Zeal- Go TELL THEM

They're coming...door to door vaccine advocates to persuade you into taking the vaccine. A coordinated effort by people who believe this vaccine is the messiah of humanity. 

 Believers, do we have that kind of zeal? Can we say the same about ourselves? Do we go door to door with the good news of Jesus Christ-the savior of mankind? No! When they come knocking, will you tell them about him then? They'll come with information, not meant to confront you, but to persuade you into getting a vaccine? Vaccine knockers will come to your door prepared to withstand your arguments against the vaccine with kindness, they'll be trained in it. Do we do that?? What's our response going to be? Are we trained in sharing Gods Word with that same hope and intention of getting through? Do we earnestly want to see people come to soul saving truth or do we just want to be right?? I have to check myself on this last point constantly!!!! Check your hearts! 

Believers: Jesus told us to TELL people about Him. Not only to tell others about him, BUT to tell them about His mercy and goodness on our behalf. No-one wants to hear about your good works, they are but filthy rags compared to His....tell them about Jesus good works that covered your sins and brokenness and changed your life. Humility will take you so far in sharing the message of the gospel. 

 Are you Lazarus, raised from the dead? Go and tell someone about how you were dead in your trespasses, which we used to walk, yet Jesus raised you to LIFE in CHRIST, Ephesians 2....TELL THEM!! 

Were you riddled with unclean spirits that bound you up in shackles and chains like a slave to your sin??? Has Jesus freed you from them?? TELL THEM!!!!! (Mark 5) 

Were you filled with PRIDE, marveling at the majestic work of your hands and intellect until you were brought LOW so the Lord could save you from yourself, only to restore you to Glory in HIM??? (Daniel 4)....TELL THEM!! 

Were you at the end of your own rope crushed in spirit and broken hearted , only to be handed a lifeline into eternity with Christ that pulled you out of the pit?? TELL THEM!!

 All those bible studies, sermons, youth groups...God ACTIVELY working in the details of your life sustaining you...TELL THEM. 

What's the point otherwise? If we can get excited about a diet or a TV show, or some new product...surely we shouldn't hold back when it comes to the gospel.

 So when they come knocking, be excited! Sure, they have a hastily made vaccine that may or may not protect you from Covid with an extremely shitty record of adverse reactions. You, on the other hand, have Jesus; a bullet proof, soul saving, LIFE giving, sin covering, strength and endurance maker who has overcome the world....WE should be knocking on their doors!! So, TELL THEM when they come...and be humble about it....remember "AS SUCH WERE SOME OF YOU" (1 Corinthians 6)

Walmart customer service

Jens series of unfortunate events , episode 3,456:

 I'm on the phone with a friend who is driving in her car who suddenly starts yelling "oh no!!, what happened??!! awww, shoot!!, Let me call you right back, click."

 She calls back ...."I don't know what to do.....I found a bunch of groceries laying in the middle of the road between Walmart and Meijers...they must have fallen off someone's truck?? There's sheets, toilet paper, strawberries...(she's rifling through all this stuff), paper towels, hotdog buns...oh someone's going to be so upset....there's like four bags of stuff here I just picked up from the middle of the road! What do I do with all this stuff?...why did I even stop??"

 I told her to take them back to Walmart, "I'll call ahead and let them know you're coming in case the people who lost their stuff call Walmart in the meantime looking for their stuff, they'll know its on its way." 

So, I'm sitting on my deck with Ruby and my neighbors dog who I had just grabbed for a playdate. I call Walmart...I'm on hold for what seems like FOREVER...10 minutes passes by...I decide to go in the house and get each of these dogs a treat. I come outside with 2 treats in my left hand..Walmart hold music still playing on speakerphone in my right hand. "Sit", I sternly command the dogs...They both sit.

