Bridgeway Christian Church

Hi everyone -

I thought I would drop a couple of thoughts for ya this week to chew on. A few weeks ago I met with a guy who was 76 years old and very active. As we talked he gave me some advice, which didn’t particularly apply to what we were talking about but it was really profound. He said that he lost his wife in 2002 and was crushed.  After a bit, while he tried to reconcile what had happened, he felt the Lord asked him to sort out a question. ‘Why was he better off without his wife?’  What an odd question, he thought (and horrifying to all the Romantics in the world). So, he began to write down things that were ‘better’ without her (he didn’t name what they were). He came up with a list of 50 things.  

Why did God have him go through this exercise?  Because He wanted him to ‘look for the gift.’ Buried in all the pain and loss was still Jesus working in his life. If God allowed this to happen and he was a child of God, then it wasn’t likely that Jesus would merely leave it as pain and loss. He would do something with it.  Next time trouble strikes, perhaps we should ask, ‘why am I better off now that this has happened?’ Maybe we need to wait a bit to ask the question, but I think it’s a valuable question.  Ultimately what I took away from his comments was this...’look for the gifts of God along the way.’  It’s true that hardship comes, but buried in there are gifts from your heavenly Father.

Speak well of everyone as much as you can.  Too many times I have mentioned something about someone only to have a conversation with them later and regret what I said, or how I said it.  Little by little I have tried to root this completely out of my life. It’s easier, and more interesting to trash someone, but unfortunately that will bite you. Anyone that hears you say something about someone else, automatically knows that when they leave your side and situations change, you will say something about them.  We want to be people who consistently build the reputations of others. We want to be people who are peacemakers. It’s hard sometimes.  Sometimes you have to dig down to find something good about someone, but it’s worth it.  I would hope that for all of us here at Bridgeway, people would know their name is going to increase in our hands, not diminish.

And finally, did you know that the first name of bubble gum in 1906 was ‘blibber-blabber gum.’

Love you all,
Lance