I Met a Man
I met a man. He drove a midnight blue ’87 Mazda 626. Maybe I wasn’t the first girl to ride shot-gun , but I would be the last girl sitting next to him for the first time. Forever. Like any great young love story, there are many wonderful memories from time spent in that car (none of which, I can presume, will be making any shades of grey script-just in case you were wondering), but I do have one I need to share with you.
It was there, hanging from the review mirror. It was always there. It wasn’t shiny, or smooth, or really even pretty and though he wasn’t the high fashionable type anyway (he will disagree), it was long before patina would be en vogue. But there it was swinging around every time we’d get in the car.. Even some 3 decades later I am still learning what that small and consistent token would mean. His story isn’t mine to tell, but his faith is now part of me. This rusty ole’ cross symbolized a changed life, a drastically changed life. The Bible tells us when we are in Christ He makes all things new.
2 Cor 5:17
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away;
behold, all things are become new.
About the time I was growing ever closer to the Lord and heading college, a couple hundred miles away this guy, who I didn’t know existed, would soon realize how wide and deep ALL THINGS were in his life. As an adult, he’d followed footsteps of the world never hearing of Jesus Christ. In fact, he has shared many times of the two teenagers who wore denim jackets and sat in front of him daily, on each jacket in fine 1970’s form was embroidered a fist with its index finger raised as #1 with “Jesus” next to it, but neither the guy or girl ever talked to him about the Lord. Like so many children, he was growing up in a home without the Lord, without a lot of good things, and with some pretty tough ordinary things.
What if we just share the Lord with those next to us?
In the nutshell of my husband’s story we find a life completely changed-not by doctors, prescriptions or psychiatrists, but by Jesus Christ. The very moment he found the Lord, repented of his sinful life and chose to follow Him, his life changed and it changed in every way. If you are married you have probably realized marriage will teach you things about yourself you never knew existed. Nearly thirty years of marriage and I’m sure to have witnessed more of my husband (and myself) than anyone else has on this earth. There are two irrefutable things: he’s the most loyal diligent, industrious, & conscientious employee to be found, and as a man of God- he is faithful. Not at any time, day or moment has he ever questioned or doubted the Lord in his own life. Not once. I’m not sure I can say that about my own faith; I remember as a younger child praying my grandfather would get better, and then he died. I didn’t then understand prayers are sometimes answered in ways we aren’t looking for and don’t understand. Maybe at that time I questioned the answerer rather than the answer and maybe at other times, I just questioned. But not my husband.
Can you relate to what I’m saying?
God has taught me so much. This man the Lord has given me has taught me so much. Not the least of this is faith. I’ve been praying often about this blog and what I want to share of my life with you, and as I was cleaning through some things I found his cross. It always stirs so many thoughts and memories, and usually a prompting to check my own heart: God has been faithful to me. He’s only been faithful, and He has always been faithful. That is what I’m here to share with you: God is faithful. In every one of my ordinary or less than ordinary moments in life; He is faithful. That will never change
Malachi 3:6
I am the Lord God, I never change.
It’s a good time for a loving reminder, rather than spending our lives chasing (fleeting) success,
we are called to live faithfully.
Women living faithfully, imperfectly.
Because the world is hard, but God is good.
How about looking at your own life; do you see God’s faithfulness? I would love to hear!
Thanks for sharing life with me.