 "Hello, Walmart curtesy desk", comes the voice from my cellphone as I simultaneously and accidentally fumble ONE dog treat on the ground between the two pups.....the dogs start fighting to what sounds like the death over this treat. Ruby's got her full on Cujo face on display. I'm screaming like an absolute nutjob because it sounds like they're trying to kill each other over this two cent Aldi treat....I'm screaming and scrambling towards them as the phone falls out of my hand to break up what sounds like a death match.......they break up 17 seconds later. Its quiet for a second when suddenly I hear a voice from my phone: 

"Hello?"...its still the Walmart guy.

 I catch my breath and grab the phone....my heart is POUNDING, "I'm SO sorry, that was literally the craziest timing for you to pick up this line,lol"....it must have sounded like Michael Vicks backyard pre 2008. 

 I don't know if the people ever recovered their groceries. The dogs were both fine, I was thoroughly embarrassed. This would never have happened if it were Meijers groceries....another Walmart experience on record.

Cancelled Flights and Clean Underwear

Zoe and I woke up at 5am so she could drive me across the state to the airport in Hartford and be back in time for work at the base. She dropped me off at the United airlines terminal and drove away before I realized they’d cancelled my flight.

 I stood at the service counter for 30 minutes while an attendant searched flights for me. By the time she realized there was a flight to Grand Rapids instead of Muskegon( my original flight), she missed it focusing intently on Muskegon flights, and the gates to the plane that could have been had just been shut. She promised me they would cover my hotel for the inconvenience and find me a flight. 45 minutes later I was booked on a 6am flight for the next day, only 24 hours later , and she also then told me her supervisor would NOT cover my hotel cost as the cause of cancellation was “weather”.

 So I shuffled off to the Sheraton hotel attached to the airport and handed over several hundred dollars to the very hip and heavily slanged speaking youthful man commanding the check in desk like he owned the place. 

 “Heya, yo ma….my lunch starts at 12:00 if you wanna do sumptin wit dat?”

 “Is he asking me to join him for his lunch break !?” I quizzically wondered to myself.

 He must have been all of 22 years old and looked like a member of One Direction…Harry Stiles, is that his name? I realized as he’d spoken, he had handed me a sheet of paper with the menu printed on it for room service and then it dawned on me he perhaps was just telling me when room service food was available. I asked him just to clarify and he looked at me like his mom just asked him to go to a Cardi B concert with him. We both breathed a sigh of relief when we realized the miscommunication. 

 So, I literally spent nearly my ENTIRE day yesterday in a hotel room eating room service and watching a 9 hour marathon of The Godfather 1 and 2 ( with commercials) on AMC. I believe this is the first time I’ve ever had my flight cancelled in all my years of travel. I have missed my flight on my own accord, but cancelled? Never. 

 I washed my underwear in the hotel sink last night , and hung it up to dry. It only took 7 hours on a hotel room towel rack, an hour long hike through airport security, 20 minutes at the gate, and half of my two and a half hour flight for it to complete its drying cycle. 😂

 I had to fix my perspective. If I was living hundreds of years ago, I’d be traveling home by a wagon wheel caravan. It would have taken us months to arrive at our destination and it’s likely that some of us would have died along the way. I think I’m still better off. Only 3.5 hours left in this airport before my final flight. I wonder if I can fit Godfather 3 in the schedule here?

Dog Park Drama

I’m in the dog park tonight with Ruby, Search, and Destroy. It’s a giant rectangular grass patch that’s fenced in for…..you guessed it: dogs. There’s this sort of old dugout structure that my boys like to climb inside the dog park.

 We’re standing around with four other dogs and their owners having a great time laughing at the dogs when this kid, maybe eight years old, runs over from a soccer game in the field not far from us. The kid opens the gate and runs over to this dugout wall…the dogs are chasing him and we’re all yelling at the dogs to stop because the dogs love a good chase. The kid makes it but we’re all a little concerned he’s now on this roof and there’s no parent around watching him.

 Next thing you know, 3 more kids come running over, they open the gates and also come inside the dog park. One of them is maybe 4/5 years old. All the puppies in the park are excited and want to jump on these kids…the little one starts screaming….we’re all yelling at the dogs trying to hold them down …an older kid tells us the little guy is afraid of dogs…we’re like “this probably isn’t a great place to be then”.

