Be on the Lookout
1st Peter 3:15: Quietly trust yourself to Christ your Lord, and if anybody asks why you believe as you do, be ready to tell him, and do it in a gentle and respectful way. Living Bible (TLB)
Happy Wednesday! I’m so glad that you took the time to stop what you were doing and join me for Coffee Hour here @ Chicklit Power and Trench Classes United. Come with me to yet another revelation that brought scripture to life in me.
My personal coffee hour with Him began at 4:30 that morning. I was being sent to a different law firm and wasn’t quite sure how long it would take me once I got off the Red Line Subway, so I was giving myself plenty of time. As I rewind the day, I can’t help but smile as I realize it only took me about ten minutes to walk the five short blocks. And to show me He was with me, He made sure that I saw the Red Line Subway stop just 100 yards from where I needed to be which is the way I went back to Union Station for the train ride home.
Though I was tired, I was energized in my mind, and soul. I was ready to work, to paint a verbatim record with words…Apparently, He had other plans! The defense attorney came out and informed us that the applicant had informed her he couldn’t testify; he was under the influence of yet more medications; his grandfather had a heart attack and they weren’t expecting him to live and he just didn’t feel like testifying, so we’d be going on the record to state just that and then we’d be done. Dang it! I was all prepared to get some pages, Lord…but I guess you have other plans.
We did what she said we would do, and within four minutes – the shortest deposition I’ve ever taken in my almost 27 years of reporting – we were done! Badda bing, badda boom! Setting up my equipment took me seven minutes for crying out loud! I left the building a little less happy than when I entered, but within minutes let go of my frustration. Obviously He knew what was/is best, so I went to my office just a couple stops up the route to Union Station, dropped off an expedited transcript, visited with staff for a bit and then went for a relaxing lunch before catching the train home.
The conductor greeted me and there was a little poke in my memory about him; I had gone home this early one other time in the recent past and I wasn’t feeling so well and he was very nice. He greeted me again, only with that hesitation of vague familiarity. I didn’t attempt to jog his memory; I was so tired and was having a hard time staying awake, much less communicative, but I also wanted to get on and get my three-minute transcript done!
By the time we were on our way and towards our third stop, I did just that, and couldn’t help but hear a conversation he was having with another rider, this rider was in a wheelchair and quite an interesting fellow. Anyway, their dialog was definitely about the philosophies of religions and you could tell they believed different things. I tried not to look like I was listening – you know what I mean – but at one point my cover was blown as my eyes caught his. I must have had a question in my eyes, because several stops later, after he had helped this man off the train, he came up to me and just began talking with me as if though I had been part of that conversation! Awkward! ☺ ☺
I discovered He was a Mormon and so I asked him somewhat confidently but curious nonetheless what were the differences between Christianity and Mormonism, and then quickly added, I understand you do refer to yourselves as Christians. I really wanted to know. It was an eye-opening experience…but not just for me. When he talked about heaven, eternity, our view differed greatly, but what was cool in a God’s grace kind of way is I was able to use scripture to play verbal tennis, if you will, when it came to a couple of our differing points of view. We talked about the levels of heaven; he referred to them as the levels of glory. Okay, that’s not so far off. He believes, or they believe that they are the priesthood; okay; that’s a minor and I wanted to focus on the majors. The very last thing we touched upon before my ride came to an end intrigued me and saddened me all at the same time. He said we all will have a “review of life.”
I said well, yeah, we will be judged on our gifts, how we used them or not, our fruit, our faith which should produce good works. “Is that what you mean by a review of life?”
What he said next rendered me lost in thought…and sad, so very sad.
He said “We will get to feel the pain we caused others but didn’t know we caused others.”
Now to put it in a way that my pea brain can comprehend, we will be shamed?
“We will continue this conversation another time,” he said the train pulled into the station.
I looked at him and smiled. “Yes, we will.”
Now I am definitely looking forward to seeing him again and will definitely refute that philosophy…in love and gentleness. But as I re-wound the camera the next morning in my time with Him, it hit me that He had answered my prayer, which was to be used by Him. I wasn’t supposed to stay on the record getting page after page after page and making more money. He had a different plan and needed me on that train and in that conversation! I can’t take the credit; we know it was His Spirit in me.
Oh, that I would always be prepared to give an answer for the hope that is within me…may I challenge you today to be on the lookout for an opportunity to do the same…in love.
Evinda
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