More Than Ever

Post 235

I appreciate my marriage MORE THAN EVER

I appreciate my son MORE THAN EVER

I appreciate my oldest friends MORE THAN EVER

I appreciate all of my newest friends MORE THAN EVER

I appreciate my renewed or strengthened relationships MORE THAN EVER

I appreciate the writers and readers (commenters) of so many interesting, entertaining, and informative substacks - that I get so much out of - MORE THAN EVER

It seems like God is with me through all of these MORE THAN EVER, but the truth is, He was always right there but I ignored Him much of the time.

I’ve said, and I have felt from the beginning, that God uses His Word and other humans to be His hands and feet to “be with the broken hearted.” I know that even though I have been a Christian my entire life, sure backsliding here and there throughout the years, that I have never ever ever felt His presence like I do now. I honestly used to be a little squeamish or afraid to be bold in my faith to other people, but now I seem to understand more, that any connections we have are possibilities of letting them see the light. That’s what the gospel is. The good news. The light. Why would we ever be “afraid” of telling somebody about the hope we have in Him?

What would our world be like if people didn’t answer His call to know Him and be more like Him? It would be hellish. We are all benefitting from people, starting with the early Christians, who have gone before us and made our societies moral and highly livable. It was extremely rebellious to the culture to love your neighbor as yourself; unheard of really. I think we all know we are coming full circle to that kind of culture. Imagine a world without the shreds of morality that we have retained. Imagine a world with less and less people who live sacrificially. Me. Mine. Gotta have it. Sound familiar?

I hate that it took Morgan’s passing to get me to this point of understanding, and you see, I’m trying my best now to get as many people as I can to this same place of understanding without the trauma. Honestly, I have to try, but I think it takes NEEDING HIM, before you realize how much you NEEDED HIM all along.

Thank you to my oldest bro who still checks up on me. He did an excellent and loving job of helping me to realize that Morgan will never be forgotten. She was here on earth and had relationships with a lot of people who will recall her personality, some action she did, something she spoke of or taught them, and they’ll REMEMBER her. I won’t know it of course. They don’t know me, and even if they did, it would be out of our cultural norm to look me up and tell me so. (I’d love it, but that’s not reality.) He gave me a few examples of people long ago in his past who he thought of recently through present circumstances. These people remain in his memory, having shaped him just a bit. I get that and I appreciate it so much. I also know some of the regular readers of I Can’t Imagine who never met Morgan will not forget her because of this blog. A few times people have commented on or even sent me a picture of a GBH because seeing one made them think of her, too. It brings tears to my eyes to know that this is the case! At first, I didn’t think that kind of “never forgetting” counted, but why not?

Hearkening back to my last post Pay It Forward, reader (and now virtual friend) Roger emailed me his own examples of God being in the details MORE THAN EVER, and an amazing example of Paying It Forward.

First, the mom who donated the LEGO sets with him recently went on a small getaway also in North Georgia, just relaxing, laughing, and exploring. This cave explorer (picture) greeted them when they stopped at a random cave to explore.

That’s our God being in the details. What a Godwink! There is no way the person who created this and had the idea of leaving it there had the slightest indication what it would mean and to who? But God did!

As far as paying it forward, check out what this man did with the pain of losing his son!

The LORD is close to those whose hearts have been broken. He saves those whose spirits have been crushed. Psalms 34:18 NIRV

He comes alongside us when we go through hard times, and before you know it, he brings us alongside someone else who is going through hard times so that we can be there for that person just as God was there for us. 2 Corinthians: 4 MSG