Pilgrims, pumpkins...and encouragement!

      “Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.  But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” (Heb.3:12-13)

      God calls us to be incorrigible encouragers.  

      Yep, in studying Hebrews this fall, it’s one of the themes that has stood out to me time and again: God wants His children to encourage and spur one another on as we live our lives and run our races by faith (Heb. 12:1-2).  We’re none of us meant to be lone-ranger Christians.  We need each other!  When I’m struggling, I need you to remind me of God’s faithfulness, presence, and power so I won’t fall into sin...and when you’re struggling, I need to do the same!  

      That’s why we’re called the “body of Christ.”  A body is connected, and each part of the body is important and needs to work with, and help, the other parts.  We need our hearts to beat...so our blood can flow..so our brains can think...so our lungs can breathe...so our mouths can eat...so our legs can more... We’re connected, and when one part of the body is ailing, the other parts are affected as well.        You know, it’s so easy to get isolated in this day and age with email, twitter, cell phone, home phone (if anybody other than our family still has one of those), voicemail, blogs, online ordering, and on and on.  Technology has both massively expanded our world...yet simultaneously shrunk it to the tiny, removed-from-the-world size of our living room.  We need never see one another face to face, or even voice to voice.  (Speaking of--if any of my children read this, note to self: please listen to your mama’s voicemails...and then call her back, rather than text.  Just an editorial comment.) 

      Ahem, where was I?  How can we truly know when a friend is struggling or burdened if we don’t see them in person...or hear their strained voice?  No, we miss multiple opportunities to nurture and encourage others simply out of sheer technology-induced-ignorance.  

      Add to that the rush and crush of our everyday, busy lives, and before you know it, we’re isolated and unable to do that which is most important in our lives--other than loving God--and that’s loving and encouraging His prized creation, His people.  

      Oh my, I’ve been so convicted of this, for if I’m too busy doing, doing, doing (or texting, blogging, and emailing) to reach out and embrace and encourage a hurting world, then I’m too busy with the wrong stuff.  Period.  If God’s Word so consistently elevates the critical importance of encouraging and spurring one another on, well then, it better be one of our life’s heartbeats as well.  

I need to be reminded of God’s Truths so I won’t come apart at the seams, slip into sin, or simply fall prey to discouragement.  And I need--and want--to do the same for you.  I don’t care if you’re Billy Graham, Beth Moore, or president of the world--we all need “Jesus with skin on” to help us stop looking around and wringing our hands and start looking up and trusting our Lord.

      l love what Jon Bloom says, “To battle sin is to battle unbelief...Jesus wants us to know the truth, because the truth brings freedom: If you abide in my Word, you are truly my disciples and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. (John 8:31-32) So as freedom fighters, let’s fight against ‘unbelieving hearts’ by ‘exhorting one another everyday, as long as it is called “today,” (Heb.3:12-13) to live in the freedom--and peace (John 16:33)--of the truth.” 

      Yes sir, I want to be a freedom fighter and grace encourager.  We never know how near the edge someone might be, and how an encouraging word, a thoughtful note, a kind phone call might make all the difference.  

      Can I just give two little examples?  One sits right here in front of me as I work--a gift last week from some dear women in our Bible study.  They know I love, love, love pilgrims...and along about October 1st, out they come at our house--

And the second arrived just yesterday from a wonderful friend whose children also attend UNC.  This little fellow rests happily on our kitchen counter--reminding me on several fronts of God’s great faithfulness--

      My point?  It doesn’t necessarily require much to encourage someone else.  But speaking from experience, a little encouragement can go a long way to helping us persevere in the daily mud and muck of life.  So listen to the Nike ad...and just do it!

      Will you ask God to show you someone you can encourage TODAY?  It may only take a pilgrim, a pumpkin, or a phone call...but it could make all the difference in the world.  

To God be the glory.

Consider Jesus!

      “Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession...” (Heb.3:1)

      We just studied this in Bible study this week, so for those of you who were there yesterday, this will be redundant!  But I thought it was worth repeating, because yours truly is a world champion “forgetter!”  I need constant reminding about what I should already know full well...but tend to forget in the stresses and struggles of daily life.  And this concept of daily “considering Jesus” is one of those bedrock principles that we cannot hear too often, because let’s face it--we forget.  In our mad rush to get everything done...or to absorb the obscene amounts of information thrown at us everyday in the form of email, twitter, internet, TV, newspaper, magazines and on and on, we (or at least I) tend to quickly forget what’s really first and most important.  (Important as opposed to urgent--the old “tyranny of the urgent”)  

      So here goes!  I love how The Message translates this verse. “So, my dear Christian friends, companions in following this call to the heights, take a good hard look at Jesus.  He’s the centerpiece of everything we believe, faithful in everything God gave Him to do.”  And the NIV describes same idea as “fixing your thoughts on Jesus.” 

