I heard my “friend” had suffered a stroke; 39 years old. Wow!<\/p>\n
My first thought was that I should visit him, try to be an encouragement, show him someone cares, all those good things we think of. . .<\/p>\n
. . .and then often dismiss with our busy schedules, our fear of our mortality, our laziness, the very uncomfortable nature of hospitals.<\/p>\n
I mean give me a break; hospitals can be very discouraging places, filled with sick people and all.<\/p>\n
But I planned to stop after work and visit. And I did. I decided to not be selfish.<\/p>\n
But I had to first deal with my process of rationalization:<\/p>\n
Don’t misunderstand my intent.
\nI have not always made the right decision in these circumstances. I have before taken the easier route and gone on home. What swayed me was the opportunity to be there for someone in the name of God. I know that sounds so cliche.<\/p>\n
And I know that someone may read this and think my entire purpose is to demonstrate how spiritual I am.<\/p>\n
But my true purpose is to share that feeling of being right before God, and making a decision with some eternal perspective, and being able to step outside the picture and see myself possibly more as God sees me.<\/p>\n
I really had the sense that God sent me. God whispered in my ear a good thing to do, and I did it.<\/p>\n
God didn’t verbalize any words to my friend earlier this evening; he didn’t touch my friend’s arm, pat him on the shoulder, audibly tell him it is okay to cry, or hold his hand and pray with him.<\/p>\n
He sent me to do all of the above.<\/p>\n
Thank you, Father.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I heard my “friend” had suffered a stroke; 39 years old. Wow! My first thought was that I should visit him, try to be an encouragement, show him someone cares, all those good things we think of. . . . … Continue reading