Turmoil… makes me think of a fast moving body of water that’s circling and swirling as it rushes to points unknown and tossing around… loose logs; an old mailbox still attached to a four by four post; random garbage; while banging off of every bend, every rock, and overflowing culverts as it goes!
You know… kinda like my mind the last few weeks.
But unlike our rushing, gushing, geyser of water… my thoughts have been stuck, and all the garbage in my minds stream is all backed up in front of my mental culvert.
Let me explain.
Recently I have had a couple of different thought streams happening, but as I write this I think they may be connected.
- I’ve been thinking about my immaturity and maturity as a man… “childish ways” and “the ways of men.” And…
- How do I go from “professing” with my mouth that I believe in Jesus Christ… to “doing” what He says in Matthew 7:24 “… hear(s) these words of mine and put them into practice…”
I asked myself, “Self, how can we get our response to people we meet out in the world be a Godly response and have that response just be second nature??? Huh Self huh… How are you going to do that?!?!?!”
Good thing God arranges things.
Here is where my personal log jam… jammed up.
I needed a new front door. I usually head east to a Menards to get such items… but they didn’t have the one I (my wife) wanted.
So… I had to head west instead. It was a nice little adventure of a trip.
It took a little bit to actually get into the store but once in… bada boom! grabbed the door; some hardware; and out the door I went!
Inside the store, the door, even though heavy, was easy to manipulate onto a large cart and sailed through check out and out to my truck.
But once outside the door and cart were being a bit wonky.
So I did like old guys do and stared at it for a minute… you know “figuring” how the best way would be to get it into the bed of the truck.
As I looked it up and down the second time a cheery voice behind me said, “Want some help?”
Now… here… is… where… I feel or felt… that I made a mental fumble on two fronts.
When I heard those words, without turning around and saying anything right away, in my mind I said to myself, “I would love that blessing!” (Trying on purpose to put into practice the words of Jesus Christ)
Then I turned around and as I was turning said, “Sure, I’d appreciate the help,” and there was a nice lady sitting in her truck, in the passenger seat, and for some reason that threw me off, I think I thought she was going to get out and help… I didn’t want to trouble a nice lady.
But I didn’t see her husband (I’m assuming) coming around the front of the truck.
Once I saw him… all was good. We smiled. Laughed a little at the awkwardness of getting the door OUT of the rolling cart; we grabbed the door and placed it in the bed of the truck.
Now… here… is… where I made my manliness mental fumble.
The cart was now in between us, and I grabbed it as he moved around it, I said, “Thanks for the help,” and we looked each other in the eye, and I started pushing the cart, and I didn’t catch myself, STOP, and SHAKE HIS HAND! I saw it on his face… but it was too late… I was moving with the cart and he spun around and hopped back up in his truck.
And as I was walking the cart back into the store I started beating myself up over the whole thing; being awkward with the lady; trying on purpose to put into practice Gods Word; and especially not shaking that guys hand! That’s a rule! I never forget my manners… and yet here we are.
And on the way home I contemplated how many “demerit points” I would have allotted on my man card… or if that fumble was egregious enough to have to turn my man card in to the proper authorities.
It’s not like I don’t know how to talk to people; individuals; groups; I’m a lay minister to people God sends me and, as some of you know, perform weddings; funerals; and other services; along with talking to people at book signings and what not!
But God is very gracious. I didn’t know it at the time but we were about to learn something.
Question: What do three Mexican dudes I met in Fleet Farm have in common with three middle age ladies, who were self proclaimed Democrats, (one was running for office) and talking to me while I was painting my porch?
Answer: God used them to train me up in the way I should go.
So there I was a few days after “not shaking that guys hand” and trying on purpose to put into practice the words of Jesus Christ, when I found myself in Fleet Farm buying paint for my new door.
A nice lady employee was helping me secure my paint when three Mexican dudes stopped and asked her for some help.
She tried. She really did. But there was a small language barrier.
So I said, “I’ll take and show them where the concrete is.”
I don’t speak Spanish. I should. But I can communicate a little.
I helped those gentlemen find what they needed; showed them how to operate the kiosk for next time; and explained to them they have to drive around back to pick it up.
