Posts Tagged: being early

“Spending the Day With God”

On July 14, 2018 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

I make gratitude lists most days, usually in the early morning.  I often give thanks for the same things and people.  But today, I included something I had never listed before, as far as I know.  It was this: “I am grateful for getting to spend the day with God.”

I thought to myself, what would that look like?  Then, I thought, maybe it would be like spending the day with my sweetheart, my wife.  We would enjoy whatever we were doing together.

So, I made up my mind that I was going to be on the lookout for things for God and me to enjoy.  On my way to meet my friend who carts me to my twelve-step meetings, I stopped by the park to hit some softballs off the tee.  The sun wasn’t up yet.  There were a few purple, pink, and grey clouds in the sky, and the field was draped in a lovely grey fog.  “Well done!” I said to God.  I even hit the softballs pretty well.  (Whether this transfers to my actual hitting in a game remains to be seen.)

Then I changed socks and shoes, and headed to Planet Fitness to meet my friend to go to the twelve-step meetings.  I was a bit early and he was a bit late.  In fact, we were both right on time.

I went to the necessary room at P.F., and then walked outside to wait for my ride.  He wasn’t there yet, so I decided to walk around in the parking lot, looking for change.  God and I didn’t find any change, but we did find a wonderful treasure—an important conversation and a wonderful story.

“Did you lose something?” asked a lady who was sitting in her vehicle.

“No,” I replied.  “I’m just looking for change.  I’m afraid that I am a terrible cheapskate.”

“Oh, I look for change too!” she continued.  “In fact, I’m a Christian . . .” she began.

“Me too!” I exclaimed, interrupting her.

“I don’t think this a chance meeting,” she said.  “Well, as I was saying, I’m a Christian, and one time I was praying to God about some bills that I simply couldn’t pay.  Right after I prayed, I walked out to get in my car to go somewhere, and noticed a fast food bag that had been thrown out in my neighbor’s yard.  I felt prompted to go over and pick it up to throw it away.  But then, I felt prompted to look inside.  I didn’t want to do that.  I mean, who wants to see someone’s else’s yucky remnants of food?  When I looked in the bag, there was a big wad of money, enough to pay my bills.”

Our conversation swirled on to other things, and then she admitted, rather sadly, “I’m afraid that I’m not as close to God as I used to be.  And I want to get back close to Him again.”

I ventured, “Well, do you go to church anywhere regularly?”

“No, I don’t,” she replied.

“There are a lot of good ones around,” I said.  “Crossroads meets right in this area.  I go to the Crossing, and it is a really good church.  It bills itself as “a messed up church, for messed up people, with a messed up ministry staff, that exists to introduce people to the One who can clean up their messes.”

“It sounds like my kind of church!” she exclaimed.

I left her with a prayer.

Spending the day with God sure is fun!  Maybe it is even more than spending the day with God.  Perhaps it is an investment.  And even more than fun, it brings joy.

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