UNCOMFORTABLE

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.

Good morning my DISPATCH/OFH family.  Christmas is coming! Love all of you so very much! 

You know, I have been offered the rare “opportunity” to live in the house I grew up in as a kid.  A lot of “less than favorable” circumstances led to that, but in recent years I have come to appreciate not just having a place to live but the familiarity of it especially at this time of the year.  From the moment of the first fall colors to the Christmas season, being “at home” is, we very COMFORTABLE.

Yet as I was thinking about “how comfortable” Christmas can feel when surrounded by the familiar, can you imagine just how “uncomfortable” the ORIGIN of Christmas was?

A scandalous pregnancy.  That couldn’t have been anything comfortable.  Awkward at best.

People whispering. The morality police making their judgements. Joseph’s buds questioning his judgment to hang in there.  UNCOMFORTABLE!

Then the census.  Really?  They had to think, now?  Now we must pack up and take a long trip?

How comfortable do you think that trip was?

We complain these days because they have reduced our airline comforts by shrinking the seats and the snacks not to mention pillows being at a premium. 

Can you imagine what their trip was like?  Mary in her condition? Not to mention she was so young. 

My parental friends think about trying to take more than an hour trip in the car with your adolescents.  And our couple didn’t have any IPADS or Switch’s to distract. 

And then they hit town, exhausted; Mary in contractions and no one has anywhere for them to land?  You’ve got to be kidding right?  And we thought the trials and tribulations faced by the fellas from Planes Trains and Automobiles was harrowing.

Uncomfortable doesn’t do the journey justice.

And that should enhance your appreciation for the OBEDIENCE and PERSEVERANCE of our main characters, Mary and Joseph.  They PRESSED on.  They didn’t waver.  They had both heard from the angel and regardless of challenge, they had an obligation to that prophet fella Micah and the rest of those revered prophets to get to Bethlehem and have this child.

Period. End of story!

And they did.

They weathered the MOST uncomfortable to brings us the ONE of ALL COMFORT and REST. (2 Corinthians 1, Matthew 11…)

So, think about that while you are experiencing the inevitable “discomforts” in the next couple of days; traffic, stolen parking places, missed sales, cramped aisles, and rude folks.

Then take a breath.

And thank GOD.

And then pause to remember our brave travelers who willingly weathered the most UNCOMFORTABLE of circumstances so Mary could give…

…birth to a son and name him Jesus because he will save his people from their sins. – Matthew 1:21

I love you all!

Have a BLESSED DAY!

Opportunities for Hope

A LIFE MULTIPLIED

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.

Good morning my DISPATCH/OFH family.  It is good to be at the keyboard today.  I pray that ALL of you are doing well in this holiday season!  Don’t forget to take a breath. 

Soak the time in, because there are no guarantees.

Case in point, this past Tuesday I was honored to lay to rest little Camiyah, the grand-daughter of a special colleague who though works for a competitor (see eyes rolling cause I really don’t have those), is a dear friend, an advocate for the recovering and an amazing lady.

Little Camiyah, 18 months, was tragically killed in an auto accident on Thanksgiving.

As I prepared my remarks, never doing the funeral of a child before, I sought some counsel and got some excellent direction from some trusted friends and mentors including my mama.

And while deeply sad, I was able to share the TRUTH that Camiyah was with Jesus.  Indisputable. And to be able to paint that picture to offer that hope that resonates from 1 Thessalonians 4 was for me heartening and I pray for the family, reassuring.  My mama even gave me a wonderful poem to share, you will find it here. https://aislingjenningsphotography.wordpress.com/tag/spending-christmas-with-jesus-christ/

But I want to share something else from this heart-breaking situation.

Camiyah’s mama is in recovery.  She will boldly cop to that. So, I am not breaking any anonymity my AA/NA friends, she is quite proud of it.  And as I mentioned, grandma works in my field as one of the outreach team at Brightview Health.

Now why share this.  Here is why.

Camiyah donated some of her organs to others in need.

From what I was told, her heart went to a child down south.  Her liver to another one in need, a kidney as well.  But it is the second kidney’s destination that will make you pause.  In fact, when the story was shared, I immediately thought of this promise.

To all who mourn he will give…a joyous blessing – (From Isaiah 61:3 (NLT)

The second kidney if you can imagine went to a grandma and not just any grandma but a grandma who was mobilized into caring for her grandchildren following the death of her daughter to, wait for it, drug overdose.

I can’t make that up.

Remember, mama’s in recovery and grandma serves the recovering community, dealing with overdose and hurt every day.  And yet GOD offered this blessing amid the mourning.  Hope for another through their tears.

I found that to be remarkable and inspiring.

In fact, I didn’t know this story until I after I had penned my talk.  And yet within my talk I shared that I was believing that Jesus had already paused to show Camiyah the other kids she had helped not knowing that that population was much bigger than I had originally thought.

Think about that for a second. 

Four lives suffering through tragedy of their own given the gift of their grandma.  So, while we can’t bring Camiyah back, Camiyah has been multiplied in amazing ways.

I found that story while paradoxical to offer a comforting assurance. And it reminded me of this quote from Charles Swindoll, “If God gave such forethought into your birth (see PSALM 139) and designing your body, surely, He’s given no less attention to your future.”

…Even when we don’t fully understand it.

RIP little Camiyah.

I love you all!

Have a BLESSED DAY!

Opportunities for Hope