I am a respiratory therapist in Ozark, and I recently had a patient who needed my help in buttoning up the shoulders of his hospital gown, after I ran a test on him. There is nothing significant about that, but the part that was significant, or thought provoking, came in the way he asked. He didn't say," Hey you unbuttoned me, will you please button me back." He instead said, " Please help me... I have almost lost all use of my hands."
Think about for just a moment how many times a day you use your hands... My typical day consists of waking up, (1) pulling the covers off of me, (2) unplugging my cell phone, (3) turning my phone off of vibrate and into some sound (if I remember) (4,5,6)opening my shirt drawer grabbing a shirt and putting it on, (7,8,9) Doing the same with my shorts/pants, (10,11,12,13)Doing the same with my socks-12 and 13 is my right sock then left or vice versa. That's 13 different times on a day that I decided not to set an alarm the night before, or make my bed, and this is only 5-10 minutes into my day. Oh yeah, and I forgot to shut the three drawers...
In any case, we use our hands a lot, but my real thought is much deeper than how blessed we are to still have use of our hands, no matter how arthritic they may be.
What if this patient of mine were God? We, as the Church, are the body of Christ, but sometimes I do feel as if Christ's body has almost lost all use. How often do we reach out to the lost, to the broken, even to the different. You see the awesome thing that I've come to realize about hands is that they are attached to arms. Seriously, think about the potential of hands attached to arms as compared to hands popped out where your current arm pits are. How would we put on deodorant... would we even need too... would hair still grow there... (back to the matter at hand, pun intended) Hands attached to arms can reach. They can reach out, up, down, or back. They can reach out to the different, up to the Father, down to the sick, and back to those who may have fallen behind.
How productive or useful is a hand that only serves itself? Should a hand bathe and dry only itself? You say that's pretty crazy, but how many churches do we have even in our own city, county, or state that the only reach they do is an in reach? There are times when in reaches are needed, but let's get real. There's a world in need of somebody to reach out to them, and God saw it fit to give us the hands attached to arms to do it with.
So I ask, Christian are you reaching out? Church are you? If not, God's saying, "I have almost lost all use of my hands."
Moral of the story: Arm pits are much cooler than hand pits. Reach out!
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Writer's Block
When I finished this I came back up to the top to apologize, it's kind of crazy, but so is Charlie Sheen...(That was low, and I do apologize for this blog, and that Charlie Sheen remark.)
As I sat down to write, a thought suddenly occurred to me, "I have writer's block." This random thought sparked another thought, and thus answered the thought that I thought up once my first thought was thought. Now that you are confused, let me try to explain.
Writers block won't be found in Webster's dictionary, but our friend, Google, always has an answer. Writer's block can be defined as, The inability to begin or continue work on a piece of writing; normally temporary.
How does a writer have writer's block? Can a singer have singer's block? Which I would define as, the inability to begin or continue singing on a song; normally temporary.
Can a Christian have Christian's block, the inability to continue living a Christlike life; normally temporary?
You see I figured out once I sat down that a writer alway's has something to write about and a singer always has something to sing about. It may not necessarily be what the writer or singer is expecting to write/sing about, but there is always something there. Normally it isn't even very deep. I mean really how deep is it to write about writer's block? But then again how deep is it to write about Christian's block?
Could be really deep, like up to your elbow pits deep, but we won't go that deep in this blog, partly because we never do. Here at Random Thought For the Day Institute we just try to let a thought spark a thought. But just as the writer always has something to write about, and a singer always has something to sing about. A Christian always has a reason to live a Christlike life. You never know who's watching or who's waiting. You never know which seed is being sown, which seed is about ready to be harvested, and which seed we just plucked out of the ground due to our Christian's block. I'm just glad God doesn't have blocks, and I'm certainly glad that in the garden, Jesus didn't have Savior's block.
Moral of the Story: Blocks happen, but when one comes in front of you, you must swim move it, and go sack the quarterback!
As I sat down to write, a thought suddenly occurred to me, "I have writer's block." This random thought sparked another thought, and thus answered the thought that I thought up once my first thought was thought. Now that you are confused, let me try to explain.
Writers block won't be found in Webster's dictionary, but our friend, Google, always has an answer. Writer's block can be defined as, The inability to begin or continue work on a piece of writing; normally temporary.
How does a writer have writer's block? Can a singer have singer's block? Which I would define as, the inability to begin or continue singing on a song; normally temporary.
Can a Christian have Christian's block, the inability to continue living a Christlike life; normally temporary?
You see I figured out once I sat down that a writer alway's has something to write about and a singer always has something to sing about. It may not necessarily be what the writer or singer is expecting to write/sing about, but there is always something there. Normally it isn't even very deep. I mean really how deep is it to write about writer's block? But then again how deep is it to write about Christian's block?
Could be really deep, like up to your elbow pits deep, but we won't go that deep in this blog, partly because we never do. Here at Random Thought For the Day Institute we just try to let a thought spark a thought. But just as the writer always has something to write about, and a singer always has something to sing about. A Christian always has a reason to live a Christlike life. You never know who's watching or who's waiting. You never know which seed is being sown, which seed is about ready to be harvested, and which seed we just plucked out of the ground due to our Christian's block. I'm just glad God doesn't have blocks, and I'm certainly glad that in the garden, Jesus didn't have Savior's block.
Moral of the Story: Blocks happen, but when one comes in front of you, you must swim move it, and go sack the quarterback!
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