Matthew 7:12 on the Road

Hey, y'all, on the way home last night, the kids and I came upon a wreck. No emergency vehicles yet, so I stopped to see how everyone was. When EMTs arrived, I handed off the patient but was asked to stay in case I was needed, so I sat and watched.

I want you to know what I watched.

I watched several men take amazing care of 5 people involved in the wreck while they figured out what happened and addressed the issue of an un-collared pitbull who was sweet but very attached to his mommy they were taking away. These people always amaze me. I wish everyone of you could ride a shift with them. You might see them differently. You might see them less as immortal heroes and more as real people with huge hearts, which brings me to what else I saw.

I saw these mortals doing all this work while idiot drivers drove by way too fast. (For the pastors, yes, I repented of those thoughts I had for those drivers and the desire to take a baseball bat to the front of their vehicles as they drove by. Okay. I'll have to repent again). I also saw idiot drivers who nearly caused more wrecks by driving too fast, not paying attention to the car in front of them, and screeching brakes to stop before causing another wreck.

Folks, those men and women belong to someone. They are husbands/wives, dads/moms, sons/daughters, best friends, and the bright place in someone's life. Try on a whopping dose of Matthew 7:12 and ask how you would want that person treated if that were your "someone". You would want them treated as treasures to be valued and watched after. You would want people to be careful and thoughtful. SO BE THAT! Not all of this world is about you, where you're going, or what you have to do. Sometimes this world is about you doing the right thing in respect to someone else. Our responders are someone worthy of your value. Please kindly treat them with the value they deserve.

And if no one else thanks you, I do.

Being the Answer

Daddy,

This morning I took time to watch part of the video of Miley Cyrus at the VMAs. I couldn't watch it all because I wanted to cry. I wanted to cry because I'm so sorry she thinks that is all she is. I wanted to cry because the man with whom she sang thought it was okay to treat her like that in front of people. I wanted to cry because those people thought it was fabulous. And none of them realize how much they've lost themselves in thinking all of that was okay and "edgy", and porn of all forms devalues everyone involved because you can't call a human a piece of meat without saying all humans can be cheap piece of meat including yourself, and, Daddy, I can only imagine how that makes you want to cry.

And instead of asking how she can do that, I'm asking for wisdom to teach my daughter to never do that because she is so far more valuable than that and to teach my son to be a man of honor who would never dishonor a woman that way. I'm asking how you want me to speak into the lives of the young ladies in my life and how to invest in them so they know they are priceless and never need to act cheap to get attention, and how do I speak to the young men and live in front of them to show them how a woman of character acts and how they are to treat her?

Lord, I see the problem. Show me how to be the answer.

Alone--The Place of Honor

Somewhere in my life I learned that being alone meant being a failure. If a person was alone, it meant he or she had not been sufficient for others to desire their company. It was more than being an outcast. It was its own scarlet letter, defining a person as having nothing to be desired by others.

Interestingly, I have spent a large part of my life feeling--and being--very alone.

To avoid this fate, I have often compromised and sacrificed greatly, sometimes my morals, more often myself. Each time I have lost far more than I ever hoped to gain, and I have come to realize that to be alone is not great shame. Sometimes it is a defining act of courage. It is not just the refusal to be what one is not, but the determination to be what one is. Honor and integrity are not most often found in large gathering. Instead, they are found in the choice not to gather.

It is simple to pick up a drink, a drug, a porn flick, or a grudge, and be part of the crowd. Anyone can do that. The fact is people will take anyone who entertains their follies. However, to go home to a spouse, to endure the pain till the other side, to honor one's vows even in the dark moments, or to let a matter go requires valour beyond the measure of most men. It requires a conviction of right and wrong, and a determination to accept responsibility for that conviction, a responsibility to act in accordance with the wisdom and knowledge of what is righteous, just, and holy.

This is not a light-weighted identity to carry, but it is one that allows a person to look in the mirror and be content with what she sees, one that allows a person to lie her head down at night and sleep deeply without torment of mind or spirit.

To be alone in such a manner is a choice of character, not a result of rejection. It is not determined by what a person is not, but by what she is.

Knowing what I truly desire to be, I choose to be worthy of being alone.