Water Your Worth

I was asked once by the shelter warden who was acknowledging how different our lives were as we don’t watch shows or do much that most people do in the world. With a smile, I paused reading and looked at her saying, “Not really… Have you read the Bible? There is more adventure in here than most shows!”

I remember clearly how at the time I was reading about how king David’s men being embarrassed and told to wait until their beards grew back. There was poor influence relayed to a potential ally, instead of creating alliance they chose to disgrace these men by cutting half of their beards. The men sent word to the king about what had happened and how they didn’t want to come back in that form. Have you heard or seen of anyone spiting someone by cutting their beard and clothes?! I remember when people would draw on people when someone passed out at a party first and I always thought it was so mean. Now, I will also add that as I write this I am also remembering the freshman hazing that happened at my high school. Have you ever seen the movie Dazed and Confused? Supposedly that movie was based on the high school I went to and yes, we went through a form of “initiating” as we became the “fresh fish” of the school. The girls were typically made to wear hand made shirts and hair as their senior made them at the start of the school year, but the guys… they had their head “T’d” closer to the winter break and right before the first formal dance, they not only had to walk around school with their senior done hair do for that day of school but then had to go ahead and shave it all off to make it even before the dance. Some seniors were more mean than others but for the most part it was all in good fun and usually brought a connection with the seniors and the freshman, but was still a form of entertainment.

Anyways, back to the really good stuff. There are so many times that I read the Bible and stop to just take in the mind blowing facts. What I find so fascinating is how God knows literally everything and even though we are given free will and He has the best plans for us there are still several ways that our free will path line up with His grand plan after all. For instance, Rahab a Jericho prostitute all of a sudden tells the Israelite spies that she believed in their God and wanted to save herself and her family – she ended up helping establish the lineage that made up the fascinating genealogy of our Lord Jesus the Christ. Her life saving faith not only changed her life path for the better but carries the life changing amazing grace and beauty in what turned into the Saviors ancestry line. Or what about how Jacob and Esau were twins and had a destiny that the older would serve the younger; Jacob being the trickster fooled his father into giving him the blessing of the oldest son…. there is so much more to this but let’s focus on how he had no idea that he was to be great Israel and yet in his actions he still fell into God’s will for him and many after him.

There are so many times in my own life where I can even see how God knew that I would have gotten distracted or make the wrong turn but He in His infinite wisdom and perfection turns it to His good and perfect plans. I think of this often with my son even, it could look like a poor decision but really it was the most life giving blessing that God did for and with me. There was one time that I needed some more diapers and had no way of getting them, but there was a dog fight that got a neighbor’s attention and she brought us diapers after checking in on us.

In closing, I think we all too often are filling our time and spaces with things thinking that we are bored and need to be entertained or maybe numbed, but really a shift of perspective is all that is needed. Have you ever even wondered if some seemingly mundane nonsense thing you did actually made an impact that you might not ever know until you get to face our Creator? Mind blowing… just so constantly at awe.