Hi all,
Chris and the 'girl'
Chris
and I were in a Lowe's store - which is a home improvement store
selling tools and lumber, lighting and appliances and more - and our
usual custom is for him to grab the handle of a cart (buggy) as he sits
in his wheelchair, and then I go to the front of the cart (buggy) and
pull it and him. We look like a 3-part train rolling down the aisles and
have been known to clear off shelves by going too wide around corners
as Chris' arm brushes products off the shelf. (see picture)
This
particular day we rounded the corner to find a man and woman of at
least 75 years of age standing where Chris' wheelchair was about to
roll. He saw them as he rounded the corner and called out to the woman,
"Watch out girl, here I come, excuse me!"
They
looked up in time and as he passed he said, "Excuse me girl, good job,
thank you!" as we missed them by inches. It all happened at a slow
walking speed, but to Chris, he was a race car driver.
Having
completed our business some minutes later, we went to the Walmart next
door, Barb having saved some items on a grocery list for Chris and I to
get. As we rounded a corner once again we nearly ran into this couple,
and again Chris called out to the woman, "Watch out girl! Here I come!"
At that point the husband turned to greet Chris:
"Didn't
we see you next door young man?" And turning to me said, "You're doing a
good thing sir, a real good thing." as he put out his hand to shake
mine. "He's a fine young man. My wife hasn't been called 'girl' for a
long time, and it made us laugh - made our day! Thank you." Chris put
out his hand upon seeing me shaking the man's hand, asking, "Can I shake
your hand sir?"
Having
shaken his hand Chris said, "Thank you sir, we have to go now, c'mon
daddy race car, let's go!" as he made a sound like a race car starting
out from the pit area, and we rolled on. I was once again astonished
that Chris had blessed someone without him knowing it, and how
graciously this couple reacted to Chris, each respecting the other;
Chris by addressing them as politely as he knew, and them by
acknowledging his respectful and good heart.
I've been talking...
...about
how having the fear of God, that deep respect and reverential fear of
Him, starts with a revelation of Him. Chris had the umbilical cord
around his neck in a slip knot when he was being born, which has left
him at about a 4 year old level mentally, though at this writing he is
nearly 36 years old.
Yet
he has had more of a revelation of God than most 'normal' believers.
One day he came crawling down the hall (he can support his weight on his
feet but cannot walk) saying, "Dad! Dad! Know what Jesus told me?!" I
replied, "No Chris, what did He say?" "He said one day He's going to
walk through the mountains with me, Yep, that's what He said, Yahoo!
That's what He said! Yep, He's going to walk through the mountains with
me!" as he laughed and chuckled to himself.
I've
had visitations with the Lord where Chris has been also present - once
when Chris and I were attending a Christian concert and the Lord came
and stood on the left of my chair and taught me for several minutes
about healing, while Chris was seated in his wheelchair on my right. Yet
at no time in any visitation since that first one in April of 1986, has
the Lord at any time said anything about healing him.
Chris'
faith in contrast to mine, is to wait until he gets to heaven, when he
can then walk with Jesus. He says "When I get to heaven I'm going to
run" and things like that. That's where his faith is, and Jesus has
never given any indication He would work contrary to his faith. Chris
has a deep and profound respect for the Lord in a child-like simplicity
borne of revelation. He is God, Chris is not. But He is also his friend.
Simple.
With
every ambulance racing by, with every fire truck that passes us as it
races to an emergency, with every person who seems sad or lonely or some
other condition he notices, Chris' first response is to grab my hand
and say "We better pray", and we do. His best friend at the group home
is a young lady, the daughter of a missionary couple, and he comforts
her when she is upset: "It's okay Frankie, Jesus is with us, it's okay,
let me pray for you."
Respect
for others is the natural result of a revelation of God, for included
in the fear of God is a respect for those He created in His image and
likeness.
By contrast: Related to lacking the fear of God
is a lack of accountability to one another and Him, the sense of a
loose informality concerning the things of God, and self-deception that
rationalizes away sin or worldliness in one's life, church, or nation.
The 'Sonic' lady
Chris and I were in the drive-thru lane at a local fast food restaurant called Sonic.
They are patterned after the classic American drive-in of the 1950's -
you drive into a space that has a menu board, and after pushing a
button, someone inside takes your order, and a person called a 'car hop'
who at least in our area is sometimes on roller skates, brings it out
to you a few minutes later. But this particular Sonic also had a
drive-thru lane, and we were waiting at the window for our order.
As
we waited I noticed a customer in a car in front of us had pulled up to
the 2 trash containers at the end of the property just before exiting
onto the street. Being a drive-in means you eat your food in the car, so
those containers are for customers as a courtesy to throw out the trash
from their meal before they drive away.
But
the young lady ahead of us pulled up to the trash cans, and rather than
just tossing items from her meal into a can, she parked the car, got
out, and proceeded to empty all the trash of every variety from her back
seat, back floor area, and wherever else in the car she could find,
filling 1 whole trash container with her non-restaurant trash.
As
I watched I thought to myself, "She has no understanding why those are
placed there, or if she does, she doesn't care. Where is the respect for
right and wrong? She clearly doesn't have the fear of God. I wonder if
she is a believer? Why didn't she know, or care to respect, the obvious
reason for those trash receptacles? Why did she have no internal
discipline to restrain her from abusing the purpose of them?"
Society
Everywhere
we look we see no respect for simple rules like the above, no respect
for human life. Whether it is one nation advancing across another's
borders failing to respect their sovereignty, or ISIS killing any Muslim
or 'infidel' that doesn't believe as they do, there is no fear of God
in much of the world.
And
it is a good thing I'm running out of room or I'd talk of church splits
over the color of carpet, pastors from the pulpit calling people who
have left their church as being under the influence or filled with the
devil, to Christian leaders having affairs, divorces, waiting 90 days
after their new marriage to their secretary or worship leader, and then
suddenly all is well...wow, where is the fear of God among believers?
The
answer is - it requires a personal walk with God to have a revelation
of Him as God. And that must be a walk in which the person wants nothing
in return - they are just caught up in loving God for God's sake. Yet
even Romans 1 says for those willing to have a humble and honest heart,
even the attributes of Him can been in creation, the most basic
revelation of Him. When I see a lover of nature who also acknowledges He
is the Creator, I think they are closer to the kingdom of God than many
in the pews and pulpits.
God
is not a mind, that you can think up a fear of God. He is a Spirit, a
Holy One at that, and must therefore be known in the human spirit. That
is where God is revealed, that is where the reverential respect and
honor of Him and all He has created, is formed.
Next
week a new subject sort of related to this topic, and relevant to this
month - the Rapture Mentality...stay tuned. Until then,
Blessings,
John Fenn
www.cwowi.org and email me at cwowi@aol.com
New CD/MP3 Series
And the 3 Fall Festivals #1 (2 cd/MP3, $12/set or MP3 $10)
For the first time ever as a stand-alone teaching, John sits down and teaches from the Word and ancient Rabbinical sources
what Judaism teaches about the resurrection of the righteous dead and
their meeting with Messiah during Rosh haShanah, the days leading up to
and including Yom Kippur, which is a type of the return of Jesus, and
about what to expect during the 1,000 year reign of Jesus on the earth,
celebrated in Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles. Covering all 3 fall
festivals starting with understanding the rapture as foretold in the
Feast of Trumpets, you'll gain a clearer understanding of the days we
are living in, what will happen on earth while the body of Christ is in
heaven, and insights into the millennial reign.
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar