Excitement!

“They said to each other, "Weren't we excited when he talked with us on the road and opened up the meaning of the Scriptures for us?"  Luke 24:32 – God’s Word ©

For as long as I can remember back to the early 1970’s, I have been one to confess the truth and power of the scriptures over me and my loved ones.  I was opening up the blinds in my bedroom just a few minutes ago and found myself verbally declaring Psalm 91:10 saying that “No evil shall befall me, my wife and…”

…and I caught myself with a stutter and a giggle, paused and looked across the room to the collage of pictures of Piper that I had put up on the wall soon after moving in last month, and stated “Yeah right… You’re in the place where no evil shall ever again be able to come against you!”  And you know… that excites me.  Her being in heaven, totally set free and delivered from the debilitating effects of the Alzheimer’s that devasted her body and brain functions… EXCITES me!

Everything we believed for… every scripture we spoke out over the years has come to pass.  Sure, I incredibly miss her, long for her and still experience emotional breakdowns, like Saturday night when I was taking Fiver out for his final exercise before bedtime.  We walked right up to the door of an apartment a floor down from ours just as they were taking out oxygen tanks and other very familiar pieces of emergency and hospice care equipment.  A short conversation with the technician confirmed what I already sensed… that they had lost a patient… someone’s Grandma to be exact.  After the quick walk that night, we reentered our apartment and I immediately fell to my knees in tears as Piper’s entire story came vividly back to my memory.

So yeah, I still hurt ‘cause I miss her so much… but on the other hand, I am excited to know where she now abides with Jesus in the place of everlasting praise, joy and peace.  I am excited because the Piper I always knew is simply continuing to live the joy of the Lord in her eternal home.  I was thinking this morning that the joy Piper had when we first met in high school went way beyond the joy I had.  My joy, in those early days, was a natural joy, while hers I would soon come to find out, was super-natural!

She possessed an excitement about God and His Word that never waned throughout her entire life.  Even when she could no longer verbally communicate, that joy was quite evident in her smile, in the crinkle around her eyes and in the brightness of her sweet brown eyes.  Not everybody saw that excitement and joy in her as her illness progressed though.  It seemed to me that these individuals were blinded to the glow that continued to envelope my wife.

The common denominator that I discovered in these various folks was that they either had lost their excitement in God and His Word… or never possessed it in the first place.  I expected this reaction in some folks and was surprised when it came forth in others.

The excitement that the disciples expressed after walking down the road with Jesus in Luke 24:32 and hearing the way in which He opened up the meaning to the scriptures to them excites me!  How about you?  We came to see through the actions of others around us, that when the excitement for God and His Word begins to wane… faith leaves and fear walks in the door.

I’m not sure as I think about it today, what affected us the most… The effect their lack of excitement and void of faith had on us… or seeing the negative effect it had on them.  To put it simply… it was not a pretty sight!

This last week or so has been the toughest for me for the short extent of time that I’ve been here in Oklahoma.  But yesterday as I was reading the Word and praying, I heard that familiar small still voice on the inside of me… combined with the echo of another VERY familiar voice which sounded a lot like Piper’s… telling me that I needed to refresh and stir up my level of excitement in God and His Word.  And at that point, all I could visualize was that bright, cheery and encouraging smile of the gal that completely captured my heart so many years ago.

And again… I was hooked.  Piper’s joy was fully based on the FACT that she REALLY believed the Word of God in and for ANY situation in her life… all the way through her last day in September of 2018.  I knew then that it was always GOOD ENOUGH for her… and that it was and WILL CONTINUE to be good enough for me… no matter what my future may hold!

So again, I ask… Are you EXCITED about God and His Word?  Do you feel that uncanny sense of excitement inside when you hear the Word being taught or when you open up your Bible in the quietness of your own home and read it?  Like I said earlier, I’ve seen what happens to folks when they lose that excitement and it is NO FUN for them or for those around them as well!

Have a great rest of the week, and as you do, say with me… “I am expecting my excitement for God and His Word to increase in me every time I hear it taught or read it in my Bible!”