      We’ve got to consider or fix our thoughts or take a good hard look at Jesus daily by examining Him in His Word.  But it’s not just reading the Word--it’s also thinking about, pondering, meditating upon those words as we go through our day.  God’s Word is meant to be part of the warp and woof of our day.  

      To consider Jesus means we don’t just read the Bible in the morning and then promptly get busy with life and forget about it.  No, we might write out a few verses and look at them over the sink while we cook or in our car as we drive to work.  We might speak a verse out loud as we pray...or as we clean up the house.  We turn it over in our minds as we weed the garden (well, that is if we actually weeded our garden!) or as we run errands.  

      There are so many practical ways to focus on God and His Word even as we go through our busy days.  But here’s one example  that really encouraged and challenged a number of us when we went to the house of one of my dearest friend’s, Ashlie Mann.  Her high school daughter, Lizzie, decided to write Bible verses and inspiring quotes all over her bathroom to encourage her to focus upon and follow the Lord Jesus--

      This is a high school senior who has recognized early on in life that the more she surrounds herself with God’s Word, the more she’ll consider Him.  And the more she considers Him and His Word, the more He’ll shape and transform her into His likeness.  As Ann Ortland once said, “It’s the look that saves...but it’s the gaze that sanctifies.”  True transformation occurs when we spend time gazing at Jesus and pondering His Word.

      I’m guessing this might be first time you’ve seen a picture of a bathroom in a blog!  But boy, it sure convicted and encouraged me that I need to do all I can to keep God’s Word all around my family and me so it will soak inside us. 

I recently heard Nancy Leigh DeMoss share a letter written by her aunt and uncle to their children.  Here’s part of what she shared:

      “When you children were young, one of our main goals was to get each of you to love Scripture, to read it each day and to have your own devotions.  We’re so grateful to God for leading each of you into this life-giving practice.  One related practice we’d like to see each of you consider is to post Scripture all over your walls in your home.  In bathrooms [Go Lizzie!], bedrooms, kitchen, everywhere...The adversary works 24/7 to tempt us to discouragement, selfishness, complaining, or whatever [can I just add a hearty ‘Amen!’].  The best counter-offensive not only keeps the devil on the run but additionally enriches our lives each day.”  

      And what is that counter-offensive?  It’s constantly considering Jesus and thinking about His Word. The letter goes on to explain, “Yes, I know you can open the Bible any time day or night, but to actually see God’s Word as you enter and exit your home each day, as you look in the mirror each morning, working in the kitchen, and anywhere else in the home you go, this makes for a living context of swimming in God’s Word.”  

      I love that--surrounding yourself with God’s Word will help you meditate on it day and night.  Here’s how one old-time commentator described the value of meditating on God’s Word: “Meditation is to reading the Word what digesting is to eating.  Without the slow and lengthened process of digestion, food would not nourish the body. Without meditation, the Word read will not nourish the soul.”  

      Now considering Jesus and meditating on His Word does NOT refer to some strange Eastern practice of closing your eyes and humming some mantra till you go into trance!  Not at all!  

Here’s how JD Greer explains meditating on God’s Word: The word “meditate” literally means “to mumble over and over.” JD says, “It’s like a cow chewing it’s cud.  A cow wakes up in the morning, eats some grass, and then lays down to take a nap.  After his nap, he regurgitates the grass he ate, chews on it a little more, extracting more nutrients, and then he takes another nap and wakes up and regurgitates again and continues this process until all the nutrients are gone.”  

      (I hope you’re not eating right now, and I’ve totally taken your appetite!  If so, I apologize--and if it’s chocolate, please don’t waste it.  Just drop if off at my house.  But I digress--)

      Seriously, what a vivid example of what it means to meditate and chew upon the Word so that God can nourish and equip us for whatever we’ll be facing each day.  Nothing is more critical if we want to enjoy the strength, joy, peace, hope, and power that Christ promises to those whose minds on fixed upon Him.  

