Time and Attention

Today I got the opportunity to help out a brother of mine. As I'm driving to the airport to pick him up, I was thankful that I was available to help and also thankful that he asked. I hadn't had the chance to talk to him in a few weeks and looked forward to the hour or two I knew we'd have to spend together and catch up on things. The fact that we both take great delight in asking the other those "double-edged questions" that cut straight thru the meat to the bone and the fact that we're more honest and open with each other than almost anyone else we know promised to make for a good lunch and lively ride home. Not disappointed on either.

As we're finishing lunch, my friend says he'd like to visit a friend that's in the hospital nearby and asked if we could make time for that. A few phone calls and we tracked down the hospital and his room number.

After spending a week with stomach pains this man had gone to the doctor to see what's up, next thing he knows he's in the Oncology Ward with Chemo therapy in his future... after they get a couple of stints in his heart. Talk about getting your world rocked. We talked about the fact that we are all immortal souls, that all of us will live forever, only where we spend eternity is a chose we get to make now. I had just met this man only a few minutes earlier, but felt very comfortable asking him pointedly if he was ready to die and did he know where he was headed to after this world. I wasn't being impolite or pushy, and didn't ask in any condemning way. But I was convinced that we were not to leave the room until he felt sure or we explained it to him. Praise God, he already knew. We held hands and prayed together and made plans to have him out for dinner next week or the one after. As I told him, I know that the stuff I've been thru ain't just for God to get my attention and I'll bet God would have someone ready to hear his story too. The Big Man is such a multitasker.

It's those times in my life that I put aside my wishes and all the things I've got planned and just allow God to interrupt me that I am most thankful for. We could have so easily justified not stopping and spending that extra hour. And many times I don't. But as my friend asked "how do we please God in these kind of things?" We do it in that moment of decision that is ours, and we get out-of-the-way and follow Christ.

We all hear that voice within us...those that have ears, let them hear. And then in that instant, make the decision to be obedient. Someday, one on one, I'll be asked "Did you Love well?" I want to answer "YES."

Romans 13:8 "Let no debt remain outsanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law."