Mercy

     Jesus replied with a story: “A Jewish man was traveling from Jerusalem down to Jericho, and he was attacked by bandits. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him up, and left him half dead beside the road.

     By chance a priest came along. But when he saw the man lying there, he crossed to the other side of the road and passed him by. A Temple assistant walked over and looked at him lying there, but he also passed by on the other side.

     Then a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him. Going over to him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds with olive oil and wine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn, where he took care of him. The next day he handed the innkeeper two <days wages>, telling him, ‘Take care of this man. If his bill runs higher than this, I’ll pay you the next time I’m here.’

     Now which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits?” Jesus asked.

     The man replied, “The one who showed him mercy.” Then Jesus said, “Yes, now go and do the same.”

This story is from Luke chapter 10. I have heard it my entire life it seems. But today something was different in the reading. Today, I realized that all too often I am the priest or the Levi. Some people will read this and think that because I live and work at a retirement center that I have the chance all the time to be a good neighbor. In the everyday sense, maybe, but it doesn’t cost me anything to be a neighbor here. As a matter of fact, they pay me to be the good neighbor here.

So I started thinking about the last time it really cost me, sacrificially, to be a good neighbor like the Samaritan above. And sadly enough, I cannot remember the last time. Unfortunately, I can remember many times, like yesterday, when I was headed to church or some other “Christian” event that I passed someone on the side of the road who might have needed help. Instead of stopping to see if assistance was needed, I continued on my way not wanting to be late or miss my event. More worried about myself and where I needed to be, I failed, miserably, the good neighbor test.

When Jesus asked the man who the neighbor had been, he said “The one who showed him mercy.” If being a good neighbor is showing mercy, then not being a good neighbor would be not showing mercy. This bothers me to no small amount because of the words of Jesus’ brother James. In the second chapter of his letter, James says that “there will be no mercy for those who have not shown mercy to others. But if you have been merciful, God will be merciful when he judges you.” The thought of God not being merciful to me is frightening beyond description. Mainly because, more than anyone else, I know how much mercy I need.

Don't waste what you can't get back.

What a day. I am already emotional and physically drained. That being said I’m not sure this is the best time to be writing this. Especially considering my day is far from over. So if I start rambling, please forgive me.

Today I have been to my CR (Celebrate Recovery) Step study at Graceview church and worship service at High Praises. I have a new discipleship class this afternoon. Both of my morning events were powerful in their own way—several people gave their lives to Christ today. This put me on a good emotional high for the trip home, even though I still felt troubled in my spirit (as of this writing I have not figured out why). My mind kept running back and forth between ministry involvement (one point in our service) and some thoughts concerning my relationship with someone in church today. This makes for an interesting car ride home (45 minutes worth).

I got home just as the staff had finished serving lunch to the residents, and walked into a conversation about one of our residents who recently moved due to shutting down our nursing facility. I was close to this resident while she lived at the center and was hoping to go visit her this week. During the course of the conversation, however, I found out that she passed away last night. I was rather heartbroken to think that I had missed one last opportunity to spend time with this precious lady.

That thought put on my mind the main reason why I am writing this. Papa God has been speaking to me lately about relationships—family, friends, even my future martial relationship. I have been challenged to (1) begin investing into the lives of other men for friendship and growth, (2) renew and grow my relationship with family members, and (3) start praying for and journaling to my future spouse.

What I thought about today is not a new thought. Actually, it hasn’t been that long ago that I was very painfully reminded about it. We never know when either of ours last day will come. So let me encourage you, if there is someone in your live that you feel you should get to know better, do not hesitate or put it off until tomorrow. Today, let that person know how you feel and get their input into how to build that relationship. Do not, I implore you, think that tomorrow will be soon enough, because that time may never happen.

Men, we are mostly terrible about opening up to other men and getting to know each other. I once heard a thought that has stuck with me and is a key reason why I do what I do. A man was challenged to look forward to the day of his funeral. He was asked the question, “who do you see carrying your casket? Are there six or eight guys that you have invested enough of yourself into that you can say that they would be your pallbearers?” It bothers me even to this day, (at least now, I am working on it) but, I had to say no. Even today, I cannot say that there are 6-8 men who would automatically step up (out of love and friendship) and be willing to carry my coffin.

If you have a family member that has become distant for some reason, do everything in your power to restore that relationship. Nothing that I can think of right now is worse than having a strained relationship (or none at all), with a member of the family. Now you may say that you have done everything in your power to fix things. If you can honestly say that, then I encourage you to pray that God would change hearts and fix that relationship.

If you have romantic feelings toward someone that you have not shared, you are wasting your most precious gift, time. Even if you find out they do not feel the same way, you will be saving time that would otherwise be wasted. If that person knows how you feel already, great! Continue to work on getting closer. Build that relationship. If for whatever reason your feelings toward that person have changed and you have not told them, tell them. Don’t wait!

Again, waiting is wasting time, and time is the one thing we can never buy, bargain, or steal more than what you have. You have only so many seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks and years in this life. Why waste any of that most precious gift due to fear or pride. Invest into people. Remember, whatever you plant, that will you harvest; whatever you reap, you will sow. Plant seeds of friendship, kindness, and love into other lives and watch what an amazing harvest you get back.

For my Wife

My friend, Jonnett Barrick, is getting married ( http://jonngirlonamission.blogspot.com/2012/02/gettin-married.html ). One of the things I found most interesting in her blog is how she has prayed for her future husband for two years without even knowing who he was. I have often prayed for the future spouse of my children but have never prayed for my own future spouse, until now. I started this practice myself, praying for the woman that Papa God is preparing for me to serve and praying that He would prepare me to be a godly, loving, leading husband, and have found an unexpected peace concerning my uncertain relational future (for those of you who don't know, I am quite single at the moment).

As I have begun preparing myself for that role, I was lead to go to the Real Marriage Tour conference by Mark and Grace Driscoll. This two day event, March 23-24 at NewSpring Church, is based on their book Real Marriage: The Truth About Sex, Friendship, and Life Together. Being as they will be the primary speakers, I began following Mark (@PastorMark) and Real Marriage Tour (@RMTour) on twitter. Reading Mark's post one day, I followed a link to an article that talked about writing in a journal to your future spouse. Ironically enough, I have a small journal book that I have been trying to decide what to use for. God has impressed on me the need to start using this journal to write notes to, thoughts about, and prayers for my future wife. It might sound a little strange, but I believe that this is what I am suppose to do.

So now I begin to intentionally seek the well being of my future wife over myself, which is exactly what I have learned I will need to do in order to have a lasting, happy and fulfilled marriage. Needless to say, I am again very excited to see what God has planned for me, and her.