      You know, I want to absorb every single bit of what God has for me so that I can daily grow more and more into His likeness...and less and less like my all-too-often selfish, silly, sinful self!  The more we’re swimming in the healing, convicting, empowering, revealing waters of His Word, the faster and more complete the transformation.  

      Today, will you consider Jesus?  There’s nothing, absolutely nothing, more important. To God be the glory.

Gifts from Daddy

                       A little food for weekend thought--

      "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change." (James 1:17)
       From C.S. Lewis: "Every faculty you have, your power of thinking or of moving your limbs from moment to moment, is given you by God.  If you devoted every moment of your whole life exclusively to His service you could not give Him anything that was not in a sense His own already.  So that when we talk of a man doing anything for God, I will tell you what it is really like.  It is like a small child going to its father and saying, 'Daddy, give me sixpence to buy you a birthday present.'  Of course, the father does, and he is pleased with the child's present.  It is all very nice and proper, but only an idiot would think that the father is sixpence to the good on the transaction.
      What God cares about is not exactly our actions. What He cares about is that we should be creatures of a certain kind or quality--the kind of creatures related to Himself in a certain way.  I do not add 'and related to one another in a certain way,' because that is included: if you are right with Him, you will inevitably be right with your fellow-creatures, just as if all the spokes of a wheel are fitted rightly into the hub and the rim they are bound to be in the right positions to one another."

      I well remember when our youngest child would ask us if he could "buy" us all Christmas presents from the pro shop at the golf course where our boys play golf.  "Of course," we'd exclaim. "That would be wonderful!"
     He'd excitedly pick out presents for every person in the family, have them wrapped, and proudly present them to each recipient on Christmas morning.  A golf hat for one brother.  Golf balls for another.  Tee shirts for his sisters.  Mugs for his mom and dad.
     All paid for by you-know-who...though that never occurred to Peter.   He assumed that since he did all the work, he surely deserved all the credit.  And no one was more thrilled to hand out his carefully chosen gifts Christmas morning than our youngest son.  We loved him for it.
      So Lewis' words resonated when I read them.  What a reminder that all we have, all we do, all we think, all we are is solely and completely due to the grace and goodness of God!  Yet we're so prone to think of everything as "ours" or "mine."  Seriously?
      For instance, we get frustrated when some interruption wastes "my" or "our" valuable time.  Really?  Who made time?  Who controls time? And Who determines the hours and days we each will have on this earth?
      It's not "my time"--it's God's...and if it's His, then He has the sovereign right to use or interrupt or end the time He's given me in any way He chooses.
      Nor is it "my family."  Nope--He blessed me with husband, children, siblings, parents.  I certainly didn't deserve or earn any of them.  All gracious gifts.  All unique treasures from His sovereign hand, loaned to me for these few short years on planet earth.  Oh might I love and serve them well.
      Same with "my" friends...they're really "His" friends that the Lord allows me to encourage, love and enjoy by His grace, for His glory.  More good and perfect gifts from my Daddy.  Oh Father, give us more love, more grace so that we might more fully and freely love Your children.
      And it's not "my church," "my house," "my clothes," "my car," or even "my dog."
      All His.  All His.  All His.
      All to be received with gratitude and held with open hands and contented hearts.  Thankful for what He chooses to give...and what He chooses to withhold.  But always with our eyes fixed on the Designer, Creator, Giver, and Sustainer.  
       He--only He--is the One to be worshipped.  And when our relationship is right with Him--when the Lord Jesus is at the center, when He is the hub--then all the other relationships will be right as well.
      Thank You, Father, for every good and perfect gift You have sovereignly chosen to give us...and for those which in Your infinite love and wisdom, You have chosen to withhold as well.  Keep us focused upon You, treasuring You, so that You remain the first and greatest love in our lives.  For if we love You well, You'll enable us to love others well.
      Thank You, Abba, Father.  It's all by You, through You, from You, and for You.
      To God--our Daddy, the relentless Gift-Giver--be all the glory.

My Daddy's lap

      Early morning at The Cove, Black Mountain, NC.  Hot cup of tea, warm fire, stillness, and hot breakfast of the Word from my Abba.
      "Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." (Heb.4:16)
     

Thank You, Father, that we have the unfathomable privilege of coming to Your throne--the omnipotent throne over all of heaven and earth.  And we can come to such a throne just as we are--sweat shirt on, hot tea in hand, bleary eyes, and oftentimes less than worshipful attitudes and less than obedient hearts.  And  yet, You welcome us anyway.       

