more thoughts on thanksgiving and self-absorption...

Been thinking more about this thanksgiving thing and entering the presence of God.  It's true.  I've been trying to wake up earlier to meet with Him and I'm finding that until I start listing things that I'm thankful for and speaking those things out to Him, I'm pretty distracted and joyless.  His presence is recognized by my soul when I wake it up through praise and thanksgiving.  Reading a really sweet and practical book called From Duty to Delight by Ron Parrish (pastor of Hope in the City Church in Austin).  It's been really helpful.  He gives practical ideas/assignments to experiment with in your prayer life.  They are all ideas that I've probably heard before, but it's good to have someone reminding me of what's true.  Floyd McClung comments in the foreword that if we had a friendship with someone in which we sat quietly with our eyes closed in the same position in the same place at the same time every day we would be bored because it IS boring.  Ron is reminding me that Jesus is here.  He's speaking, he's laughing, he's encouraging, he's confronting, he's touching me, he's is here.  And he is anything but boring.  Here's the problem - I think I need about 4 quiet times a day!!  I'm a big fat mess again just hours after I've filled up on the Living Water!  LOL!  The riches of His grace....

   Okay, here's a sad story.  Friday p.m. I had been over at a friend's house for coffee.  Another friend of mine and I had ridden together and she was bringing me back home about 12:30 a.m.  As she rounded the corner in front of the apartments by our house (she was going slowly, praise the LORD!), she had to swerve to miss hitting the man that was lying, curled up in the middle of the road.  We momentarily panicked and decided to go get Randy.  I had seen the guy moving so I knew he wasn't dead, but my first thought was that he might have been shot/stabbed and that maybe this was potentially dangerous.  As my very sleepy husband got dressed, I asked him what he was going to do if the guy had a gun.  His apathetic and sleepy response?  "I guess he'll shoot me."  Anyway, the guy was gone when we got down there.  We're assuming he was probably drunk and managed to get up to the apartments after realizing he had almost been hit by a car.  But here's what my friend says to me in a very non-critical, matter-of-fact sort of way:  "Your response to this is interesting - I'm wondering what might have happened to this man and you keep wondering if he's going to shoot you...."  Her statement haunted me all night long and the next day as I thought about how my gut response wasn't as much concern for the man as it was concern for me and my husband.  Now before some of you start thinking that I'm being too hard on myself, please realize that this isn't a self-condemnation sort of thing.  It really was the Holy Spirit reminding me for about the umpteenth time this week that He loves people and His goal is to empower me to love them as much as He does.  Anyway, we prayed for him as we went to sleep....Ugh!  Everything is so broken.  BUT, He is stronger!