My Thought for the Day... I come to you in a very reverent awe this morning. My wife and I are going through a pretty significant challenge that will change our paths both physically and allow me to further my walk spiritually. I will not go into too much detail about the challenge other than a brief mention of part of it below. But my point is as I take these walks, I am often challenged to know if this direction, this path, these steps and my voice and actions in all this are truly in our Fathers will. A year ago January, after I had started my Facebook page it was put on my spirit to change the direction of my Facebook page and provide inspirational and encouraging content with an intentional focus on our Father and faith. I also view Facebook in perhaps a slightly different perspective than others do. In this fast paced world of ours, our friendships are no longer bound by physical walls, homes and streets. They get into the virtual world of our social media. I have always been an outgoing person, one who is not afraid to come up to someone to say hey hello, how are you doing. I also started what I like to call a handshake ministry a few years ago where I thank workers in retail stores and other businesses for their service and offer them a quick blessing. I simply walk up, offer my hand to theirs, then shake it, give a quick greeting and leave. If they ask why I just tell them that our Father wanted to thank them for their service. I learned since that when I started this initially was for me for my obedience but also this is for those who I meet, to let them know in the middle of their day, that our Father truly is alive, aware and present in their lives, even if that contact is just a momentary meeting with a stranger in a store who thanks them for their service and tells them may God bless you. You see its not just the big miraculous mountain moving, storm calming times that God is present, it is this also hey Im aware of you, I am with you and have never left you part of how God works as well.. Friendship has now changed dramatically or perhaps I should say how you start a friendship has changed dramatically. You see I am bold and forward in my virtual life just as I am in my personal life. I will walk up to you and say How you doing, have a great day or you look like a neat person and Id like to be friends because I think my life would be better with your friendship. I do this because honestly I think if Christ were among us today, that is how He would act. There are some who warmly embrace this and I have some wonderful friends who have developed along the way. But if you accept my friendship on Facebook, my understanding is that you truly want to be a friend the same as you would in the real world, and I act or react accordingly. I reach out to you with a nice welcome to my page via a private message and I often will then turn to look at any pictures you have posted on your Facebook page. My assumption here is we are now friends and you have posted these pictures to share with your friends. But what is often missed at times, is that because we have not met before or if we have, in a limited capacity, I really dont know you and know who your children are, who your spouse is, and your other friends are. And so I will look at your pictures and at times, even like your pictures. Please understand there is no sinister intent, no evil thoughts, no desire to stalk you, no harm meant in any way. I simply am interested in you as a true, real friend, even in a virtual world. And again, I think this is how Christ would act. But alas there are some who have taken offense to this in our local area. And this has been a part of factors over the last 12-18 months that have lead to my current challenge I mentioned above. To those who have taken offense, it is my understanding you have withdrawn friendship requests and yes I remember this happening although I dont remember who this has happened with and that is not the point of why I write this this morning. Just understand our Father has made connections such as these, sometimes for my purpose, sometimes for your purpose, but always for His purpose. Unfortunately for some they have questioned the why of this and then without ever reaching out to me, quickly withdrawn their friendship. In some cases, I have reached out to ask if there was something I said or did wrong. Again there was no sinister or ulterior motive, just someone who really cared about a friendship with that person and wondered why their thoughts changed. And to me, Christ would want to know why you withdrew your friendship as well. As we go through these challenges, these changes in our lives, we often struggle about the why and what is going on. When you come to me, I offer my own take on things, my understanding but in almost all cases, I direct you back to the scriptures, to reading plans and back to Dad, our Father because this is not my show, the scripture is not mine and this is not really my guidance, it is our Father that we should seek. This is clearly taught in Matthew 6:33 Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added. You see I clearly understand this. It is NOT my role to change you, this is where our Father comes in. Even with our scriptures, there are some who would use the bible as a figurative hammer, to beat you over the head with verse and passage. Again I offer, that is not my or our role, we are simply the messenger to give the truth and then get out of Dads way. For those who follow what I offer, there is amazing change and transformation - I know, this has happened to me, it has happened to my wife, this has happened to my extended family and many many friends both here on Facebook and in the real world. For others, there is perhaps a bit more I wonder why Im not getting the same thing happen in my life or Ive been at this for years now and still have troubles with this or that or something else. My reply will usually be a smile if we talk in real life or a smiley on chat or Facebook with a I know and I understand. And I truly, really do understand. The simple answer is just this - you wont let go, youre holding on to your self, your past your hurt your pain, your whatever and not giving it to our Father. But as I started this next steps, the challenge, the change is never truly easy. We are creatures of habit, of consistency and we like things to stay the same. However as a Christ Follower and one who is seeking a future in faith leadership, there must be change and there will continue to be challenge and growth. I accept that, even if it is not that easy road I would like it to be. I have far too many blessings to simply ignore and far too my signs saying go. And as has been the case in many instances along the way, when I am in the will of our Father, He is with me and He gives me encouragement and signs along the way. Yesterday I received a new friend request from someone I had never met who lives in another state. Im not going to mention any names. I was a bit cautious as I always am because I have been approached by some who might have questionable intent (as in wanting to scam me or my friends) but after, *gasp* looking around their facebook page, I saw they had a number of friends (several hundred actually) and other information about their self, so I accepted their friend request. And I wrote my normal follow up welcome to my page, which I always send privately. The same message I have sent to well over 300 of my friends when we meet and yes the same message I sent to some who have then questions my intent. Today when I logged back into Facebook, I had received the following message from this person in response (please keep in mind as you read this, this person has never met me, is not friends with anyone I know and lives in an entirely different part of the US): I was talking to a lady at the gas station she said how much your page blessed her life and shared story. She said you have been a blessing to her. I was looking at your page and felt the love of the father. Thank you for accepting my request and thank you for your time and encouraging words. I can not describe accurately the rush of emotion I felt when I read this. With this current challenge, part of it related to how I use facebook and my approach of others, these words touches me in a very spiritual and meaningful way. I stumbled through some simple words of thanks and then bowed my head in simple prayer of Thanks Dad.... And to all my Facebook friends, who took a chance at being a friend to this perhaps bold and forward guy, who wants nothing more than to simply be a friend, to share encouragement and inspiration in a faith focusing way, and who has an amazing Father Id love to tell you about, I offer a warm and gracious thank you. To those who know of someone who questioned my motives, my intent, please share a very simple, Im sorry. My offer of friendship was not meant to be anything more than a wonderful addition to your life AND mine and I believe its how Christ would act, if He were here on earth. I offer one final thought from the book of Hebrews: Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. (13:2) I would go one step further and say do not fear all those who cross your path in friendship and kindness for you just may have missed one who our Father wanted you to meet. ********************************************** May the blessings of our Father far exceed all your expectations.
Posted on: Fri, 21 Mar 2014 10:57:54 +0000
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