Category Archives: hands & feet
The Low Down on {December 26th}
Christmas is coming and statistically speaking, so is the most “generous” giving time of the year in our country.
This is the season when folks will typically be moved in their hearts and feel more likely to give to the “Cause of the Less Fortunate”. People will give generously of their time and volunteer in shelters and soup kitchens.
Blanket, shoe and coat drives will take place. Loose change will be dropped in a bell ringer’s bucket and wallets will be opened so that on December 25th many people will be fed, clothed, warmed and sheltered while families and children in desperate situations will be given “glad tidings” and gifts of the season.
This is a very, very good thing. This is a very, very necessary thing. This is exactly what Jesus talking about when He referred to giving to ” the least of these” in His name. (Matthew 25: 31-46)
But then comes December 26th and the 363 days following…what then? When the plight of the destitute and the homeless becomes a little less pressing on our hearts, when the lives and people suddenly become a little more invisible, a little easier to ignore…what’s the story then? Let me tell you more…
an{encounter}with the living God.
It was only a moment. Actually, only about 15 minutes of time spent at a random gas station in Alabama.
I noticed them when we pulled in; a family with young children traveling together, picnicking out of the back of their car. The kids, running around like they’d been cooped for miles.
A woman I assumed must be their mother stood nearby yelling and fussing when they strayed too far. I remember those days.
I can’t help it.
God has me trained to tune in like this….to take in a scene and feel it with all my senses. Seldom can I go anywhere anymore and tune out the world around me. Sometimes it’s overwhelming and I think it’s a bit like what Jesus must have felt which caused him to retreat to mountains and gardens and wilderness.
My crew had headed inside to stretch and browse around the station store so I busied myself with the scraping of bug carnage off the windows and headlights for the final leg of our journey. Let me tell you more…