Pray God will bless your time of meditation and connection with Him! Luke 1:34-38
34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called[a] the Son of God. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month.37 For no word from God will ever fail.”
38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.
I feel led to use today’s blog to encourage you in connection with our “12 Days of Christmas…..Grace”. Monday was Day 2 – Give Up Your Place in Line. I figured this one would be a challenge for me as I didn’t anticipate standing in any lines; I’m not a big shopper even at Christmas time (Can you say Grinch?).
On the way home I felt God was saying to me that I needed to do something gracious today even if it didn’t involve giving up my place in line. At a red light, a young man crossed in front of me walking his bicycle across the intersection. I felt God nudging me but he was traveling in another direction so I moved on. Got through the intersection and was on my way when one of those great Christmas carols came on the radio and caused me to make a U-turn. By the time I caught up to the man he was back on the bicycle heading east on a one-way access road. He looked like he was doing fine so I passed by and went to the next U-turn and started heading back to the west. When I got to where he was I could see all the way across Toll-45 that he was once again walking the bicycle! I made yet another U-turn and pulled up on the curb to ask if he wanted a ride. He enthusiastically accepted my offer and after some maneuvering managed to get his bicycle into the back seat of a Camry. His name was Martavian.
I learned that Martavian is a Christ-follower, just finished his shift at KFC, will turn 24 next week, lives on one of my running routes, and has a bike with no brakes. We went to the bank in our neighborhood so that he could check to see what his balance was; then I gave him a ride to his house. He was so appreciative of the ride that he actually said something about wishing he could give me some money for gas.
I tell you all of this to encourage you and me to accept the “12 Days of Christmas…..Grace” challenge. Helping Martavian “inconvenienced” me; I was heading north and he was heading east. It meant about 45 minutes of my time and some gas. A number of times I felt like forgetting the whole idea, but I am convinced God wanted me to follow through not because Martavian needed help but because He wanted me to get a small taste of what grace is all about.
Today is Day 3 – Buy Gas for Someone. I’ve got this one. What about you?
Mark