Digging Deeper to Find Compassion

 

Wednesday, September 1, 2021

The Lord is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him.  Psalm 103:13

Some years ago I served as pastor at a church in Florida’s Gator city, Gainesville.  The city-wide pastime there is finding a street without a traffic jam.  I used to take a shortcut down one of the side streets every day on the way to the church because it was usually never crowded.  There were a number of very beautiful homes on this street. 

Driving down that road one day, I noticed a large hole had been dug in the middle of a front yard.  It was curious.  The next day the hole was twice the size.  I wondered.  On the third day the hole was humongous, covering nearly half the yard!  I almost stopped to check it out, but resolved if there was time tomorrow I would stop and ask the owner what was going on. 

On day 4, there was a hastily made sign near the hole, a half-sheet of plywood, propped up with a two-by-four, facing the street for all the curious drivers of cars to see.  Three words were painted in angry red:  It's a Pond!

We don't live in a friendly world.  For the most part people hang their signs out that say, Leave me alone – Don't stop – Don't ask – Don't bother me!   That's not the way they really feel.  It's a conditioned response to growing up in a scary world.  It's like when people whistle in the dark; the louder you whistle the more frightened you may be on the inside. 

People are afraid to trust.  There are so many voices, it’s scary to trust.  But the Father has called us to fellowship.  He's called us to be trustworthy, and vulnerable, and open, so the signmakers of this world will see that we were meant to love each other.  And the signmakers of this world really do want you to stop and ask; they've just been taught to be afraid. 

For You Today

There are hurting people with their little signs posted all over.  Will you ignore those signs and stop anyway?  Will you go to those without hope?  Will you hear their pain?  Will you share the peace of Jesus you've found? 

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!   

[1] Title and Other Images:  Pixabay.com  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©