Misdirection
Barlow Girl is fast becoming a new favorite Christian group of mine. I just checked out their music video of their newest single "I Need You to Love Me." It's a gripping song that speaks powerfully of our mission as believers. To reach out and love the lost into the Kingdom. We always need to be on the lookout for opportunities to put that love into action and not allow a moment to go by that can be spent giving someone the love of Jesus Christ.
Today was one peculiar day. First of all, the weather was persistently rainy and cool, which hasn't been the norm for much of this month. It felt refreshing to walk to and from the office in the steady rain (with a rain jacket on, of course. I take care of myself). In fact, I almost missed prayer time with the staff this morning because I was busy gathering paint supplies, brushes, sponges, and goldfish for "Paint With Me, Mommy!" in the Family Life Center. Right before 8:30 (which is when we pray), the floodgates seemed to fly open, and we got absolutely pummeled with heavy showers. My jeans were all splotchy and my tennis shoes squeaked when I made it just in time for the meeting. I thanked God for the foresight in my dress attire for the day. Had I worn "casual clothes" (khaki shorts and sandals), I probably would have gotten sent home with a sudden head cold.
We had about eight kids and their moms join us this morning, about the same number as last week, and that was encouraging when you consider the foul weather. Today they worked on 'trunk totes,' painting a cardboard box and decorating it for Fathers Day. Their Dads could use them to store things in their trunk on their way to work. Everyone did great and used their imaginations in decorating the boxes. Two of our boys, Mitchell and Camden, even got into a little rivalry with colors for Tennessee (orange) and Vanderbilt (black/purple) on their trunk totes. Miss Gerri's little boy brought a new friend, Summey, today. She was adorable, wanting to decorate the sign on the chalkboard with flowers and squigglies. I noticed she has a real knack for tracing in the lines on her letters.
After a long paintbrush and spongebrush cleanup, followed by lunch, I went out with Zach Dickson and Lauren Stoddard, two of our youth interns, for hospital visitations. One of my biggest reasons for wanting to go on this particular day was that Seth Penn was at Greenville Memorial for outpatient surgery. About three years ago, he'd had a metal rod inserted into his chest region to inflate it properly and stop it from concaving inward and hurting his breathing. Today he was scheduled to have it taken out. Seth is an old friend of mine back when we were in the youth group, and we also used to play together in the praise band. His parents are also very close with mine. The surgery was scheduled for 3:30, so we arrived at around 2:20, sat, and talked with Seth and his folks in the waiting room for over an hour. They seemed fine; Seth apparantly is in good graces with the anasthesiologist that assists the doctor in the procedure; he calls him "Tricky Ricky" or something of that nature. From what I heard later, the surgery went perfectly, and Seth was back home resting with his folks. Praise God for that!
And then things started to go wonky. We kept getting turned around in the Memorial parking lots and couldn't figure out where the exits and entrances were located. We had to pop a U-turn more than once to retrace our directions on the road. A few of the patients that we came to visit had been switched to new rooms without our knowledge, leaving us scrambling around a bit to find them. But the coup de grace came when we headed for St. Francis Hospital to visit Mr. Anderson, a man who had operations on both of his kneecaps at the same time. Apparantly, St. Francis has two branches. One for men, one for women. And as luck would have it, we found ourselves at the women's center. Not a good place to look for a male church member! I'm sure that's bound to give the staff a good bundle of laughs tomorrow at prayer meeting.
But even so, I came to see that God put me with Zach and Lauren for another reason: encouragement and support. It's easy to get harried and frustrated at so many mix-ups when you're out on a mission, so I was able to draw on my experience with hospital visits at Cherokee and Johns' Island to help boost their spirits up. Shakedown drives like these are all part of the game, and it helps to keep the big picture in mind and see God using you to touch these people simply by coming into their rooms, chatting with them, asking about what's going on in their lives, and praying for them. I could sense God telling me to hold back in the rooms a little and let Zach and Lauren do most of the talking, because I got the feeling God had something to say, something He was going to do to bless our friends, and He wanted to use Zach's deep, heartfelt prayers and Lauren's gentle smile to carry it out. It was a truly amazing thing to behold.
Just another example of how Yahweh, our God, makes our paths straight and clear. Even through misdirection.
"Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!
'Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counselor?'
'Who has ever given to God,
that God should repay him?'
For from him and through him and to him are all things.
To him be the glory forever! Amen." ~ Romans 11:33-36
Today was one peculiar day. First of all, the weather was persistently rainy and cool, which hasn't been the norm for much of this month. It felt refreshing to walk to and from the office in the steady rain (with a rain jacket on, of course. I take care of myself). In fact, I almost missed prayer time with the staff this morning because I was busy gathering paint supplies, brushes, sponges, and goldfish for "Paint With Me, Mommy!" in the Family Life Center. Right before 8:30 (which is when we pray), the floodgates seemed to fly open, and we got absolutely pummeled with heavy showers. My jeans were all splotchy and my tennis shoes squeaked when I made it just in time for the meeting. I thanked God for the foresight in my dress attire for the day. Had I worn "casual clothes" (khaki shorts and sandals), I probably would have gotten sent home with a sudden head cold.
We had about eight kids and their moms join us this morning, about the same number as last week, and that was encouraging when you consider the foul weather. Today they worked on 'trunk totes,' painting a cardboard box and decorating it for Fathers Day. Their Dads could use them to store things in their trunk on their way to work. Everyone did great and used their imaginations in decorating the boxes. Two of our boys, Mitchell and Camden, even got into a little rivalry with colors for Tennessee (orange) and Vanderbilt (black/purple) on their trunk totes. Miss Gerri's little boy brought a new friend, Summey, today. She was adorable, wanting to decorate the sign on the chalkboard with flowers and squigglies. I noticed she has a real knack for tracing in the lines on her letters.
After a long paintbrush and spongebrush cleanup, followed by lunch, I went out with Zach Dickson and Lauren Stoddard, two of our youth interns, for hospital visitations. One of my biggest reasons for wanting to go on this particular day was that Seth Penn was at Greenville Memorial for outpatient surgery. About three years ago, he'd had a metal rod inserted into his chest region to inflate it properly and stop it from concaving inward and hurting his breathing. Today he was scheduled to have it taken out. Seth is an old friend of mine back when we were in the youth group, and we also used to play together in the praise band. His parents are also very close with mine. The surgery was scheduled for 3:30, so we arrived at around 2:20, sat, and talked with Seth and his folks in the waiting room for over an hour. They seemed fine; Seth apparantly is in good graces with the anasthesiologist that assists the doctor in the procedure; he calls him "Tricky Ricky" or something of that nature. From what I heard later, the surgery went perfectly, and Seth was back home resting with his folks. Praise God for that!
And then things started to go wonky. We kept getting turned around in the Memorial parking lots and couldn't figure out where the exits and entrances were located. We had to pop a U-turn more than once to retrace our directions on the road. A few of the patients that we came to visit had been switched to new rooms without our knowledge, leaving us scrambling around a bit to find them. But the coup de grace came when we headed for St. Francis Hospital to visit Mr. Anderson, a man who had operations on both of his kneecaps at the same time. Apparantly, St. Francis has two branches. One for men, one for women. And as luck would have it, we found ourselves at the women's center. Not a good place to look for a male church member! I'm sure that's bound to give the staff a good bundle of laughs tomorrow at prayer meeting.
But even so, I came to see that God put me with Zach and Lauren for another reason: encouragement and support. It's easy to get harried and frustrated at so many mix-ups when you're out on a mission, so I was able to draw on my experience with hospital visits at Cherokee and Johns' Island to help boost their spirits up. Shakedown drives like these are all part of the game, and it helps to keep the big picture in mind and see God using you to touch these people simply by coming into their rooms, chatting with them, asking about what's going on in their lives, and praying for them. I could sense God telling me to hold back in the rooms a little and let Zach and Lauren do most of the talking, because I got the feeling God had something to say, something He was going to do to bless our friends, and He wanted to use Zach's deep, heartfelt prayers and Lauren's gentle smile to carry it out. It was a truly amazing thing to behold.
Just another example of how Yahweh, our God, makes our paths straight and clear. Even through misdirection.
"Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!
'Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counselor?'
'Who has ever given to God,
that God should repay him?'
For from him and through him and to him are all things.
To him be the glory forever! Amen." ~ Romans 11:33-36
posted by david @ 10:49 PM
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