Three Things After Three

Three things happened this afternoon, after 3:00p the first shaped my afternoon, the second my evening, and the third made connected my thoughts and got me thinking. Allow me to share.

FIRST...
A gentleman entered my office this afternoon and said he had the desire to recommit his life to Christ! I'll take five seconds of spacing here to allow for celebration...................................................................................................We had a lengthy conversation about what it meant to be a Christian, what actions he needed to take to recommit his life to Christ, and many of the question and/or concerns he had about this recommitment. One of the topics that came up was his formation of our belief in Christ and the great foundation that our parents built within us at such early ages by "forcing their beliefs on us". And although we had these beliefs thrust upon us, at some point, we all must ask the question; "What do I believe" and we must accept Christ, and the salvation that only He brings, for ourselves Following our conversation I had the great privilege in praying for him and having him pray. This has been, by far, the most rewarding part of my ministry here in Robinson.

Second...
This great experience was followed by dinner with my wonderful family. We decided to go out for dinner and because we eat at such an early time the restaurant was fairly empty. Sitting down in a quiet booth we got settled in only to have an older couple with, what must have been, the most annoying child in the Robinson area. Dinner was spent with this child dropping food on my shoulder, making siren noises in my ear, hitting me in the back with some sort of a stuffed snake-eel-fish-dinosaur. Every now and then "ma-maw" and "Chris" would say "turn around Austy" (I assume his real name was Austin but for such a cute little bugger we need to use the pet name "Austy") but little Austy didn't listen.

THIRD...
Kim ordered hot wings for dinner, her desire for bread sticks and hot wings was what brought me and little Austin together in the first place. Well, that and fate! Anyhow, she likes the wings not the drumettes (we call them chicken butts) and so I was lucky enough to polish off the final two for her. I like spicy food and these didn't seem that spicy, not until I finished them and started breathing again.  As I sit here almost four hours later I can still taste the aftershock.

 As I sat down to reflect on this afternoon's events, still celebrating the rebirth of a soul, tasting the hot wings from dinner and icing the wounds obtained from little Austy, I thought about that foundation of beliefs given to me and to so many others. Some of us are so very lucky to be given this foundation at an early age, to be introduced to Christ by our parents, teachers, friends, and churches. Some of us are lucky enough to have the beliefs of others thrust upon us, creating a basis of beliefs for the remainder of our lives. Others, are not so lucky! Some, like little Austy, are not given a foundation, a basic foundation of behavior and respect (I'm making a judgment call here and referring not to Salvation). Yet, just like the hot wings, it may not be felt until after we have formulated our beliefs and have lived through many of the trials and burdens of life and begin to breath again. 

Do you feel the "aftershock" of the foundation that was given to you? If you are not as lucky as I perhaps you had a foundation that was built on uneasy soil or perhaps you never had one formed at all. Yet there is only one foundation, the true foundation, that can stand the test of time, trials, burdens, struggles, stress, and all that life brings. And that foundation is Jesus Christ. 

"For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ." (1 Corinthians 3:11)