MORNING GLORY 21

Good morning! Grab some coffee/tea and let's share some morning glory!

  

I was driving down the road into my neighborhood, heading home, and jamming to something good. I didn’t even notice a car up ahead until it made a FULL STOP in front of me. So I stopped too and watched as he jumped out of his car and dashed around front. Bending over, he picked up a footlong turtle and carried it over to the other side of the road. I gave him a thumbs-up as he waved and got back in his car. A line of at least 15 cars had formed behind mine! But in no less than 15 seconds, we were all back on track. 

  

At first, before I saw the turtle, I must say I was a little annoyed…Why in the world did he just stop in the middle of the road?!! But after pausing in the middle of the situation, I saw another side of the story. The man was rescuing a turtle from a long line of speedy and unforgiving tires. He wasn’t harming anything but trying to help this turtle on his long journey across the road. (No chickens here!) 

  

I saw Jesus at work in that moment. He would have dismounted His donkey and held up traffic on Red Sea Road for a turtle too. (Give Ellie Holcomb’s Red Sea Road song a listen!) In fact, He always made time to help someone even when he was teaching or traveling or in the process of helping someone else. On His way to heal a synagogue leader’s daughter, a woman touched His robe for healing and He stopped to talk with her. (Matthew 9:20-22). Even though He was en route to helping someone else, He never passed by another in need along the way. There were — and still are — no limits to His ability to heal. No maximum capacity. No one left behind. His healing tag line: tell no one.  He did not need the recognition or praise from people. His Father always saw what had happened — and it was always more than enough. 

  

We are called to live out this same way of helping others when we see them in need. The kind of way that stops traffic sometimes or steps out of our comfort zone — no recognition required. We need friends who help us along the way, and they need us too. Sometimes a person in need isn’t our friend. Maybe they’re a stranger — they live in a different part of town, or live in a shell with four legs. But they’re still our neighbor. Just like the friends who lowered a paralyzed man from a roof into a room where Jesus was teaching, we can find ourselves in either position. Whether we’re on the stretcher or carrying one of the sides, we are Jesus’ hands and feet. We are doing His work in real-time, just as the man sprang into action to save a troubled turtle in front of me. 

  

Don’t feel bad about holding up traffic to help someone in need. Don’t even look back. Follow the way of love and let it lead. God is love — and He’s on the move.