LOOK, LISTEN, AND LIGHTEN A LOAD

"Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ." (Galatians 6:2)

Today happens to be “Super Bowl Sunday” but I wasn’t feeling especially super as I started out my day. Without going into tedious and unnecessary detail, I’d been struggling under a load of personal stresses and issues for several days. A friend called me early this morning, and got an earful from me. If you’ve ever seen Robert Duvall in the film “The Apostle” (which happens to be one of my favorites) I was a lot like Duvall’s character Rev. E.F. Dewey in his “mad at God and yelling at God” scene. You can watch that scene at: www.wingclips.com/movie-clips/the-apostle/yelling-at-the-lord He listened. He let me get it all out. Then he gave me some good counsel and helped me get things into the right perspective. It was exactly what I needed and my whole outlook changed!

Many, many years ago, a guy I know named “Richard” was driving along in his old Dodge van. Richard, a television repairman, got a strong internal message from God to “STOP”! He stopped. His van was in front of the home of a woman whose television set he had repaired in the past. Richard had the STRONGEST impression to just get out of the van, walk to the front door of the house, and ring the doorbell. He really had no idea what he’d say if or when the woman opened the door. Maybe:

“How’s your T.V. today?!”

He rang and rang and knocked and knocked. Suddenly, the woman opened the door. She seemed distraught. She was stunned that Richard the T.V. was there pounding on the door. You see, the woman had been just about to commit suicide when Richard came to the door!

We’re all so busy. We’re too busy. We forget to reach out to those around us, and we forget to obey the promptings of the Lord.

I’m glad my friend called me today, listened to me in my faithless and foul mood, and offered me prayer and wise counsel. I’m glad Richard stopped at that woman’s home and prevented a suicide.

There are needs all around us. There are also people who may not be depressed or sad but who just need a good solid word of encouragement and appreciation from us! This year, Lent starts on February 13 and ends on March 30. I’m actually not a real big “Lent” person. Lent is not all that important in Pentecostal churches. But I think it would be great this Lent if all of us would make a conscious effort every day to just reach out to someone with a word of encouragement and appreciation. And, it would be great to make a conscious effort to pray and see who God may want us to reach out to and encourage.

Imagine if the link to this blog posting was forwarded to every Christian in North America and if we all made a commitment to do this. There’s no telling what a difference it would make this year!

So, for this “Lenten season” my encouragement is: let’s LOOK, LISTEN and LIGHTEN SOMEONE’S LOAD with our contact, prayer, and encouragement!

I sincerely hope and pray you’ll join me in doing that! I’d also love to have you post your feedback about this as a comment below. God bless you.