A Day of Contrasts!

Yesterday our day started with an early morning appointment with a friend of my in-laws who has a hauling service.  He picked up our old TV’s and some other large items for recycle.  Greg is a very gregarious individual and we had quite a few laughs together during his time with us.  He had already told me that he wasn’t going to charge us for his labor and when I tried to convince him to let me pay him something again yesterday, he told me that his religion is helping people when they are going through rough times. 

We had already had this conversation on the phone a few nights ago (see yesterday’s blog “Exasperation” for more details), so I didn’t push our 180 degree expectations of God’s goodness working in our midst.  Greg’s only input on the situation has been from my wife’s relatives and his reasoning stuck pretty close to their party line of the hardships of life and the sad and utterly hopeless situation we are facing.

Once again, I was tempted to shake my head, but instead I choose to praise the Lord and rejoice in His party line as found in His Word that promises earnest expectations of health to those of us who believe.

With that task marked off our “To Do List” we finished breakfast, read from T.L. Osborn’s classic book “Healing The Sick” (I wholeheartedly recommend this read to anyone who is facing a health need in their bodies!), and attacked the pile of trash bags I had lined up in our otherwise vacant living room.  When I began to get overwhelmed with what I saw before me (and behind me with the other pile of junk in our back patio), I suddenly heard a voice inside telling me to take it one bag at a time!

After I had cleared out the living room and got going on the patio, I received a call from my daughter in North Carolina and ended up speaking to her while I worked outside.  And before you know it, I was done cleaning up all the outside, had swept the patio clean and got back in the house just as it started to rain in earnest!  At the end of the day I was very excited about all that had been accomplished and took some time to worship the Lord for His very evident hand in everything we have faced in this move.

Today He continued to have an active role.  Our dog’s ride arrived earlier than expected around 8:30 AM.  This bump up in the schedule has given me the time to make all the various stop service calls before we head off to some afternoon appointments.  You know, I just can’t help but smile as I think about the various times over the last couple of weeks that I have started to worry, only to have that fear shattered by the obvious intervention of the Lord.

Romans 8:28 in the Message Bible summed it all up for me this morning by declaring: “That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.”  And speaking of something good, my sister came by late yesterday afternoon to say her goodbye’s and totally blessed us (like my brother did a few days ago) with her exuberance and encouragement for all the good things ahead and assured us that we are definitely making the right move to be near our kids.  Talk about a contrast between our early morning visitor and our end of the day guest!

Romans 8:15 once more in the Message Bible, perfectly defined my feelings about the whole thing saying, “This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave tending life (ie; my early morning input).  It’s adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike ‘What’s next Papa? (the evening input)”  It kind of reminds me of Joshua’s declaration of faith to the Israelites when he stated that “…as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:15 KJV)  Well, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord by choosing to live the adventurously expectant childlike life of a believer who steadfastly believes and therefore acts on the truth of His Word no matter what our natural senses may be saying in contrast to His truth!

How about you?  Have a terrific weekend!  This will be the last blog for a week or so as we make the move across the country.  Next time I’ll be writing with a different view, in a new state, on the other side, next to another ocean!  Thanks for your prayers and support and remember to keep asking yourself… “What our Whom am I ADVENTUROUSLY expecting today?”