It’s inevitable that as you continue to work, you build friendships with those you constantly communicate to. In the process I’ve had the privilege to hear from friends at work – mostly uncommon encounters, but some conversations turn to lessons that make their way to the notebook.
One such conversation took place during my first shift. A driver trusted me with what he had in mind regarding the clients we’ve been picking up and dropping off in one particular area in Washington state… which could very well apply for the rest of the region.
…Or, actually, for the rest of the world.
We live in a world which still has its virtues, where there still exists people who take the initiative to help others. Some people take it further – to systemize the help. Unfortunately, while that’s been adding value and uplifting a good number of people, one unavoidable consequence is that you have a select few who abuse or take advantage of the system. Or, while a fortunate majority are still thankful for the service and help other people provide, you’ll always have a ‘remnant’ of sorts that resort to abuse because of (1) desperation and/or (2) refusal to help themselves.
And, much as we’d like to demonstrate grace by way of discipline, rebuke and correction, it’s not as supported – because in the eyes of the system, they aren’t doing anything wrong.
I told my workmate friend that, well, there’s nothing left to do but to pray. If anything, we at least know who these people are by name, and we can pray for them and their situation specifically. I mean, we aren’t really supposed to get ‘religious’ or ‘spiritual’ at work, but I suppose it just had to come out eventually.
The lesson left was, when all else fails, pray. But for us in the body of Christ, and for me personally, I think the inverse also applies – before all else, pray. The folks who cast their burdens upon Christ ought to be the same folks who commit their plans to the Lord, no?
Indeed, we are thankful for the opportunity to pray, and to lift all our cares to the Lord.
We are thankful for the Lord Jesus, who, through His finished, timeless work at the cross, already responded to our need for help, our unscripted reactions, and our organized responses.
We are specifically thankful for the Holy Spirit, who constantly, consistently convicts the world. He is faithful to speak to every single heart at every single moment: Speaking to the entire world of our fate (sin and judgment), as well as our salvation (righteousness through faith in Christ alone)… speaking, even to these folks who we thought needed help but refused help.
I’m led to remember specific people – not people who I encounter at work (as in workmates and customers), but people closer to home, people closer to my heart.
Some people don’t get help because they refuse to be helped. They come to church and they hear the Word. We feed them and even help them up and down the stairs because they use a walker. But then we hear that they keep saying the same damn things, keep eating the same bad stuff. I mean, we’re there for them for one day in the week but for the rest of the week they have free reign over whatever they have in their minds and whatever they stuff down their throats.
Some people aren’t found because they don’t want to be found. You’ve tried to keep a line, you try sending line after line, to a point that they ultimately just block you… and when you take time for prayer, healing and realization, and make another attempt to reach out just in case that first cut in communication was a ‘mistake’… you’re blocked, again, instantaneously. No explanation. No reason. No comfort. Final. Definitive. Painful.
Oddly specific, I know. There are people who are open about their desire to take the script of the devil in stealing from you, killing you, and/or destroying you, but what seems to hurt and confound me more is the refusal of others to reconcile, more than their desire to inflict pain.
I get it, hurt people hurt people, but hurt people who refuse to heal leave those of us who they hurt with less to no chance of healing from them. God, that doesn’t make sense, but it just hurts more is what I guess I want to say.
Fortunately… well, just as the light shines brighter when the darkness grows stronger, and as Life stands out more when death increases… where sin abounds, grace abounds MUCH MORE.
Fortunately, the healing and the peace that comes only from Christ is sought after, and seen and soaked into us that much more, when the pain and rejection becomes unbearable.
Here and now, I know that time is never wasted. Father, Son, and Spirit are moving, that the will of the Lord be done: That none shall perish, but all would come to repentance unto faith in Christ, and unto eternal Life.
And with that said, Lord, MOVE, MOVE in a mighty way today.
Glory and honor to our Heavenly Father; Through His Spirit the Light shines upon each and every one of us; that Truth is revealed, and all see Your goodness and glory.
You work in and around us, stirring our hearts, speaking to us that repentance unto salvation would be received, and that more and more of us would not perish, but have everlasting life.
Yes, Father, You shine light for life to be received.
