they are like a beacon on a hill, shining out for all to see. When we get on His path for our lives and He brings just what we are needing for the journey, and we are bursting with excitement about where He is taking us. Even when the journey has just begun and He has only shown us a step or two ahead, but we KNOW we are headed in the right direction and He will lead us all the way to the finish line, providing everything we need as we learn to trust Him more and more.

That is what my friend is doing. She is heading down God's path. God's very exciting road for her life. She has a passion for God, and for all that He is calling her to do, and she is going full speed ahead. Not in drudgery, not in the "I have to's", not in the "well, I'm a Christian and God has called me to serve even though I hate it", but in the "Yeehaa!!! Look at what I am being called to do, and I can't wait to get started!!".

Following God is what makes life all that it is meant to be. It is what will bring you this excitement! It is not boring. It is not a life of giving up all the things we think are important, but it is finding the life that God meant us to live and living it to the fullest.

AND!! Knowing that when we get to the end of it, whether that is a year from now or 100 years from now, we will meet our Maker and He will say "Well done!" Don't we all like to be acknowledged and praised for a job well done? You wouldn't be human if you didn't!

I don't even want to think about how horrible it would be to meet my Maker and have Him say, "What were you doing? I gave you everything you would ever need. Showed you the way to live the most blessed life possible, and you chose a different path. You missed out on so much that I wanted to give to you!" (I don't think God would say that, but...)

How sad that would be...I mean, I'd still be jubilant to be entering heaven, but what rewards would I have missed out on? I read about rewards in the Bible all the time and I was just thinking today that there must be tons of them waiting for us.

In Matthew 10:42 it says:

"And if you give even a cup of cold water to one of the least of my followers,
you will surely be rewarded."
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A reward for giving someone a cup of cold water! If it starts there, then I'll start there and keep on doing whatever it is God is asking me to do so as not to miss out on any reward He might have waiting for me.

Abrupt change here...

There are times when I would just like to die. I know this shocks some people, but I have to be perfectly honest with you. This grief HURTS!! I MISS Phil!! Now, don't get me wrong, there is a big difference between wanting to die and being suicidal, so don't go calling the Hotline for me. I'm fine, really! But I have to admit that the thought of death seems welcoming at times because the pain would stop if I were to die, and I'd be on my way to heaven! Why I bring this up is because of a friend of mine who has also lost her son who says she wants to live to be 100, and she doesn't want to leave this earth one minute sooner than she is supposed to because she doesn't want to miss out on any of the blessings that God has in store for her. I like hearing that, because it reminds me of how I should be thinking. I'm not quite there yet, but I am getting there. Hiking in the hills the other day, I felt so good, I remember thinking, "I don't even want to die right now". You may laugh in a sad sort of way, but this is the truth.

Which brings me back to the rewards thing...I better hang around here a bit longer because I truly believe that God has work for me to do. And I'm not talking about the kind of work that most don't like, I'm talking about the kind of work that my friend was sharing with me tonight. The kind that lights up your eyes because you are so excited to be working for the Kingdom of God! You can't WAIT to see what all God has planned, and you are willing to take that first step and just trust that He will show you the way when the time is right. That is trust!! That is loving God with all your heart and letting Him lead you. That is an exciting life! That is what He meant for us all to be doing here, but so many of us miss out on it!

When you witness what I witnessed tonight, you don't want to miss out on it! I want that light in my eyes to burn bright again when God has finished His work in this healing process. I want to shout from the mountain tops that I've got something much more valuable than millions of dollars, I have eternity promised to me, and I am filled with God's living Hope!! There is nothing better and there is no better reason to shout and to be excited!

Thank God for people like my friend who remind me of that when I'm having trouble seeing it. Who exude the thrill of victory in Christ!! What a blessing she is to me, and to many others who spend time with her, I'm sure.

If you're not giving your life to Christ because you think it would spoil all your fun, you need to meet someone like my friend!! If that doesn't convince you that the Christian life is exciting, I don't know what would. Christ enjoyed life while He walked this earth. He went to weddings and turned water into wine! He healed the sick and the lame, can you imagine the thrill in that?! He came to save the world! And He did! He secured our futures by dying for us if we will accept His gift!

His life was not boring, far from it, and ours shouldn't be either!

A time to mourn...yes. A time to dance...yes. To each there is a season. I look forward to God turning my mourning into dancing, and more and more being one of those people who overflow with the excitement of God's goodness. I hope I am able to do that even while I mourn, although I think right now it is more subdued, less energetic, but at the same time peaceful and full of the joy that comes only from a wonderful Father in heaven who loves me.

Jesus died to give us life! Let's accept His gift and live our lives to the fullest each and every day!!

AMEN!!

Love,
Diane