Out and about Doing Good
November 19th, 2009 Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
In the Family Circus cartoon Billy was often featured in a map-type drawing of his little world in which a dotted line plotted his meandering course from point A to point B. What if someone were to plot out our path for the day? Billy would have nothing on us! In a given day most of us cover a fair amount of ground, and do it in a meandering way.
I like a phrase the gospel writer Matthew uses two times in reference to Jesus. And Jesus went about…” (4:23 & 9:35) Jesus did a lot of walking about. He seems to have had a destination in mind on many occasions but, then again, He allowed Himself to be interrupted by a person in need nearby or diverted by a request to meet a need that was at a distance. In fact, almost all of His miracles were not planned by Him or His disciples the very morning of the day they happened. They just, well, they just happened!
Over the years I have had a growing awareness that God is scheduling me to be at a certain place at a certain time with a certain person without first consulting me! I’ve decided my best approach to each day is to be open to His agenda and to allow it to preempt my agenda whenever the two conflict.
Actually, it’s rather exciting to live each day with the expectation that God is going to put us with people and in situations where He wants us to bring His influence. Each of us lives in a specific set of circumstances that no one else on earth shares. No one else has exactly the same network of friends and acquaintances or the same set of circumstances. Each of us is strategic to God!
It prompts me to want to pray something to the effect, “Lord, where would you have me go today? Who would you have me see? What would you have me do or say?”
“And Jesus went about…” Matthew tells us. The upshot is that Jesus went about doing good, doing what God the Father wanted Him to do. We all have places to go, people to see, things to do. We can be a help or a hindrance, a delight or a drag, encouraging or exasperating, and, generally speaking, a blessing or a burden. I for one want to be like Jesus and go about doing good. You too?

Sleep evaded me last night, probably didn’t find it until abut midnight. Then I awoke at 4:15 and sleep had already left me for the night. At 11:00 last night I got up and searched for a psalm to read. I found one that really reflected my concerns and worries, and offered great insight. Then this morning (5 am) I picked up my devotional reading in 2 Corinthians where I had left off yesterday morning. The apostle Paul’s words seemed to be written just for me. What timing!
Within a short drive of Refuge Ranch in Mexico, where our daughter Julie and her family live, lie the ruins of an old hacienda. It was probably at its full glory in the 1700s or there about. It must have been magnificent! It’s still easy to see how it offered protection from enemies. The thick, high walls have holes undoubtedly designed to shoot through from the inside while offering the marksman almost complete protection. The picture shows a portion of the wall.
Humor me on this. Try taking just ten seconds for this experiment.
“Do you want the good news or the bad news first?” What a question! Just give me the good news, of course I’ll be miserably curious (and worried) if I don’t let you give me the bad news too!
The shattered bowl you see pictured here is one of 380 images I have for sale on iStockphoto. I was drying dishes and dropped the bowl, breaking it into the two pieces. I decided to photograph it. The image was accepted by
The man shuffled into Starbucks, his hand grasping the left hip pocket-area of his trousers, pulling up the left leg of his worn slacks, making it a full three inches shorter than the other. His coat collar was hunched up around his neck. The man seemed a foreigner among the latte drinking, laptop using customers that populated the shop. Moments later he made his way back out the door, having acquired a free glass of water. He took a seat at one of the small tables outside.
I don’t like to wait and I can’t think of anyone else who does either. The “waiting room” at the doctor’s office definitely has a negative connotation. What I’m reminded of is how God also has us wait for Him. Why? Why does it seem that I’m waiting for God to catch up with my plans? I should know better, after all, He’s perfect and that means He has perfect timing. God’s never tardy!