January 2014
Greetings From Chris
"Baby Steps"
I hope and pray that each of you survived the chilly temps and blizzard like conditions earlier this month. We had a very unique thing happen to us. We received a call from our neighbor on Sunday afternoon that there were blinking lights down on the road. The snow was really coming down and the wind was blowing very strong. On the road there were around a dozen vehicles completely stopped. As we watched people trying to dig and running from car to car I felt that nudge on the heart to help.
The long and the short of it is we did. We got the tractor out and spent the next 3 hours digging, pushing and pulling people to the safety of our driveway. A few big trucks kept going, but many ended up spending the next two nights at our home. It was a great experience. We gained several new friends. What was most remarkable was what happened outside of our home.
One of the couples staying with us had so many family and friends calling that they ended up putting the story on their Facebook page. Well...it went viral. Friends of all of us began texting and calling. Newspapers started finding us. A TV station came out the last day. It was crazy. What amazed me was the big deal being made of this and how many times we heard 'weren't you afraid?' and you are such 'good people'.
As I have reflected on this for a few days I came back to the words baby steps. Something that began over 30 years ago was the commitment to follow God and be Jesus' hands and feet here, especially in my own community and neighborhood. The hard part early on was learning to sense the Holy Spirit when a situation or opportunity occurred. Many of these have been very small, insignificant moments, but some rather intense. Many mistakes have been made along the way and sometimes found myself where I should not have been. The biggest thing is that over the course of time and through many baby steps you begin to hear God's nudge clearer and clearer and it becomes second nature to trust and obey. Being afraid never crossed my mind because I recognized the nudge. It was from God and he has proven himself over and over and over again in the past. The biggest struggle was my laziness and inconvenience. It was nice and comfy and cozy in my house with my family and nasty outside and you wrestle with 'I don't feel like doing that.'
We are definitely not 'good people' we are just simple people that a long time ago gave up the right to themselves to God through Jesus. He calls us to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. I encourage us all to start asking God to nudge our hearts with baby step opportunities to love others in 2014 and allow God's kingdom to come and will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven!
Blessings as you serve!
Chris