To Wave or Not to Wave?

Let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Hebrews 13:1-2

On my way to do school pick up I pass a couple crossing guards as I pass I wave at each of them. One of them waves enthusiastically back and the other does everything she can to not look towards me. She seems almost afraid to wave.

The art of waving to others seems to be fading. There used to be a time when waving and smiling at others was common. A train would go by and we'd wave at the conductor or at the amusement park when the tram or train would go by we'd wave. Someone standing on the corner a simple wave. What has happened to this art?

Are we to busy to notice others? Are we scared to make a connection? Would a smile and wave hurt that much?

Showing hospitality to others, seems like a simple thing. All it takes to begin is a wave and a smile. Sure driving in my van seems like a safe place to wave from, it doesn't involve talking just a wave as I go by. Would I have the courage to wave and smile as I walked by? Or would I do everything I could to avoid making a connection?

Sometimes my shy side gets the better of me I turn into the one who does everything I can to avoid looking at others. Sometimes it's easier to not connect rather than showing that brotherly love. My prayer is that I am able to open up and show God's love to everyone I meet.

No More Excuses

What then shall we say, brothers and sisters? When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation...1 Corinthians 14:26

Believe it or not there was a time in my life when I didn't spend so much time at church. I would chose to sleep in on a Sunday morning instead of getting up to go to worship. My schedule was pretty crazy.

My husband and I each worked full time plus we delivered newspapers in the middle of the night seven days a week so that we could help make ends meet. So on Sundays we would get all the extra sleep we could. It was a tough schedule and we thought it would be alright not to worship.

There are always excuses we can come up with to not do something:

It's my only day off
I don't have money to give
It's my only day to sleep in
We have company
I need to clean my house
We have a sporting competition

You get the idea.

What if Jesus made excuses?
I'm not going out in the crowds today, it's my only day off.
Forget about going to the temple, I used my last denari on groceries.
No miracles today, just need to sleep in.
My company won't understand that I need to teach on the mount today, so I'm just going to stay home with them.
I can't possibly raise Lazarus today, I need to clean my tent.
No being sacrificed today, I need to be there for the team.
Good thing, the king of kings didn't make excuses.

The time we missed away from worshiping with other believers made our life difficult. This was the time of our lives the money got so bad that we almost lost our house. I barely prayed, I would say "God is Great" and "Now I lay me" but hardly a conversation with God.  Of course my choice in things I did were not the greatest. Good thing I fell on my knees and got back to where I belong with fellow brothers and sisters praising and learning about God! No more excuses.

Expect the Unexpected

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

It was a good plan, a plan to eliminate the rest of our debt. After that I would save up to buy a new vehicle.  Unfortunately, about a month ago my van began to act up. Of course, I believed that my mechanics, my husband and sons, would be able to figure out how to fix it.

They worked on it and replaced this and that, but the problem was deeper it was an internal problem in the engine. Then came the hard decision about what to do. Do we invest thousands of dollars into fixing this van or was it time to replace it?

The praying began, I prayed for my usual sign to know God's plan for us. Before the week was up God had confirmed that it was time to replace the van. So the searching began. I looked for used vans in our area and of course the right price range for us. Little did I know what God had in store for us.

There were not a lot of used vans for the type of van I needed, the only problem was the closest used vans were 120 miles away. If God wanted us to go that far we would because we trusted him and we would go where He sent us.  After narrowing it down to two different makes of van, I was lead to see how they compared to each other. Of course one did significantly better than the other.

The van I felt lead to was even harder to find as a used van, so the choice was now do we buy this type of van new? More praying and hoping that this was what God had planned for us even though it meant more money. Would we even get approved for a loan? What would the payments be?

The plan to go to the bank wasn't even going to happen until this week, but God even changed that to having me go last Friday. Approval came and then we went to look at it Sunday and came home with more than expected. God orchestrated out the details and gave us so much more then we even expected. Sure now I have a payment to make, but I know God will provide. He has good plans for us even when we weren't expecting it.

Don't Lose Sight

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. Hebrews 12:1-2

Busyness tends to consume me especially in the month of December. There are events at church, times with family, and of course all those presents to buy. Lately, my Wednesdays have been very busy. The day can easily get away from me and before I know it, I had no time for my devotions and prayer time.

Now that January and a new year is here, my busyness has slowed down to just my regular schedule. I tried to make a commitment to get back to blogging and somehow seventeen days has gone by. I really wanted to get back to writing a devotion once a week. When I can manage to work it into my schedule it helps me to keep my eyes on Jesus.

Sure I have my daily devotion and prayer time, but there is just something about being able to write and share what I am going through. There are times though when I want to take a nap or watch one of the series on Netflix instead of writing. I guess in those times I maybe getting entangled.

I let things get in the way of what I really want to be doing which is getting back to not losing sight of what's important to me. It is important that I not let the busyness take away my focus on the one who makes my faith stronger.