My wife and I are currently participating in an entire church fast with our current church. Beginning January 12 and going to February 2, we have each chosen to give up certain things and replaced them with prayer in order to become closer to God and understand his purpose for our lives. Each morning, we start off with a scripture and meditate on it throughout the day. Today’s scripture(s) were John15: 12-17. It takes place at the last supper as Jesus is preparing to be arrested, tried, convicted and crucified for the sins of the world (our sins). The first verse sticks out the most as I write this… “This is my commandment. That ye love one another. (v12)”. Often, we get so busy and so clouded that we forget to love on our brothers and sisters… and by love, I don’t explicitly mean affection. Loving on someone can simply mean encouragement in their time of need…. or in their time of stress.
Today has been a fairly busy day for a Sunday. I’ve gone to church (obviously, lol), done some housework and preparing for not one, but two rehearsals this evening (one of which rehearsals is now canceled). Among the housework is sitting out the trash as our trash is collected on Monday mornings. As I was sitting out the last can, an Amazon delivery truck made it’s way to my house after dropping off a package at another house down the street. The driver stopped at the end of my driveway and I told him that he didn’t need to drive up the driveway as I could grab them from him right there. I cracked a joke with him about how, “My wife ordered a ton of stuff..” just to be cool. We both laughed and then he proceeds to tell me about how stressed he was about his job. He didn’t necessarily care for the hours, or the pay as he’d been a truck driver making much more money. Optimistically, I said, “Hey. At least you got something…” and he wholeheartedly agreed. After a few more comments about his job and the backstory about how he got the job, he began to tell me about his family. He mentioned that several members of his family were arrested and doing time for being apart of ‘the life.” He also told me that when he was spoken to by the feds that they were looking at him too. He went on to say that they stated they didn’t have anything on him because he was always working. I thanked God for him in that moment and went on to encourage him; letting him know that God’s got his hand on him and his life and that what he was currently doing was on the right path. I implored to keep pushing and keep on working towards his goals the right way because too many of “us” get caught up and don’t see the big picture. He then continued to tell me about his 18 year-old son who just got accepted into college on academic and sports scholarships. Again, I praised God for the achievements of his son and that it could only happened with the grace of God, hard work and a great example of a father. He then went on to tell me that his son wasn’t in any way, shape or form interested in that “life.” I encouraged him to continue being that awesome example that he is being for his son. He will only get that from him. I continually blessed God on his behalf and told him “God bless you” as he pulled away, thanking me for our interaction.
I don’t know this man from a can of paint. I am glad that I was used as a vessel to encourage this brother this afternoon. It was divine intervention because had I not been taking my garbage to the curb, I wouldn't have been able to encourage that brother. Little did he know is that it blessed me too. As a husband with no children, it gives me hope that I will be able to guide my future children in the right direction and have support of men to encourage me the same way that I’ve just done or this brother. And that my friends, is what love is all about.
#LoveOverEverything