Have you thanked Him?
Have you praised Him?
Have you made it your priority to agree and cooperate with Him today?
Have you taken that deep breath and listened for what He has for you today?
1 Timothy 2:1 (The Message)
The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know.
Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving. - Albert Einstein
Familiar little anecdote right? Who says there is not power in brevity? Something I am still
struggling to learn I might interject.
Yet I was led to this quote by an unexpected interaction from yesterday.
About 10 weeks ago, my wife Beth was noticing a little “give” in the floor of our hallway. So, she and our handy-man extraordinaire Pap Gable, went on the search for the cause. That led them to our basement which most of the time is an unused part of our house to find some soppy carpeting. The soppy carpeting was the result of a GREAT sum of water accumulating in the ceiling of the basement from a faulty dishwasher. There is a lot more to that discovery that I will save for another day (because it is a little humorous), but that of course has led to some REPAIRS both on the culprit, the dishwasher, and the basement.
Hence, we have had a contractor in the house replacing ceiling, doing some much needed painting and remodeling downstairs.
So. as they were wrapping up a day of flooring, I got my first chance to meet one of the fellas doing the work. They are friends of my son-in-law. And after our casual chat and his departure my dad came up to tell me a little about him.
Many of you know my dad and he likes to “relate”. He is a talker. (I know I get some of honestly). So, he has gotten to know our contractor fella. And dad felt motivated to share a little about him that touched him.
Our contractor was abandoned as a child.
Left to his own at an early age.
And he tells the story of a crossroad in his life where he could have just STOPPED, BLAMED, and QUIT on his life. But instead, he DECIDED to KEEP his balance. Instead of allowing his bad break to keep him from peddling and fall to the wayside of life, he chose to parlay his experience into providing BETTER futures for others just like him.
Hence, he has become a foster father, started a business where other abandoned young people can get a new start and has become a SOLUTION rather than part of the problem.
Good story, right?
What was funny was as my dad was telling me the story, he said, “Now that is a story for that ‘little thing you write’ all the time.”
And he was right.
What a beautiful testimony to encourage us to keep PRESSING forward, that GOD is in the business of taking the bad and turning it for GOOD, restoring balance if we will stay faithfully moving forward.
he will give a crown of beauty for ashes,
a joyous blessing instead of mourning,
festive praise instead of despair. – Isaiah 63:1 (NLT)
Perhaps you are at a place in your life where to stop peddling seems like the BEST alternative; that to quit seems to make more sense that to keep going.
Don’t!
Keep your balance.
Keep peddling!
Seek a solution!
Think of my contractor!
There is something GOOD just ahead! (Romans 8:28)
I love you all
Opportunities for Hope
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