Incredible.  Outrageous. Scandalous. Wonderful. 

And not only do we enjoy this incomprehensible privilege of approaching such a throne of power and might, as Your beloved child, You invite us to come confidently.  That's just not a word I'd associate with little dust people like us approaching the throne of the Almighty, glorious, holy Lord of the universe.  Surely I should come cringing with fear...covered with my inadquacy and unworthiness.  But instead, we can crawl right up into the lap of our Abba, our Daddy.  

And tell You all about our worries, our frustrations, our needs.  Unburden our sins so that You might free us of their vise grip on our hearts.  Remind You how much we love You and delight in Your presence and goodness and grace.  And thank You for all Your daily gifts which You seem to never tire of  showering upon us--the beauty of early fall, the joy of dear friendships, the wonder of laughter, the love of family, the sweetness of dogs, the satisfaction of food, the encouragement of fellowship, the gift of Your fresh, hot Word.

      Thank You, Daddy.  Thank You for this time with You...at Your throne...in Your lap...with Your nourishing, warm manna for me this day.  Thank You for Your love...and for Your Son Who made the way for me to come this morning and every morning.  Daddy, have I told You lately, He's the best of the best of the best?  Just thought I'd say it again...and I love You.

To God be the glory.

A fall...forgiveness...and our glorious Savior

      We were nearing the end of our walk on a spectacular beginning-to-feel-like-fall day.

      And it'd been a good walk.  We're been working hard on Mr. Bingley staying calm when other dogs approach.  Let me just say, our efforts have been meeting with mixed success....okay, with very, very fair to middling success.  You see, the boy just loves, loves, loves other dogs, though you'd never guess it.  He tends to bark and jump around like he wants to kill the other canine--but it's just his way of enthusiastically welcoming him/her.  This tends not be all that well received, however, by the other dog owners.  sigh.

      But like I said, we have been making moderate strides in this area, and on this day, Bingley had  done particularly well.  "Now this is what I'm talking about!" I was thinking. "Good boy, Bingley!"  

      "Pride goeth before a fall," the Bible cautions us.  Let me second that.  

      Because no sooner had I begun relaxing and considering the many strengths possessed by our remarkable dog, another little four legged creature approached with his owner.  A cute little fellow and certainly not menacing.  

     As I smiled and said hello, Bingley went into freak-out mode, jumping and dancing so suddenly that he swept me off my feet.  Literally.  I tumbled over in the dirt, hitting hard.  Bingley looked stunned and stricken.  Ears down,  eyes looking sad, but that didn't matter to me much at the time--the damage had been done.  Mortified, I jumped back up and chirped, "I'm fine.  I'm fine!  So sorry!" and continued on home.  

      But here's what I was thinking--"Oh my stars, how embarrassing.  This is the pits--we'll never get him to stop doing this.  I'm so tired of this--in fact, I'm never walking this dog again.  Ever.  He can stand at the kitchen and whine and cry all day long for all I care...."  You get the drift: I was, shall we say, very irritated.  Well, that, and discouraged too.  (I might add, I had already been feeling tired and overwhelmed at the time anyway, so this was just the proverbial straw breaking the camel's back.)

      I'm grumpily shuffled into the kitchen, feeling beat up and worn down. 

      Eventually, after showering, I got to work on Bible study.  And here, immediately, came Bingley...sort of slowly slinking into the hall to sit and stare at me with very sad eyes as I worked--me still with my bad attitude.  I glared back at him...but he remain undeterred.  Just sat there and watched my every move.  I finally sighed and snapped his picture--

       And the frustration, disappointment and irritation dissipated.  Because here's what I had just read for Bible study: "Therefore He had to be made like His brothers in every respect, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.  For because He Himself has suffered when tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted." (Heb.2:17-18)  

      Translation for me right at that moment?  Jesus left the infinite wonders of heaven and became a man, subject to every irritation, difficulty, and struggle all of us humans will ever face, all so that He could become our Savior who died for our sins and our High Priest who would constantly pray for us.  And because He endured more suffering than we'll ever suffer and withstood more temptation that we'll ever confront, He can totally, truly, completely understand what we're going through....and He can and will help us endure it and withstand it as well.  

      When I thought of all that Jesus has done--and is doing--for me, I felt both deep sorrow for my stinking, selfish sinful irritation and ingratitude and profound, deep, overwhelming joy and thankfulness for such a Savior.  

