Life

Life

I am glad for the miracle called life.
I woke up and realized the miracles that are there for us are more than overabundant compared to any pain or suffering we go through.

I went to my pulmonary doctor today and he looked and me and it was as if he said WOW! I was referred to him because of breathing problems that I had a couple years ago. There were some people that wondered if I had cancer or something like it. There seemed to be no end to the tribulation of that time. I went to the doctor this time as fit as a fiddle. I showed him a breathing machine that my sister gave me for sleep apnea and he asked me "What do you need that for?" It had been quite the year. I had bouts with sciatica and arthritis. Mom died only a month ago. God taught me something in the eternal moment of affirmation. Just when you think you have had more than enough to deal with, you find yourself coming out the other side, gleaming in colorful beauty like a butterfly that had just come out of it's cocoon.

I spent a lot of time yesterday sharing in a blog about the circumstance that lead me to share a message at a good friend's funeral. . The only thing I know for sure was that God was in it and I just entered into that heavenly space that God created.

I had met the Jones family when I was a pastor at Ruby Avenue Baptist Church for ten years. Much of the work done by the church was done by a core of ten people. Erma Jones was one of those key people. There were also many miracles in those ten years. We were a church of only twenty members and by the grace of God we had a music and arts program, ministries through out the week that focused on building up families in the community and kids that seemed to come out of nowhere to celebrate how God could do much with a few and many helpers.

There came a time when all this had to end. Many of the core leaders were well beyond retirement age and the time had come for the church to close it's doors. Albeit not without a lot of resistance. I was one of the casualties of all the bantering back and forth. Shortly before this time my Dad had died, shortly after that my wife divorced me and I was faced with trying to live a life without the one craft I knew pastoral ministry.

God always has a better plan. It was at this point that Gene, Erma's husband came into play. He took me under wing. I am sure Erma had a part in making the connection happen. In the space of the few month we had together Gene gave me hope. He looked at me and saw possibilities at a time I was wondering if I should give up. Gene was one of God's miracles that came my way at just the right time.

Many years had past. I had remarried and lived in Blue Springs. Gene had told me over and over I would find someone better and he was right. I was not doing professional pastoral ministry, but God was teaching me through caregiving and security work what salvation was really all about.

Sharon and I went through a difficult time and we decided to move back to Kansas City at the suggestion of some friends who I had known for several years. God pulled us to within three-tenths of a mile of the church that Gene and Erma were attending. If that is not God what is?

Gene went through a rough time. Erma stayed with him at home for months. Near the time he would die, I can recall being moved to ask for prayer. Neither of them had been a church since his illness. Yet God was at work!!

I was at work as a security guard and noticed a newspaper with obituaries. That was the part of the paper I rarely read, but on this day I was getting a nudge from God to look. Sure enough there was the obituary of my good friend Gene with the time of visitation. When I got to the visitation. Our pastor and Erma had already decided that I might speak. I could not believe my good fortune. The only problem was that my workplace was forcing mandatory overtime on us. I was scheduled to go to a workshop the next day. Now what?

God always has a better plan than we could ever imagine. I went to work with my concern looking for a respite only to find that I did not have to go to the CPR class after all. There had been a clerical error. The preparation of the message was very emotional. I feared that I might cry and my tired state made it hard for me to keep my feelings to myself. Then I recalled giving a message at my mom's message about a message from Mom three weeks earlier. With this in mind I got up to speak. Not a tear drop came forth. I shared about what Gene meant to me. His message to the family came as a result of many encounter I had with Gene. When I was worried about Gene during times his blood sugar would go down. He would assure me he was okay. I shared out of John 16 about the labor that brings forth new life. Gene wanted us to know that he was okay, but we still had a lot of labor to do so that we might get to the place he was.
The only thing I know for sure is that God was in it. God was in (the world) LIFE reconciling the world to HIMSELF and we who sought God's will were learning what it meant to be reconciled to one another.