 Finally, a grownup comes over from the soccer field…the kids still crying and we say “ he’s okay, I think he’s just scared of the dogs…this might not be the best place for him.” 

“Well , get control of your dogs then!!!” He starts screaming at all of us standing there……..IN THE DOG PARK. He comes in the dog park and the kids all want to play on this dugout wall thing….IN THE DOG PARK.

 He continues yelling at us about controlling our dogs. One old lady is like “oh it’s on” she’s about to go all in on this guy….I’m like “don’t, just let it go.” . She says to me “I hope he steps in dog shit then .” 😂

 So my boys are literally holding Ruby, my 14 pound dog so she can’t jump on these kids…IN THE DOG PARK. He yells at us some more. I tell him he’s doing a great job, mostly because I thought he was nuts and I didn’t want to get shot…you never know? I didn’t even know how to respond, it didn’t make any sense. 

He finally left with the kids.

 I thought, for just a second, about bringing Ruby over to the soccer field, dropping her off and letting her run rampant through their game , and then complaining to them for playing soccer, on the soccer field while my dog was trying to play. I restrained myself 🙂 Dog parks are for dogs.

That time I went to London

I just ended up in the middle of a blind date at a coffee shop in New London, CT 😂 This man was waiting for his date and we started talking, he thought his date stood him up.

 She finally showed up late….and then Kami and I ended up having the most fascinating conversation with one another while poor Paul could barely get a word in 😬 

 She grew up in Denver, going to the Sunrise ranch spiritual community (Stephanie Heart Powers), where one of my very good friends lived and learned. She told me her dad wrote his “own book” about religion and was on his own path. Her mom is “fanatical Christian” today. She’s recovering from her parents as an adult today. 

 This turned into the most intense conversation about childhoods and parenting and suffering and trauma and of course, Jesus!!! I just LOVE when the Lord orchestrates my day!!

 Eventually the Lord pulled her into a zoom class and Paul and I had a great conversation about faith…He’s recently returning to his catholic faith ( in his sixties) and trying to find the way. Oh how I love the Lord . 

 Two days ago Zoe and I were in a diner having breakfast in this same little town across the bay from Long Island when a Jewish man asked me a very odd question. I went to the counter to ask for a coffee refill when he turned to me and said “may I ask you a question?” I obliged , and then he proceeded to ask if “that woman over there”, while pointing at zoe, “was my wife?”

 “No, she is my daughter” I answered….and then I pondered what an absolutely bizarre world it is that we’re living in where a strangers first thought would be that my daughter, 21 years my junior, is my wife, and I wandered back to our booth.

 He stopped by and told Zoe and I that he wanted to strike up a conversation, but then noticed my wedding ring….and recently he’d tried to strike up conversations with 3 other women who all had girlfriends who were angered at the threat of his conversation with their person. 

So I told him I would give him the same advice I give my daughter. 

1. Love Jesus first 

2. Then, if you’re near some people you’re finding desirable for marriage , tell them about Jesus. You will find that most of them will flee…if perhaps there is one girl still standing there that isn’t scared away by your love of Jesus…then marry that girl.

 He was very rattled by my advice because he’d noticed my Star of David and asked how I came to believe in Jesus as he told me he was a Sephardic Jew. So I told him my story of how Jesus used the Hebrew Scriptures to draw me and then read Isaiah 53 to him. 

Well, he was very perturbed by the entire thing and started to rebut it all in a very Incoherent way, speaking of astral planes and how Isaiah is just saying we need to be good people in Isaiah 53. But I read it again, because it is so clear…Whom is Isaiah speaking of???? And I kept him focused there….he eventually was perturbed and rattled enough that he told me he doesn’t agree and he walked away. He walked out of the diner and passed our window booth as he walked along the sidewalk. It was wonderful because I could visibly see both the offense and the wheels turning in his brain. He was struggling with the truth he’d just been presented with. I pray Lord for you to send more with water and fertilizer to grow the seed of truth that was just planted. There are no coincidences, may God be glorified-in Jesus’ name.