Influence: June 2

Influence: June 2.

After I taught my Body Blast class Sunday morning, I stopped by a Caribou Coffee on my way home.  Not just for a treat after a crazy week, but to take a few minutes to dive back into my "Uncommon Life: Daily Challenge" book (by Tony Dungy).  This was a fantastic part of my day, and I enjoyed it greatly, but little did I know that 12 or so hours later, it would come full circle and be even more meaningful.

I departed Caribou (with an Americano in hand), and went to pick up Peter for church.  Sunday was the first day of outdoor worship at Easter Lutheran.  It. Was. Perfection.  Everyone brings their own lawn chair, coffee is welcome, and as always the worship is fantastic; to top it off, the sky was a beautiful blue, with a few wispy clouds, the grass and surrounding trees are a lush green from all the rain we have received.  The birds were chirping, the band was on display on the gazebo, and our favorite pastor was leading.  

What made this service even more moving, was getting to see - for the first time, in action - the place that Peter and I plan to get married.  It was so beautiful, and Completely, with a capital C, sealed the deal on wanting to have our ceremony at the outside location of Easter Lutheran.  

Aside from the fresh air and beautiful scenery, as usual, the sermon was thought provoking.  Pastor Kris spoke of a parable, about a congregation of ducks.  They waddle to church on Sunday morning, quack along with the songs and prayers, and then simply waddle back home.  The point being, we were made to fly.  Many of us waddle to church and just waddle back home, rather than be lifted and moved by the word, and motivated to change our lives and those lives around us by being loving, and grace giving followers.  

As we departed church, we ran a few errands, as we wanted to spend a gift card that was burning a hole in our pockets.  While browsing at Home Goods, a strange sound and commotion caught my attention.  I looked up and saw a few aisles over, a later-middle aged man trying to help up his friend.  It appeared that the other, older, gentleman who had fallen had some developmental challenges and had one amputated arm.  The man successfully got his friend up after a little struggle.  I cautiously resumed browsing, only to hear a big crash yet again.  I dropped my items and briskly approached the two, lending a much needed hand and shoulder to lean on.  The man expressed his frustration to me that this store did not have a wheel chair for his friend, and that he had a condition that had flared up, causing him to be unable to stand. 

I motioned for Pete (who was in a neighboring department) to come over, and we held up the man until an associate could find a chair for him to rest in.  Now, I truly don't tell this story in hopes to impress people or get brownie points.  I want to go back to my "Uncommon Life: Daily Devotional" experience that morning.

Each entry dives in to a particular bible verse.  June 2nd's verse was as follows: "Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them." Ephesians 4:29.  A good verse, yes.  But what Tony Dungy wrote for further exploration of that verse, proved to be incredibly and almost eerily pertinent for that day. "...And somewhere out there someone needs a lift to get through the trouble.  The number of people who need a word of encouragement and a lift in their lives is growing.  It is our duty to be that voice and hand of encouragement to everyone we meet..."  

I actually didn't process that devotional passage until later that night, when I connected all the dots.  Ephesians & Tony's words, the sermon from church that morning, the incident in Home Goods.  I honestly thought, wow..."word of God speak", and LITERALLY.  Not even in an analogy.  "Someone needs a lift..".  Its amazing what we hear from Him when we listen, sometimes is obvious, sometimes its clear as mud.  But when you do hear him, it feels pretty incredible.

I encourage you to look around and reach out, it is true, the number of people needing encouragement is great.  And what is amazing, is that in lifting others up, I guarantee you will feel as though your own wings are spreading a little more.


Side Note: The rest of our Sunday was pretty fantastic.  Relaxing outside, Pete tending to the smoker, taking some batting practice, watching a movie on the couch, big victory at our softball game, and a victory in the FitBit game (10,000 steps per day).