Last Monday afternoon (or Monday early morning for our folks in Pacific time) one tool after the other started bugging down and almost everything just stopped working. For a moment I thought it was our devs up to something, until one of them gave an update on the IT support channel – Amazon Web Services (AWS) was down, hence the reason for not only our work tools shutting down, but, well, according to the sudden influx of IT specialists on X, that’s why ‘half’ of the rest of the internet was down as well.
It was a break, of sorts, because even the web-based platform we used to send/receive texts and calls was unresponsive – I mean, it loaded, but there were no calls or texts coming in. We tried our darndest, as remote workers, to reach out to our folks on the field, to no avail. AWS was down for 2-3 hours before everything started to come back up, and work resumed. Fortunately, during that down time, there were no urgent calls or discharges ongoing.
There were some of us who commented on this, saying that this was most likely to happen because most of our tools were dependent on one service, apparently, to be running consistently, without fail. When it does down, everything else goes down.
Apparently some may trust in chariots, some may trust in horses, some may trust in AWS – but, thankfully, we are reminded, as we are reminded in any other unfortunate scenario, that we trust in the name of the Lord.
I suppose that’s how we are as limited creations with limited wisdom, in a dying world – in constant need of reminders.
We needed a quick, strong jolt to the earth to remind ourselves that Christ is our firm Foundation.
Here, AWS went down, we were unable to function, and we were reminded of how the Lord, of all things, is faithful. Absolutely faithful. Constantly, consistently faithful. No disconnections, no leaving nor forsaking us. Always strong, always faithful. He is always able, and always willing.
Fast forward to the next shift, where I call a driver. It’s standard operating procedure for them to keep Dispatch in the loop – that is, they text and/or otherwise check in when they are heading out to a pickup, or just finishing a drop-off, whether they’re off to their first trip or finished with their last scheduled trip for the day.
And so it was with another driver – she reported that she was done with her last trip, but she wanted Dispatch to call her; that happened to be just me at that hour.
She reported about how she almost ran down a drunk pedestrian, emphasizing that she was ‘milliliters’ (sic) away from hitting the guy. She pointed out that in her end, there was a lot of roadwork going on, so drivers are naturally more careful, because there are more areas for pedestrians to walk on. We were ultimately thankful that nothing happened.
She made emphasis of her 13 years total experience as a non-emergency medical transport driver, as she mentioned that through all that time she hasn’t had an encounter quite like this one before – and there I was, as a resident of the Republic of the Philippines (where a good number of folks still think that ALL parts of the road are a pedestrian lane) empathizing with her as genuinely as I could.
The conversation ended, and I wrote on the notebook – Anything can happen. Well, that’s true – and it’s been so true for me throughout the past weeks. Anything can happen. Cats suddenly get sick. Relatives suddenly pass away. Friendships downgrade to acquaintances, and even further to cut communication. Folks who were never even lovers, are now confirmed to not even being friends. Oh, right, and people almost suddenly get run over, and aren’t subject to any further injury thanks to the fine-tuned reflexes of an experienced driver.
Anything can happen. In fact, I was called in to come in extra earlier that shift, because our co-workers on the other side of the pond were still having issues with tools running on their end, tools probably hung-over from the beating they took as AWS went down.
And later on in that shift – in fact, in the final hours – my head started to legitimately hurt, and the rest of my body followed suit, because it seemed as if everything that COULD happen started to happen – Drivers texting updates, drivers calling out due to sickness, hospitals calling in one after the other and in between all this that’s going on with our drivers…
Led me to write on the notebook that not only can ANYTHING happen; EVERYTHING can also happen at the same time.
But, see, that’s the thing. We’re also reminded during all of this – Light shines in the darkness, Life arises in death… and in anything and everything that happens, we’re always reminded of the best thing that has ever happened to us – Jesus Christ.
Oh, and let’s not forget – He’s not just the best that has HAPPENED to us, but is the best thing we have going on – Let’s not forget the Holy Spirit is with us, here and now, moving in our midst – moving in all that we couldn’t move.
Yes, I’m claiming that a little harder today – He is moving in the hearts and minds that we couldn’t move. He speaks so the mountains and cedars leap, just as he commands the winds and the seas to be still. He who speaks light is our Light in the darkness.
