Yesterday, I was walking to my mailbox from my apartment. I stopped on my way back because there were two cars stopped, side by side, on the road in front of my apartment building. That’s pretty odd, so I stopped to watch the cars for a moment. Maybe someone needed help or something. One started moving, so I looked away and continued to walk. Then, I heard yelling. So, I turned back to look at the cars. Both had their windows down, and a man was in one car, and a woman was in the other. They were both screaming at each other. The man called the woman a few not-so-nice names, which caused me to just stop and stare. What in the world. The woman returned the name-calling and then made an obscene gesture at the man’s car as he sped away in front of her. She sped away after him.
It seems like our world has fallen even farther in the past month. I know our world has always been a fallen world, but people are forgetting to love each other, forgetting to treat each other as fellow humans. We’re all trying to survive in this world, together. I think we all forget that sometimes. With all the shootings, hate, and self-fulfilling proclamation that has consumed social media in the past month, I’d just like to share some good.
I love the church I go to out here in Colorado Springs. It’s a wonderful place to be. When I go, when I’m not working on the weekends that is, I usually try to sit in the same relative spot. I’m a creature of habit I suppose. There is always this elderly couple that sits a couple of rows ahead of me, also relatively in the same spot each week. I always like to watch them. I suppose I noticed them at first because, from the back, the elderly gentleman reminds me of my grandpa, who passed a few years ago. Both are always dressed nicely, and the gentleman always lets his wife go before him to sit in the pew. They stand with everyone, they sit with everyone, and they listen to the same message as everyone. Occasionally he will put his arm around her as they listen to the sermon, or when we pray. Sometimes I just sit there and watch them. They must be in their 80s or so. And, after every sermon, when the last song starts, one of the ushers brings the elderly woman’s walker down the aisle. They both exit the pew, and the elderly gentleman makes sure his wife’s walker is all ready to go for her. She then grabs the walker and they both exit the church together, before the rush of people.
That particular image just leaves me with a warm feeling of hope inside. To see an elderly couple attend church every week, still together, with so much evidence of love for each other, it just makes me happy. It gives me hope for this world that has fallen so far from God. The church is usually filled with younger people, middle aged adults, and occasionally the crying infant. This older couple, though, just sticks with me every time. They sing the “new age” worship songs, they listen to the sermon with I’m sure just as much interest as they did at a younger age. It gives me hope that those in my generation, the young generation that has so much fire and love for God, we will be okay. It all will be okay because God makes it okay.
We all need to be more like that elderly couple, not like the two strangers yelling at each other from their car windows. We all need to give a little more love to each other. People are important. God is important. And we can go back and forth and back and forth as to what this world actually needs. I”ll tell you what it needs. It needs God. It needs God’s love, kindness, compassion, humility, patience, and even sometimes His righteous wrath. Not the worldly wrath we’ve been seeing so commonly lately. God has the power to change everything. He should be our influence for our entire lives. That’s all I have to say for today; I hope you go out and be that person who loves well. We could all use the practice, you know?
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones.”
-Proverbs 3:5-8
“This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel says: ‘In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it. You said, ‘No, we will flee on horses.’ Therefore you will flee! You said, ‘We will ride off on swift horses.’ Therefore your pursuers will be swift! A thousand will flee at the threat of one; at the threat of five you all will flee away, till you are left like a flagstaff on a mountaintop, like a banner on a hill.’ Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!”
-Isaiah 30:15-18
A Journey That Only Lasts A Lifetime 