4 replies to this topic

[Charles Miles]

An old friend sent me a letter the other day but I delayed opening it for some reason and only got around to looking at it last night. The contents have been on my mind all day today. Here it goes.....

A friend bought a new Jaguar a few weeks ago after wanting one for years. Worked hard, saved long, and got exactly the model and style he wanted. New car, 1 week old, proud of his "baby". He was on his way to work a day or so after Christmas and was driving down a street in a neighborhood through which he seldom passed,being careful to watch for children darting out from between parked cars, when a large brick hit his driverside door with a loud bang scaring the daylights out of him. He got out, looked at the huge dent in the door, and then got back in and backed up rapidly to the area of the incident. He saw a small boy(4-5 years old) standing on the curb, so he jumped out of the car and grabbed the kid around the neck and started screaming ..."why did you do that? Do you understand what this will cost? That`s my new car!" The boy said..."but I couldn`t get anyone to stop. I had to get someone to stop! My little brother is a quadraplegic and has fallen out of his wheechair into the gutter facedown and I can`t get him rolled over and out of the water....he`s drowning!" The man helped get the other young boy, whom he had not noticed before now, out of the water and back into his chair. He then got the wet child a blanket from the still running car, and tucked it around the cold, wet child. As the older brother gently pushed his younger sibling away, he thanked the man.

After getting back into the car, the man could not even find the composure to put it in gear, he just sat there thinking about the incident and shaking. As of 2 days ago, he has not had the door repaired, and states that he may NOT have the door repaired. His comment to my friend who wrote to me was, "It`s a shame that it sometimes takes a brick to get our mind off of worldly things that do not really matter". "My mind was totally on me and what I had, where I was in this world, and how great things were going for me, when it should have been on the important things, like listening for the needs of others and loving my fellow man, whoever he is". That big dent is his car door is his reminder.

Man, do I ever hate bricks! Sometimes we have to have a brick thrown into us just for the Lord to get our attention. I have been hit by some pretty good sized bricks in the recent past, but maybe that is what it took for the Lord to get my full, undivided, worshipful attention. I plan to keep it this way as best I can because, man, I hate bricks!

In Christ`s love,

Charlie

[Kevin Blankenship]

Thank you for sharing this. It seems to throw some light on the awful, burned out, catatonic state that I have been in for the last few months.  The nurse comes once a week from the Home Health and takes my mother's vitals.  I jump on her because I figured that she can at least change the bandage on momma';s feeding tube.  They cut my home health aid (lady who bathes momma) to once a week thanks to Medicare's lovingly stricter rules.  I have had to re-adapt to completely bathing momma. I got all caught up on how the world, or fate, or even God......has seemed to overlook me and my needs.  And when I sit and watched momma sleeping the other nite I realized......it ain't all about me.  It's about her. Relatively speaking.  Nevertheless........your sharing that story was yet another way that God is speaking to me that 'cross carrying' (ie: death of self) is not necessarily pleasant.

    Garden of Gethsamane........couple thousand years ago.  The night of Jesus's betrayal.  Jesus could likely foresee the brutal way in which he would die.  For a minute, his 'inborn desire to survive' kicked in and He asked the Father, in much anguish, if he could be spared......if there was some other way. But Jesus resolutely prayed: "nevertheless, not My Will......but THINE be done". And then....after angels strengthened him......The Father's Will started being done.......the kiss of Judas.  The trials, scourings, beatings, ultimately....the crucifixition.  Who can there possibly be who is more dedicated to the well being of man-kind, than Jesus.......and the Father.   Sometimes a 2000 year separation of the facts clouds it over.  But mercifully, the Holy Spirit brings it all back to life and makes it fully current as the words and deeds of Christ are read.

   Charlie, this wasn't meant to be a hijack. Your thread gave me much food for thought. I can SO relate to the man with the Jaguar (although I own a Honda...lol....).  Have a very very blessed day.

[Charles Miles]

Kevin,

That was no hijack. I shared the story because it touched me deeply and I just thought it might touch others in a similar manner. A gentle reminder may be all some people need to jar them out of a complacent lifestyle, but for some, such as myself, it must take a brick!I pray that as we become more attentive to God`s will, we will need fewer and fewer bricks bouncing off our thick heads. I hate those bricks!

[Candice]

Thank you for sharing this beautiful story Charlie. Once again, you hit it out of the park!

Kevin, I'm praying for your mom. Bless you for tenderly caring for her.

Love,
Candice

[elizabethcog]

Thank you Jesus for brothers like Charlie and Kevin,they are chocked full of your love and wisdom(even if they can't always "see" it,i do but most importantly we know You do.......