Finding friends everywhere
I want to start by asking what practically does it mean to you that God loves everyone in the world? I'm talking about more than just the idea or the thought that God loves everyone, but in a practical sense what does it mean to you? In my world what it means is I try to treat everyone with respect. I've seen some folk treat people so poorly that I find it embarrassing. From completely ignoring waiters or waitresses at a restaurant to treating a mechanic poorly, I've seen folk treat some others as below them. This is something I just don't do. I spend time chatting with the CIO of Novell and I have the opportunity to chat with construction workers framing a house. God loves everyone no matter what job they perform.
Why in the world did this come up? Well, it helped me a lot yesterday. I was driving home when the Jeep experienced a loss of power. It was like it was working some and smoke was coming out indicating fuel was moving along, but I lost power and eventually was parked on the side of the freeway. So there I was messing around in the engine compartment verifying various things and I had just come to the conclusion that I was going to have to call AAA for a tow when Kris stopped. Kris is a tow truck driver who has responded to make AAA calls four times in the past and we have had the opportunity to chat about the decisions he's made to change careers to be closer to his kids and about his girlfriend. Well, Kris was taking off work a bit early to take his girlfriend to a show when he saw me on the side of the road and he recognized me so he stopped. So rather than having me wait a half hour to 45 minutes for a tow truck to become free, he went ahead and hooked me up to tow me home so that I didn't have to wait and sweat. This was because we have already developed a relationship and rather than having just a customer sitting on the side of the road waiting for help, he saw Tom waiting and was willing to help out.
Sometimes we can see the immediate benefit to treating people well. Sometimes we can't always see the immediate benefit. The thing is, God created every one of us and He has some plan for us. The best we can hope for is to help somebody figure out what God has for them personally. And sometimes that means we don't have to sweat for 45 minutes in 90 degree weather as an added benefit!
Why in the world did this come up? Well, it helped me a lot yesterday. I was driving home when the Jeep experienced a loss of power. It was like it was working some and smoke was coming out indicating fuel was moving along, but I lost power and eventually was parked on the side of the freeway. So there I was messing around in the engine compartment verifying various things and I had just come to the conclusion that I was going to have to call AAA for a tow when Kris stopped. Kris is a tow truck driver who has responded to make AAA calls four times in the past and we have had the opportunity to chat about the decisions he's made to change careers to be closer to his kids and about his girlfriend. Well, Kris was taking off work a bit early to take his girlfriend to a show when he saw me on the side of the road and he recognized me so he stopped. So rather than having me wait a half hour to 45 minutes for a tow truck to become free, he went ahead and hooked me up to tow me home so that I didn't have to wait and sweat. This was because we have already developed a relationship and rather than having just a customer sitting on the side of the road waiting for help, he saw Tom waiting and was willing to help out.
Sometimes we can see the immediate benefit to treating people well. Sometimes we can't always see the immediate benefit. The thing is, God created every one of us and He has some plan for us. The best we can hope for is to help somebody figure out what God has for them personally. And sometimes that means we don't have to sweat for 45 minutes in 90 degree weather as an added benefit!
posted by Pastor Tom at 7:43 AM
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