The only Spanish I used was, “cuatro,” he was looking for four bags of Quickcrete.
I went back to get my paint and our nice paint lady said, “Thank you so much for that help.”
After I checked out and was crossing the parking lot to get to my truck, it felt like some of the weight that I was feeling for not shaking that other gentleman’s hand had lifted, and I was AWARE of God and His grace… giving me another opportunity to be a man, and help, but also… to be a man of God as I showed grace to our nice paint lady, and to those Tres Hombres.
The awareness was the thing.
Then… the next day as I was using my supplies I purchased for the porch and door I had three middle age ladies pull up to the front of the house.
They approached and I stood up to greet them.
I was on the porch with paint; and paint cloth; and tools laying about; and was standing up on the porch and was elevated above them looking down.
They asked if my wife and daughter were home and introduced themselves as local Democrats with the nice lady on the left saying, “I’m running for office.”
I apologized to them when i had to tell them my wife isn’t a Democrat, and that because the house was being worked on my tell tale signs of me being a Republican were absent… you know… Old Glory is usually flying front and center.
We all had a good chuckle about that.
The lady running for office wanted to still talk to me so… minding my manners I said, “Sure.”
Now… here… is… where God stepped in again.
His still, quiet, voice said in my ear, “Jesus sat down.”
Now I’ve read enough to know that in almost every teaching opportunity Jesus had… he sat down, “as was his custom.”
So I sat down on the porch steps and was eye to eye with these three nice ladies.
The nice lady running for office asked what was my one main concern with Democrats.
And I said, “I just watched some rallies and I just can’t get past that they lead with abortion and the people stand and cheer and clap for it.”
And we had a very civil discussion about that and found out her point of view of it.
And we talked about the state of our schools; some economy stuff; but then…
As we were “getting to know each other” it was evident that these nice ladies really didn’t know one another.
Two were chatty and one was quiet.
So then, trying to be polite about it, I asked them what their affiliations were regarding Jesus Christ… and was met with the classic answer of… “Well, I’m Lutheran, go to such and such church and belong to such and such synod, but my husband and I had to leave our old church… yada yada.”
That’s when the discussion actually went long.
BUT… as I was having this civil discourse, with these three nice ladies, there it was again… Gods amazing grace.
He allowed me to participate in this conversation about His Son, with these three nice ladies… while allowing me to be very AWARE of it, like a coach walking you through batting practice, explaining the strike zone, and bat path, having to meet in the middle for solid contact to be made.
That’s when I was released from the stress of “not shaking that guys hand” while picking up my new door.
I understand this is a lot of detail, and some folks with bible knowledge might feel it’s TOO much detail.
And I’m AWARE of that… here is the guard rail I use when I try to communicate my Emerging Man / man of God experiences…
“Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you. Such a person also goes into great detail about what they have seen; they are puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind.”
That’s a warning… to me… every time I share.
I want my message, which is an old message, to be to you that Jesus Christ is real.
And you may have a similar response as those I meet when they say, “But religion is just messed up. I just believe in God.”
There is a lot of room for error in that statement.
And if you really knew Jesus, you would know his main adversaries of his day were the ruling religious classes, like the Pharisees; Sadducee; and High Priests; all who were looking to kill him because he was upsetting their apple cart!
My inner turmoil; the battle smoke of the mind… that we share, are evidences that Christ is alive and active in our lives.
To be aware of something means you are alive to something.
It’s been placed on my heart to talk to a few friends directly in regards to Jesus Christ… and now to you, my readers, I need to extend the same grace, and tell you plainly… Jesus Christ is real, He loves you; and he would like for you to get to know Him on a very personal level.
Whew!
I’ll leave you with this, as The Emerging Man writing to ENCOURAGE, EQUIP & ENGAGE…
the words of the apostle Paul… with whom I concur fully… from…
The book of Colossians
“2 I want you to know how hard I am contending for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally. 2 My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 4 I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments. 5 For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how disciplined you are and how firm your faith in Christ is.”
theemergingman.com 
it is good to have you blogging again, thanks
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