Yesterday was much like many other days. Just another Tuesday routine for me (at least lately) where I hit the road to travel for another meeting. The grind at times seems to wear on me. Up early. Fight traffic. Deal with airport security, parking, packed seating, stagnant air, and more often than not, a really chatty person sitting next to me at 7 am (which most of the time annoys me). I found myself getting frustrated about the “Grind” that so many of us face every day. After a two hour flight I arrived in Las Vegas where I was going to give a presentation later this afternoon. I arrived much earlier than needed just in case there were any delays which gave me time to spend in my room prepping.
After a short time of reading the whopping 8 slides I was going to speak to, I decided to kill some time by catching up on some of the latest news. Ironically, the first headline that came up was a story about a 4 year old child wondering alone in the Syrian dessert. Obviously the headline caught my attention so I began reading about this child and how he was fleeing the war torn Syria with his family when they got separated. Immediately I thought of Tyler and how I would feel if he was roaming the desert all alone in a country that’s fighting a civil war. No water, no food, no 911 to call for help. Just frantic parent’s (I imagine) and a 4 year old on his own to face the harsh world. As I sat back in my comfortable chair, in my comfortable hotel room it hit me like a ton of bricks. My “Grind” each week is NOTHING compared to what most of the world is facing each and every day. God has so chosen to put me in a comfortable life and yet this 4 year old child roams a war torn desert alone. Why? Why would God so choose to give me the comforts of the world? To give me a country to live in that’s not at war. Food and water readily available. All the “Niceties” the world has to offer right at my fingertips and yet I grumble.
I’m challenged by this. Jesus said to follow me you will give up your life. Die to this world. Am I really “dying” to anything? What does “dying” to my world even look like? I didn’t choose to be here in the 21st Century America with a comfortable life style. Yet in that back and forth conversation with myself I felt the Holy Spirit asking me, “What are you doing with all the Lord has provided you?” Do you sit around and stress all the time and work hard to protect your level of comfort? Do you actively seek to keep yourself busy with the things of this world? Are you actually giving what God has given you as a steward to serve Him knowing that it’s not yours but rather His? I’m ashamed at my answers.
Yet, how many children are here in America roaming around the deserted halls of their home lost as the civil war with parent’s and family members rage on all around them? All alone, nowhere to turn with their little hearts broken and needing to be cared for. Cared for not only with their daily needs but cared for with love and affection. In need of parent’s, not who are or will ever be perfect but parents who can pour out God’s blessing’s on them through what He has given Melissa and I responsibility to steward over. Oh boy, I’m guilty as charged! Guilty of taking the good things that God has given me and claimed them as my own. Guilty of stressing over the thought of losing them as if I had control over gaining them. What a fool I am! Yet, I also hear the Holy Spirit saying I forgive you and chose to give these things to you knowing what you would do with them. In God’s perfect timing He would choose to reveal my own heart and do it with love. Not judgment. My response is to pray asking that God do great things for other’s through what He has so blessed me and my family with. Pray for us as we struggle to let go of our comforts. Pray for us as we look to open our hearts up and have them potentially crushed throughout a hard process of fostering a child. But most importantly, pray that our Lord gets ALL the glory for EVERYTHING is His!
Yet, how many children are here in America roaming around the deserted halls of their home lost as the civil war with parent’s and family members rage on all around them? All alone, nowhere to turn with their little hearts broken and needing to be cared for. Cared for not only with their daily needs but cared for with love and affection. In need of parent’s, not who are or will ever be perfect but parents who can pour out God’s blessing’s on them through what He has given Melissa and I responsibility to steward over. Oh boy, I’m guilty as charged! Guilty of taking the good things that God has given me and claimed them as my own. Guilty of stressing over the thought of losing them as if I had control over gaining them. What a fool I am! Yet, I also hear the Holy Spirit saying I forgive you and chose to give these things to you knowing what you would do with them. In God’s perfect timing He would choose to reveal my own heart and do it with love. Not judgment. My response is to pray asking that God do great things for other’s through what He has so blessed me and my family with. Pray for us as we struggle to let go of our comforts. Pray for us as we look to open our hearts up and have them potentially crushed throughout a hard process of fostering a child. But most importantly, pray that our Lord gets ALL the glory for EVERYTHING is His!
Matthew 25:14-25 (Reference)
Aaron
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