YOU CAN RUN, BUT YOU CAN'T HIDE...
We can’t hide from God’s love.
It is there and shining.
It wants to shine through us but how many times do we run from the moments right before our eyes. Living in the moment has not come easy for me. I can tell you I have missed the mark on this, missing the moments, time and time again. My to-do list was my priority.
Still, have you ever tried to run from something, you know you should face?
Too busy…
Too ashamed…
Too scared…
Too preoccupied…
I’m guilty of them all. Yet, God continues to grow and call.
In fact, this takes me back to all the times I’ve felt the Holy Spirit prompt me to slow down. Like when I’m running late to work, and He speaks, let that car go. Or when the hurry spills over into the grocery store, and I sense an urge to slow down enough to help out that stranger or even simply smile at them.
Even if a fast-paced, highly-demanding world is what I’m used to, it doesn’t mean I need to conform to it.
In those moments instead of back peddling or falling into the ways of the world, we can lean in, pause and embrace opportunities to serve.
These opportunities are all around us.
It makes me think back to one time that taught me the importance of a simple moment, but only if we don’t run from it and instead, embrace it.
It was 2017.
It was a time that I did just that: I paused and listened. While it only took maybe three minutes tops of my life, it is one that I will never forget.
I was picking up my 1 and 3 year old at the time from daycare. They greeted me with smiles that led to crying and whining. Instantly, I started to dread that we still had an hour worth of traffic to drive in. It was late afternoon and dark, and we were all beyond exhausted. Meanwhile, they were both upset about something that I still hadn’t figured out yet. Kids can be complicated and yet so simple all at once.
Within the seconds it took to type our address into Waze, they shifted and started to shout louder.
“Water!”
“I’m hungry!”
“Me!”
“Where’s my dinosaur?”
“Me!”
“Madi, took my dinosaur.”
Already!? We weren’t even out of the parking lot yet. I guess they forgot their manners and called in the drama once they saw Mama. They screamed and screamed. And honestly my mentally frustrated and exhausted self yelled back at them as they cried for food, telling them that I would get something for them once we were on the road and moving.
Just then, I saw in the corner of my eye a man on a bike yelling at the top of his lungs.
In the craziness of my routine and rushing to get on the highway before even more traffic piled up, I had not paid any attention to this man who was crossing right in front of me on his bike with bags of groceries. I waved to him that I was sorry and my kids became silent as they watched.
I can’t lie. My head told me to speed away and just forget about it. I was embarrassed, ashamed, mortified and relieved all at once. Praise God that I hadn’t really hit the gentlemen. But my heart spoke louder.
“Stop and get out to help.”
Wait what? But what if…
What if he attacks me?!
What if he goes crazy on me?!
What if! What if! What if!
Still, as I prayed, God guide me, I put my car into park and as he continued to yell and scream at me, I startled him into silence. I humbled myself first apologizing, “I am so sorry. I could blame it on my screaming children but I should have paid attention. Can I please help you?”
Without waiting for his response because I was honestly afraid he may snap at me again and use some not-so-nice words, I started to pick up his groceries that lay on the ground around him. Then, I apologized again as I approached my car.
He shouted back again but this time with a smile, “Thank you and God bless you.”
It honestly makes me tear up to retell that story because it is a time that I am proud of. It is a time that I took the time to listen and to serve. A time that I did not allow my daily agenda to control and block out my opportunity to serve and be a good human. It was a moment that gave someone I didn’t even know the opportunity to forgive and for hearts to soften.
I may not always be so graceful and I certainly may not always take the time to seize those types of moments, but I want to be that person. That is what I am striving for. It is what we all need to be for each other, good and faithful servants.
We could have both gone home that day angry, frustrated and upset, but a simple act of obedience and love did the opposite.
That is God working in our lives. I just need to get my mind in check sometimes. My mind gravitates to thinking a day of achieving every check mark on my daily agenda is a successful day.
But often the moments that matter and make a difference are not the ones we plan for.
Maybe we all can add “serving” to our daily agendas. Just a thought I may need to start doing. Reminders are always good and, at the end of the day, every check mark feels good. Yet, a blessing and being forgiven when we are wrong, are often the most fulfilling.
We must learn to live with no more excuses. Excuses cannot get us freedom or to where we belong. Freedom comes from the Lord and so should our steps. Yet, shame, guilt or even busyness can keep us from not seizing the moments before us. This reminds me of the parable of the Good Samaritan.
Now, it is important to know or remember that at that time in history, Samaritans and Jews despised each other. There were many prejudices formed between them that kept them from accepting each other and the other’s ways. Luke tells us this story to answer the question, “Who is my neighbor?” It seems like such an innocent and simple question. And maybe it can be if we hear and accept it. It is a message all about our time and our service for sure, and maybe even our perception.
So let’s start with the word hero. We all want a hero. Many of us may even want to be a hero. We can search wide and far for those superheroes and even grow attached to the Marvel characters to fulfill our imaginations of what a hero really is. No matter what, the greatest hero of all time was Jesus. And since it is our duty to try to live according to the character He displayed for us, it is our responsibility to serve. Jesus served! However, serving doesn’t always mean doing community service or entering the mission field. (Both are important, highly respected, amazing acts of love though.)
Serving can be done in our own lives every single day.
We just need to take the time to see it, to value it, to do it.
We need to listen to what is placed in our heart by the Holy Spirit and those areas that we see that maybe others do not.
That is where the callings come.
That is where the service comes. Leading is serving. So let’s go back to this parable:
“In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him.”
(Luke 10:30-37 NIV)
At first as this man lay beaten, naked and robbed, a priest of high regard walked right by him. He saw him but for whatever reason did not stop his every day routine to help him. Then, a Levite also passed by without stopping to help. Finally, someone who to most Jews at the time was hated for being a Samaritan stopped in the midst of his travels to help and take pity on the man. He did not turn his head like the other two. He did not let the prejudice between the two groups stop him from serving this man. He did not let the inconvenience or the uncomfortable emotions stop him. Even though it may have been costly, possibly costing him his reputation, he listened. He seized the moment to give his service. He allowed God to interrupt his own schedule and once again, listened.
No worries of time, money or status stopped him from being…
a good and faithful servant.
That is what we are called to be. And that brings us to the The Art of a Messy House Right Here and Right Now Challenge for this week.
Seize the moments.
Put your list down for God’s plans.
Be present.
Listen.
And obey the prompts of the Holy Spirit.
No matter how different we may seem to be from the person standing next to us, we are meant to keep an open eye and heart to the moments that God interrupts our plans and places an opportunity right in front of us to serve.
It will always pay off but maybe not in the way the world finds profitable.
Instead, it will be in the way I believe the world wants to find. They are just searching for the wrong kind of hero. Jesus already holds that title. When we walk with Him, the Holy Spirit works through us. And it is then, we learn that as much as those incidents like the bike one for me make us want to run, there is no running from God.
He sees.
He knows.
He loves.
He calls.
He forgives.
He lovingly corrects us in a way that shines His light in and through us…
right here, right now.
We can run but we can’t hide.
But I mean why would we want to when we can stand in God’s love and presence instead.
“For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 8:38-39 ESV
“In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”
Matthew 5:16 ESV
Dear God,
You hold all power and authority. Thank You for this life. Thank You for the moments, big and small. Forgive me Lord when I run from them and what You have for me. I pray today to be empowered and led by the Holy Spirit to walk in every part of Your plan for my life. May I not skip a step. May I live each moment for You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