      A Savior who fully understands...and freely forgives.  

      A Savior who knows our weaknesses...and gives us His strength.

      A Savior who picks us up when we fall...and says, "Forgiven. Forgotten.  Forever.  Now go back out there covered by My grace and filled with My love and try again."

     A Savior who simply never quits on us.  Ever.  

     What can  you say to such a Redeemer, but thank You, thank You, thank You, Lord Jesus.  Oh Father, might all who read this today be reminded of Your infinite love, Your beautiful forgiveness, and Your amazing grace...and might it encourage us to quickly confess our sin, freely forgive others, and live this day overflowing with gratitude and love for You and those You put in our paths.  

      Alleluia, what a Savior.  

      To God be the glory.

       

Deer and thirst

      Look who is living in our backyard--

     In the heart of Raleigh, right off a busy road, we have a baby deer sheltering in our backyard.  Amazing.
      He (or she) is a tiny little guy--probably smaller than Bingley right now.  We don't see him often--most of the time he's hiding back in the overgrown jungle that comprises the back half of our backyard.  But everyday he ventures out at some point or another into the open area and grass...and we excitedly stand at the window and marvel.
      What wondrous creatures God has made!
      I'd like to know where his mama is, and why she isn't here looking after him.  Is he lonely?  We're just hoping mama deer is either hiding in our backyard jungle or jumping back and forth over the fence to care for him.  Oh my goodness, though, he is soooo cute.
      In addition to wondering about mama's whereabouts, we're beginning to worry about whether this little guy has enough to eat.  And then Richard mentioned water.  Oh my stars, what is he drinking? (the deer, that is, not Richard)  No pools or streams in our yard, nor has there been much rain recently, so we figured we better do something for our young guest.  Peter filled up a huge green bucket with water and hauled it out back near the trees.  We figured he'd like the natural forest green color--although in the interest of full disclosure,  it's lime green, plastic, and has big handles on each side so we're not so sure it will just "blend right in" with the woods.  We're praying Bambi finds that water and satisfies his thirst.
      Funny, but just today I was thinking about what it means to truly thirst after God--to desire to know Him, to focus upon Him, to love Him.   Ps.42:1 says "As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul thirsts for you, my God."  So convicting, because I wonder how many other diversions, pleasures, and distractions I allow to assuage my thirst...rather than the Living Water.  "But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again.  The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." (John 4:14)
      How much we miss when we slack our thirst from any lesser, inferior source that never ultimately satisfies us but only leaves us thirsting for more...and more.
     Oh Lord make us thirsty for You, and might we seek to satisfy our thirst only with Your Living Water.
      Loved this prayer  by A.W. Tozer: "O God, I have tasted Thy goodness, and it has both satisfied me and made me thirsty for more.  I am painfully conscious of my need of further grace.  I am ashamed of my lack of desire.  O God, the Triune God, I want to want Thee.  I long to be filled with longing.  I thirst to be made thirstier still.  Show me Thy glory, I pray Thee, so that I may know Thee indeed.  Begin in mercy a new work of love within me.  Say to my soul, 'Rise up my love, my fair one, and come away.'  Then give me grace to rise up and follow Thee from this misty lowland where I have wandered so long."
      Yes, Lord!  Might we thirst for the Living God and slack our thirst in Him so that we might behold His glory, grow in His grace, and give Him our whole-hearted devotion.  He is worthy.
      And Lord, thank You for the gift of Your remarkable creation...please take care of our little deer!
      To God be the glory.

