Introduction
In 2006, I left corporate work to do full-time ministry; though I truly didn’t understand what that really would mean, since we weren’t led to form a church. The only thing I knew, was that the Lord directed me to write. Since that time, I have written more than I ever believed was within me. The only question that I had for the Lord was that He would show me that what we have written would help others.
Fortunately, all of what we have written has been taught and shared in workshops or by those who wanted to improve their daily walk with the Lord. Hey, we know what we say won’t be for everyone, even though we all deal with many of the same life challenges!
We have written books for Men, Women, Marriage…and we are no where near finished yet! So, each week (for now) I will share some of my favorite devotionals that have impacted me personally, and so many others. Today’s devotional is about a man who I won’t name, but who taught me so much about living…and dying. God bless all who read…!
Oh, and please check out most of our writings at https://courses.bouncebackministries.com
We have moved much of our efforts on-line as self-study materials. We will continue to add more…as time permits!
Thanks in advance for reading, sharing and praying…much love,
Craig and Peggy,
BounceBack Ministries @ bouncebackministries.com
And my trial which was in my flesh you did not despise or reject, but you received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. Galatians 4:14 NKJV
Quite a few years ago, I had the opportunity to witness a brother, a man in our church, as he prepared to go home to be with the Lord. It was a difficult—but wonderful experience to see the hand of God move to truly transform this man’s life—especially in such a short time.
But I also knew this same man, years before—and the experience was, well…not so wonderful. Every day, each of us has a first encounter with someone—and for most of us, let’s be honest, if it is not a positive experience—we just move on! We don’t even waste our time….
But what if…what if, behind this encounter was an assignment from the Lord?
The truth is, that we never know what is an assignment from the Lord…at least not at first! Assignments are not so obvious in Christ as they were in school where the teacher would write the assignment clearly on the board so that no one would miss it.
That’s why it would seem that it just makes sense to treat every relationship as though it is a possible assignment from the Lord—until the Lord shows us differently. In this instance—I thank the Lord because I got it right in spite of my initial thought of just writing this brother off and keep it moving.
…because to be honest—he wasn’t a very pleasant person.
First Encounter
As a Sunday school teacher in our former church, we had very specific responsibilities, and one was to always make visitors welcome. So, after teaching at the church for a number of years, I clearly understood the responsibilities that were incumbent on me, namely to introduce to the rest of the Sunday school, any new visitors when all the classes assembled together.
So, when it was time for the Men’s class to introduce new students, I noticed some unrest and even a few chuckles after I introduced my new pupil. Noting this, afterwards, I asked the pastor what I had done to garner the smiles and subtle laughter.
What he told me that I had in fact, introduced a member of the church as new—and that I had embarrassed one of the charter members of the church. Furthermore, as it turned out, my new visitor was sorely put off—because I had embarrassed him.
In that, I had unintentionally made it all too obvious to the rest of the church, that in the years of me being a member of this rather “smallish” church—we had never met! That is, in case you missed it…he was a charter member who essentially, just never came to church! And so, began our “rocky” relationship.
I would occasionally see this man come to church—and on each instance there was always an encounter; if not with me, definitely with someone else. Believe it or not, he was an usher, a man who was charged to be welcoming to all those who came into the House of the Lord.
-
- Even so, there was one instance, where he was accused of slamming one of our youth against the wall and uttering some rather non-Christian words to the young man, simply because he believed that the youth in the church had no respect for the church.
- And then another encounter where he accosted another youth because he wore overalls and allowed one of the shoulder straps to hang—instead of buckling it!
Needless to say, in both instances, it was literally, the last time that those young men ever came to the church again—and it was ultimately the reason their entire families eventually left our church as well.
He was like a prickly pear…the fruit on the inside might be good—but given all the effort, who would want to bother taking the time?
Then the Lord Moved
But then one day, the Lord moved. And let me say this—if we choose to stay on assignment, sooner or later—trust me—God will always move!
On that particular day, while walking through the church hallway, my arms were full including carrying our youngest daughter. Unfortunately, my decision to make one trip from the car was proving that I was a bit too ambitious that resulted in me trying to carry too many things at once.
Rather than allow anything to slip—I was looking to set something down, and that a church bench would be just around the corner. That’s when I noted my help from the Lord was at hand, and that God surely has a wonderful sense of humor!
Seated on a bench against the wall was everyone’s favorite prickly pear—and without hesitation, I thrust my infant daughter into his lap to lighten my load. As his mouth dropped, I watched as his normally sour countenance changed, and a smile formed and he marveled at the beautiful infant in his arms.