I’ve been pretty chaotic so far this month. I mean, I haven’t been logging my activities, I haven’t been working out regularly, I haven’t been walking to a decent amount of daily steps. I haven’t been eating on a consistent schedule – in fact, my choice of intake has been pretty bad in both quality and quantity, and I find myself binging all the bad stuff just before I sleep – all, definitely not good.
But I give God the glory, because as early as now I’m being stirred up to take action. I mean, I admit that some motivation to take action is coming from my desire to take ‘revenge’ against all the bullshit that’s been going on.
I mean, I’m still working difficult hours just so that I’m able to keep paying the bills, and it seems like if I stop working, I stop paying. This is something bad to take in considering that not so long ago I had so much extra in my bank account… but at the same time I suppose it’s fortuitous in the long run because, apparently, that extra money in the bank was my AWS.
So you see, there’s still the propensity to be a positive thinker, but there are certain things that only the Holy Spirit can remind us of. Like, say, in the case of rejection and blocking. More than 15 years ago I would have been absolutely broken in dealing with this sort of scenario. I mean, it still hurts, but now I’m beginning to move from reacting to rejection to acting in confidence, knowing that in the rejection, the Holy Spirit reminds me of my connection, my acceptance, and my reconciliation with the Maker of all, much so that even now I continue, as I always will, to call Him my Father.
I mean, it was worse as it actually happened. I was in denial, but I was in pain, and I really just lost hope – realizing that the source of rejection was still that significant in my life, much like the money I thought I wasn’t clinging on to, or I thought I wasn’t standing upon and relying on.
I say, here and now, that I’m being stirred up to take action, because Christ has proven and continues to prove His dependability and trustworthiness to me, as all that I’ve apparently hoped for has been taken away.
This is all really just one way for me to say that I’m slacking off this October, but come next month, I’m bounding back – focusing, depending more and more on my Savior, and less and less on the promises and delights of this world.
You’d think that someone who’s been given the title of Minister would have realized something like this a long time ago – nope, here and now we’re still learning and re-learning, even down to everything we call ‘basic’.
For this, I give thanks to God. I give thanks to Jesus. Anything and everything could happen, even for the worse – but in all this Christ is faithful. Christ is and will always be the BEST to happen to us, and all we could do is to give thanks.
Sure, the enemy may have some degree of success in stealing from us, killing us, and destroying us… But the bottom line is that in spite of all this that’s going on, we not only have life, but life eternal – Life that would have just rejoicing, praying, and giving thanks.
And so, Father, in this rest, and in the silence, I give You thanks. Thanks for this life we have. This life we live superior to mere existence. Every breath made, every beat of our hearts fulfilling a grand purpose; the smallest of aspects making the biggest of impacts.
He is worthy of all glory and praise, both now and forever. Thank You for everything, Lord.
Lest we forget –
Power is peace in all circumstances.
Peace is power in all circumstances.
Christ is our Power and our Peace.
This is the Truth, whether anything and/or everything happens.
This is the Truth, in our struggles and failures, the Truth in our victories and steps forward.
This is the Truth, in our frustrations with ourselves and others.
Power and peace unto change, in all circumstances.
Like in instances where correction and visible repentance and change is necessary. In peace, we demonstrate power to love, and to love by correcting and setting expectations for visible change…
…Just as things are happening, and things have happened in the recent past that have changed me, corrected me, and provoked visible repentance in me. It takes power from the Most High, to have peace to see correction in the chaos.
Power in peace, peace in power.
Power IS peace, peace IS power.
…and Christ is our Power, Christ is our Peace.
In answers we aren’t seeking, and in solutions beyond our scope;
In problems without clear fixes, and in questions we will never get answers to;
In the huge scope of possible things that can happen at any given moment, and in the possibility of all things happening all at once…
It has been so 20 years ago, today and shall be 20 years ahead..
It has been so 200 years ago, right now, and shall be 200 years ahead.
Christ is our Power.
Christ is our Peace.
We trust in Him.
We keep giving thanks to Him.
We flow in Christ, our Power and Peace.
To Him be all the glory, now and forever. Halleluyah. Amen.
Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:37-39
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