I hope and trust this post finds you all having a great day on this absolutely beautiful Saturday morning (at least it is in Arizona)!
Before diving into what I want to share with you today I want to briefly address a couple of things. If you regularly read this blog you may have noticed that in the past 7 months "Happy Friday" doesn't always come out on Friday and, as was the case last week, there have been a couple of weeks when I did not write "Happy Friday."
- My job changed dramatically in July causing me to travel to the Great Northwest about half the time - sometimes more, never less. I love the Northwest, my life has been so blessed and enriched by the wonderful people I have met however it does require me to spend a great deal of time away from my family. When I come home, while I often have a thought to share, my priority is to spend time with my Beautiful Bride and my 3 boys. With this, I write "Happy Friday" when I can, after loving, spending time with and taking care of my wife and sons. Sometimes this means I can still write "Happy Friday" on Friday and sometimes it means I don't get to write it until Saturday, Sunday or Monday.
- One of the things I have done from the very first time I wrote a "Happy Friday" message more than two years ago was to follow the Spirits leading in writing "Happy Friday." I don't want this message to ever be about me but rather the message that God wants to share through me. There have been times when I thought I was going to write about one thing or another and then suddenly I find myself being compelled - my Spirit convicting me - to write about something else. While I don't necessarily understand it, I follow this leading because the only thing I truly fear is not following God's leading. I don't want this to be in Kevin's power, knowledge or wisdom for then it will surely fail. If it is lead by God, it is His words, His power, His knowledge, His wisdom, then it cannot fail...it will always achieve the purposes He intended. Sometimes, like last week, I have nothing to offer to you. As I type this I know that God is there, He is moving, He is working it's just that I can't get out of the way. Does that make sense? When I can't get out of the way so God can lead through me I am going to remain silent instead of trying to elevate myself to say something profound and in the process step outside His covering, His leading.
On Tuesday I got a great lesson from my 7-year old Little Preacher. I was in Portland and I called to tell my family good night. As I was talking to the Little Preacher he was telling me how a local TV station was coming to his school on Wednesday to do a story about one of his classmates. This precious little boy got a severe infection last summer that cost him an eye, a foot, some fingers and he is currently in need of a kidney transplant. This boy sits behind the Little Preacher. The Little Preacher and I were talking about how he helps this little boy with school work, on the playground, etc. I said, "you guys are buddies aren't you?" He immediately shot back, "no, we are friends." I don't know how describe the tone to you. It was a mix of, "geez Dad, are you really this clueless?" and, "this is what we are supposed to do."
I have thought a lot about that conversation. You see, I was thinking like a 45-year old man. If you are helping him you guys must be buddies right? The Little Preacher quickly set me straight. We are all people on this wonderful journey called life. We are all broken, flawed, have challenges, have struggles. We all need help sometimes. We all need a friend. We all do...We need friends often. Maybe it is something simple that we need such as directions or maybe it is something more personal like prayer. The point is, we all need friends. We need someone to see our need for help - whatever the need might be - and, just because we are friends (I think the Little Preacher would define this as any human being walking the face of the earth...I know Someone else who would define a friend the same way) we help them. They don't have to be our buddy, be in our group, be in our family, be in our church, etc., they simply need to be a person and they have some need. AND, the need does not have to be some great, life saving act. There are a lot of friends who simply need a smile. There are a lot of friends who simply need someone to tell them they believe in them. There are a lot of friends who simply need to know that someone, anyone is there for them even if they do not say or do a thing. By the way, smiles have saved lives and simply saying "I believe in you" has changed the legacy of countless families.
My challenge for all of us this week is will we be a friend? Not just to our "friends" or to the people we know but will we really be a friend? Will we look at all people a little different - recognizing that every life has value, meaning & purpose - and recognize their needs? And, this is the part that will make us different, will we do something about it? Will we stop walking by people in need and actually help them? They after all are our friends.
Please don't hesitate to contact me if there is ever anything I can do for you or your family. I will always be willing to help you any way I can.
Have a great day, a wonderful weekend and please cherish your precious families.
Kev
No comments:
Post a Comment