Two pictures of encouragement...One God of all comfort

      It's a tough world out there.  We have friends dealing with cancer.  Dear neighbors who just had to put down their beloved dog.  Friends confronting destructive addictions.  Friends who have lost loved ones. Then there's the wear and tear, the weariness of living on this broken, old planet:  Disappointment.  Defeat.  Depression.  Not to mention plain old exhaustion that can make cowards of us all.
      So what do we do?  Well, here's one ridiculously simple thought--give the gift of encouragement. I wish I were a better cook and could craft meals that would bring sunshine into dark corners.  I wish I were a talented musician who could bless and strengthen with joyful songs.  Or maybe a skilled surgeon who could somehow, someway, make that cancer...or that sorrow...or that worry disappear and never come back.
      But I'm not.  Here's what I can do--use what God has placed in my hands and heart--the gift of words and the gift of presence.  The same gift every single one of us possesses.  Words that can strengthen the burdened and encourage the fainthearted.  Words that heal.  Words that give hope.  Words that point to the Burden-Bearer.  And the gift of presence--to hug, to hold, to sit with, even in silence, to share tears and divide the pain.
       Such simple things, really, but God revealed Himself to us in the Word.  Jesus is the Word made flesh.  God used words to reveal Himself to us...and He used His actual physical presence in a bodily form to come and save us.  So words and presence are powerful, beautiful things when used to love and bless, strengthen and save.
      So a simple question for today: who needs your encouragement right now?  Because there's no greater gift you can give someone else than the gift of encouragement--with your words or with your presence.  You know, the word "encouragement" means "to pour courage into."  Isn't that what we all need...especially when we're struggling?  A dose of courage, an infusion of hope.
      The other night, my husband and I sat at dinner and somehow the subject came up of two indelible memories from Janie's time in the hospital.  Both were brief vignettes...but both were unforgettable.  Both involved encouragement, yet in both the encouragers probably had little idea of how their simple actions and presence meant so much.
      The first--the simple sight of Will Page sitting in the ICU waiting room in the wee hours of the night.  My husband, Richard, said he walked out of Janie's room, bleary-eyed, worn thin...and there sat Will, all by himself in the darkened, quiet waiting room.  When my husband saw him, he gasped in surprise.  Will merely smiled and said "I'm here."      
      And so he was.  Day after day.  As was his dear wife, Beth.  Often just sitting out in the waiting room, praying, reading the Word, ministering with the beautiful gift of their presence.
     Brings tears to my eyes even today to think of all the ways our friends and family ministered to and encouraged us in the midst of a dark, challenging season for our family.  My dear sisters and brothers, dropping everything, so that one or two of them were always with us at the hospital.  Our wonderful friends doing everything from cooking to cleaning to carpooling to praying fervently. They'll never know how their actions, their words, their prayers, and their presence quite literally poured strength and courage into our weak and weary hearts.  And day by day, kept us going for another day--that's what encouragement can do for you.
      Maybe encouragement is really just putting on skin and flesh and being the gift of Jesus to someone else.  
      Oh Lord Jesus, make us encouragers.
      The second vignette was a harder, far sadder one, but poignantly powerful.  When Janie was moved from the ICU to a regular room in the hospital in Chapel Hill, she was first moved to the Children's Wing of the hospital.  Never have I seen such dedicated, kind, remarkable nurses.  They were caring for some very sick children--many with cancer or with other illnesses and issues that far exceeded what Janie faced.
      Sometimes, in the unlikeliest of places, one recognizes that you are in the presence of the holy...and you tread gently and gratefully.  Such was this place of sickness, heartbreaking sorrow, and beautiful compassion, love, and encouragement.
      My husband was there for this hard, but holy moment, and he described it to me later.  Right on our hall, even as our child recovered, other children and their families fought on.
      One afternoon, Richard saw a young mother smile brightly at her precious, but very sick, young child.  This little one hobbled along on crutches, bloated, pale, and weak from his treatment.  He was leaving his mom to go down the hall with a nurse.  This dear, brave mama lent her child her very best, her very last ounce of energy and love and encouragement, as she smiled and waved gaily, and he gave her a little smile before slowly rounding the corner.
     As soon as he disappeared from sight,  this brave woman hung her head, covered her face in her hands, and wept.  Even now as I write it, the tears flow.  She had given her child all the encouragement left in her worn and weary heart...and now that broken heart spilled over.
      And again, the ministry of presence as a nurse immediately ran and embraced her.  They stood there in the hall, clinging to one another, the love and compassion of one woman flowing into the emptiness of the other.  Yes, pouring courage into her simply by her presence and her love and her caring. The skin and bone of Jesus--the Word made flesh--embracing, holding, upholding, loving.
      We will never forget it.
      Forgive me, Lord Jesus, for how often, in my busyness and preoccupation, I miss Your God-ordained and holy moments to encourage someone else.  To share Your love, Your grace, Your courage, Your strength, Your hope with someone who desperately needs it.
      Oh make us encouragers, Father.  Make us Your hands and feet and heart in a hurting world, so that the world may know how good and great and kind and strong and loving You are. You are the God of all comfort.  Make us willing and available vessels to share that comfort with others.
      To God be the glory.