Series – Losing Our Moral Compass (Pushing & Shoving)

In the Our Daily Bread daily devotion for March 6, 2013, Joe Stowell observes “Life is a lot like “bumper cars” at an amusement park.” In describing the typical playground response of push and push back harder, he hits home with many negative experiences I’ve had since moving to Maryland. The latest one was this Sunday at the Flower Hill Giant.
 

Even after twenty years of living here, I still do not understand what is “wrong” with these people. And, what they do is “wrong” when it involves their failure to yield the right-of-way by shoving their shopping cart into the other person’s. This is not the first time or even the first time this year I was hit by one of these loony’s.

 
Where did their physically violent and grossly inappropriate response come from? Why didn’t their mothers teach them to “wait their turn”? And when it's not their turn, then they need to wait, not shove the other person!

I don’t know the answers to my questions but as a Christian, Mr. Stowell reminds me that God wants me to forgive them as he has forgiven me. Why? Because “When you get bumped in life, bumping back only escalates matters and in the end everyone suffers damage.”

One lady at my church made this insightful remark “it’s another forgiveness opportunity.” Barb, I am still trying. Amen.

How You Can Make A Difference - Read On

Being behind in my devotional reading, I am always amazed at how God points me to just the right reading for the day at hand. Today it is Our Daily Bread's 5/11/12 devotional entitled "A Sense Of Concern" by Bill Crowder (http://odb.org/2012/05/11/a-sense-of-concern/). He cites fearsome statistics which to most Americans seem unbelievable - " Every year 15 million people die from hunger." "In 2008, nearly 9 million children died before their fifth birthday, with a third of those deaths related to hunger."

Mr. Crowder lists a number of practical things that can be done to help others: "volunteering at a soup kitchen, assisting in a job search, financially supporting the drilling of wells in places in need of fresh water, distributing food in poverty-stricken regions, teaching a trade, or providing lunches for school children."

The Gaithersburg Presbyterian Church Youth program will be embarking on an international trip this summer to Guatemala to assist those less fortunate. At the bottom of my landing page is a letter describing how you can help by helping the helpers.

Please prayerfully read on. 

1)     Mail or take your check to:

            Gaithersburg Presbyterian Church

            Attn: Calvin Park / Guatemala          
            610 S. Frederick Ave.
           Gaithersburg, MD 20877

 

2)     Include:

Donor's Name and Address. [1]

            Name of participant you are supporting (if known).

NB:
To receive your tax deduction in 2012, GPC must receive your donation by December 31^st.

[1] A receipt for your tax-deductible gift will be mailed to the Donor’s address given.

The Small Voice Urging Me to Help Others

Today's Our Daily Bread, we read about Gary who was waiting for his court case to be called when a despondent woman told her story. He felt the nudge to help her. He didn't really know what that would entail but knew the "nudge" was from God so he'd better listen up and do something. He ended up putting her in contact with folks who helped her save her house.

I was raised to be helpful, mostly to my kid brother. As I grew, it expanded to other people. Sometimes in small ways. Sometimes in medium ways. I don't immediately recall helping someone in what I call a big way - but who knows what they may have thought.

I did ignore it once and I regret it to this day. I was at Shady Grove Adventist Hospital in line for an x-ray.  I wasn't feeling well so was concentrating so hard on writing my co-pay check, I didn't catch the fact that the woman in front of me didn't have enough money for her co-pay. The receptionist told her she'd have to reschedule for a time when she'd have the money. The woman left dejected.

I don't know what kind of test the woman was having or if it was something that could wait. But, I realized too late that I could have easily paid her co-pay and helped her out. I ran out of the office, leaving my purse on the counter, but could not find her.

To this day, I regret not thinking of paying for someone else sooner. What came of this experience is that  I will pay more attention in any line I'm in where money is involved. Who knows when $50 could save someone's life by catching a bad test result in time.

"Here I am Lord."

Our Daily Bread: "Here I am"

Getting Over Our Wrongs

Devotional writer Randy Kilgore asks “How should we handle moments of faith-failure,…?”¹ This question hits home with me because I can’t count the number of times that I am not even out of bed in the morning when sinful thoughts pop into my head. As an Elder in the Presbyterian Church, I know I dishonor God by these thoughts and actions. Likewise I am trained to believe God forgives my confessed sins and remembers them no more (Isaiah 43:35). But…

“But” is a three-letter word that carries more punch than its sparse number of letters. If I am trained to believe this then why can’t I forget my forgiven wrongs and move on? Kilgore supplies the much needed answer by simply saying “Satan not only delights in the moment of our failure but also in the spiritual inactivity that sometimes snares us in our remorse.”¹ He warns us not to get stuck. I still need to take personal responsibility for the “consequences” of my sins. But, I don’t have to let Satan “multiply the damage by retreating into silence and obscurity as ambassadors of Christ.”¹

Kilgore sends us to two Bible verses for comfort and support: Proverbs 24:16² and
1 John 1:9. ²

Proverbs 24:16

^{16 l}For a righteous man may fall seven times

And rise again,

^mBut the wicked shall fall by calamity.

1 John 1:9

⁹ If we ^qconfess our sins, He is ^rfaithful and just to forgive us our sins and to ^scleanse us from all unrighteousness.

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¹ Our Daily Bread. April 21, 2011. (Vol. 55, No. 12; Vol. 56, Nos. 1&2). RBC Ministries. USA. [http://odb.org/2011/04/21/moving-past-sinful-failure/]

² http://biblia.com/bible/nkjv