Then he looked at me—still smiling, and said,“…ok, but just for a few minutes.” Looking back after all these years, I can only marvel at how God orders things in life.
In fact, the irony even now makes me smile, in how it really only takes the right little thing to break through a person’s armor—through their shell—and when we do, we may just find out that there is a reason that God has been positioning us so precisely in a person’s life.
I think the thing that I learned most, was that it takes both persistence and timing for the Lord to find the timing and moment. From that moment forward, we began to build a new relationship.
He even began to frequent our Sunday school class more often and began to create a bond with the other men in the class as well. The importance of these relationships would make us all better men in the long run.
It’s a Heart thing…
Several years later, this man was hospitalized with what was determined to be congestive heart failure. Not really understanding what congestive heart failure was, I took the opportunity to visit him in the hospital.
Once there, I found him with his sister, and it was an opportunity to learn more about him. While he stood at well over six feet tall and weighed-in easily over 300 pounds, he was the baby of the family—of a very large family of nineteen children.
His sister also shared with me that the reason he was so quiet—was not that he was mean—but as the youngest…he just never needed to talk. Whatever he needed was immediately given to him, and even his own sentences were often completed by one of his older siblings—so in the end, he rarely needed to talk at all; a practice that he, not so surprisingly, continued long into adulthood.
Most people, as I did, would have thought he was either just mean; or arrogant—or even that somehow, they had gotten on his bad side somehow, but as we learned, that wasn’t necessarily the case. Hmmm, it just shows us how we can never assume that we can tell what is going on inside a person’s heart, simply by looking at them from the outside…!
After several visits to the hospital, the reality of his disease became apparent. As the disease progressed, his heart was slowly losing its ability to produce enough pressure to supply his extremities with a consistent blood supply.
-
- This was first witnessed when he first lost a fingertip on one hand, and then the whole finger.
- Another visit to the hospital saw him undergo treatments to stimulate the blood flow by immersing his hands in a warm whirlpool bath.
- But this disease is viscous, and it seemed that there was no halting the progressive disease as it slowly devoured him…extremity by extremity.
- Soon he lost his fingers first on one hand, and later on the other.
Never-the-less, and in obvious pain, this brother who was a perennial guest in the church, soon became a model of dedication and consistency. Somehow, in spite of his health issues, he continued to find a way to get to the church…and just as importantly, to our Men’s Sunday school class.
The true miracle, is seeing how God can truly transform a person if they are willing to receive what He has for them—even in the most difficult of situations.
Every Day’s a Blessing!
Shortly there-after, his legs were afflicted, and he began to lose, through amputation,
-
- His toes on each leg;
- Followed by each of his feet,
- And finally each of his lower leg, stopping just above the knee.
And while we all stood as witnesses, we saw something that we could not explain: as the doctors removed this dying man’s fingers, toes, and legs—rather than living in fear and doubt, this man became stronger in the Lord!
Even more amazing, he was so encouraging and became a living testimony to everyone who visited him. Each day was a blessing—even if we didn’t think it was—he was no longer shy and quiet about reminding us that it was!
In fact, one of the last times that I would see him, I prayed that he would not notice the look of shock on my face, because now there remained only the physical remnant of a very big man. There he was in the bed—but now with no legs, and virtually no arms, just stubs.
As I entered his room, he spun around so quickly and I was startled both because of his sudden movement and because on him was the Glory of Lord! But through labored breathing, he still let me know with each exhale, “(inhale)… the Lord… (inhale)…is good!”
The few moments that we shared that day will always stand out in my mind as this man, in the last days of life, was sitting here with less physically; but was now, so much more spiritually! That day God showed me—how in his hands…less is more!
It’s almost as if God had to allow enough of him to be taken away—so that the rest of him might be free! Free enough to now be a visible witness any who were willing to visit!
Less is more…God can do more with less—than we can with more!
And if I had to sum this up with a few points, consider these:
- That/those person s) who we would rather not deal with—just might be our heavenly assignment(s).
- Many times, we lose patience during our assignment(s) and we move on—rather than waiting for God to move us/through us.
- We can’t wait until we have everything to lose to finally see the fulness of God in our lives…
- A little in the Master’s Hands is more than enough…
- It is time for us to stop just having church—it is time for us to be the church!
And so, what about you—what parts of your life have to be removed to allow you to be free to proclaim the Glory of the Lord and lift up his name? Will you also have to go through physical crippling as our friend did?
Or will you instead live your life for Christ—while you have a chance? God shows us all the time that He can do more with less.
Final Word: But, if God can do great things with less, it still seems that He can also do exceedingly abundantly more…with more!
1 Comment
Leave your reply.