This World is Not My Home
I slept SO good last night. I didn't even get up to go to the bathroom...but man did I have to go when I got up this morning!
God puts me in the path of different people everyday as I work. I have the opportunity to hear their stories. When they hear K-Love playing in my car they automatically assume that I am a Christian and that I am spiritual. Which, I am. But they also assume sometimes that I am religious. Which I am not. Not in the sense of the Pharisees and scribes anyway.
Anyway, my second run yesterday was a girl who is dying of kidney failure. She is on the kidney transplant list. Right now she is doing okay, but she has three kids and she worries about what is going to happen to them if she cannot get a kidney. It is a genetic defect that she has only recently been made aware of.
She asked me to pray for her, so I am putting her on my list. And I would ask that you all pray for her as well!
My third run was a lady who was getting out of the house for a few hours to get away from her father who has Alzheimer's. She also needs your prayers.
They are selling the house and preparing to put him in Assisted Living. Until then it is very trying for her and her family because of her father's mood swings due to the disease.
Having Christian music playing in my car all the time seems to soothe a lot of my customers, and for some reason, they open up to me more often because of it.
I praise God that He puts me in their path so I can hear their stories and offer encouragement and prayers when needed. This is what God put me here to do. This is why my work is so important!
Later, I saw a post on one of the Uber groups I am a part of about a guy who got murdered in Florida as he was doing his last Ubereats delivery of the day. His body parts were found in a trash bag during a missing persons investigation.
Yes my job is dangerous. Every job I have ever had has been dangerous. Just as dangerous. Not anymore not any less. I was robbed at a pizza place working in the kitchen in broad daylight. So it could happen anywhere with anyone at any time. My job is no more dangerous than any other job.
As with any other job there are safety protocols that are enacted to prevent possible dangers. None of them are foolproof. But they are there. Just like with any other job.
I refuse to live in fear. To do so would be not to live at all. To do so would be not to fulfill the job that God has given me. When God gets ready to take me home, I am ready. Until then, I am going to continue to do my job the best of my ability. I am going to keep moving forward.
To do otherwise, is to give Satan what he wants. The enemy seeks to steal, kill, and destroy. I refuse to try to hide from him. Instead I trust that God is going to protect me until He gets ready for me to go home.
I am praying for this victim's family. And I hope this man was as ready to go home as I am!
I will say this, though: If I am delivering at night and you do not have a porch light on, you will NOT get your groceries. You will get a text and you will meet me at my car. I will have the phone on. I will be INSIDE my car, ready to push the accelerator, and you will get your food through my window.
Do not ask me to go "behind the house and up the stairs" out of view of the street.
And if I cannot see your face and hands before you get into my car for a transport, you are not entering my car. My doors stay locked until I know who is entering and what state of mind they are in.
That is all I can do.
Later, I picked up an order from The One Buffet. They made an extra order with an egg roll in it, and that's all that was in there. She gave it to me because she said it was a test order and the Egg Roll would just sit there if I didn't take it. So I had my order to deliver and I got a free egg roll to snack on! How nice of them!
My apartment manager called me to see how I was coming along with my rent. I promised her that I would be there by Friday to give her what I have. Hopefully by then, I will have all of this month's rent and I will be working on May's rent.
I only need another $160 to pay this month. I can make that tomorrow if I have a good day. And I already have $83 toward May's rent made.
As I have made it a habit to pray each day before I leave home to go to work, I have come to ask for the ability to forgive as Jesus forgives. In doing so, Jesus has asked me, "Do you REALLY know what that entails?"
This video is saying exactly what I have come to learn through my prayer and conversation with Jesus each morning.
The question is not "Do you believe that Jesus Loves you?". Most of us grew up hearing those words: "Jesus loves you". Most of us know that He loves us. We sang the song as children: "Jesus loves me, this I know! For the Bible tells me so..."
The question is, instead, "Do YOU love Jesus?" Would you be willing to do for Jesus what He did for you? That is what He asks of you. That is ALL He asks of you. Will You love Him as He loves YOU?
Even in your sin. Even in the filthy rags you wear your righteousness on? Even in your drunkenness, or addiction, or shame? Jesus loves you RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE in your life. You don't have to ask Him to, He already does.
Will YOU love Jesus?
Love is not an emotion, it is an action. If you love Jesus, show Him. Read His word, get to know Him, and emulate Him. There is no greater honor than that a child grows up to be just like his father, or his mentor, or his hero. Will You try to be more like Jesus every day? Will you show Him how much you love Him?
Jesus asked Peter, three times, "Do you love me?" And finally, when Peter became anxious at the question, affirming his love, Jesus said, "Feed my sheep. Feed my lambs."
"When You have done these things to the least of these my children, you have also done it unto me."
Transformation does not come over night. If you start small, in small ways, every day you will grow stronger in His presence. Every day you will become better than you were the day before. You will never reach perfection while you are on this earth, but that is okay. Jesus loves you anyway. And as long as YOU LOVE HIM, You will be greeted with open arms when you finally get to go to your eternal home.
Lord, Abba, Father, Daddy, Friend, and Most Holy God,
Every morning I wake up in awe that You would see fit to give me one more day to try to be a good servant for You while I am here on this earth. Each day, I wake with excitement as I struggle to comprehend the magnificence of the gift You have given me, and the responsibility that comes with it.
I am so unworthy and imperfect, yet You have chosen to envelop your loving arms around me as I walk out my door to get in my car to do what You have given me to do.
All I can say is, I love You, too.
Be with my children and my lists. Lead me, guide me, and show me the way. Help me to help others along the way and be a better person than I was yesterday. Teach me more, help me to forgive others as You have forgiven me, and help me love others the same. Give me more opportunity to serve You, to be Your hands and feet where they are needed.
Help me pay my bills and keep me sustained and healthy as I go about the business You put in front of me.
In Jesus's Holy Name, I pray, Amen!
Psalms Chapter 56
3 What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.