Happy 80th Birthday Papa!!!!!

Today was quite an exciting day!  This is not something that happens everyday.  I got to be a part of a little surprise.  When the party for Papa was being planned, we soon realized that it was highly unlikely that I would be able to attend.  This worked to our advantage.  I checked my schedule and voila! An opening was available for me to come into town for this momentous occasion!  I recorded a video in my dorm room to send my congratulation and at the end I would walk out.  As I was making arrangements for coming into town a miracle occurred.  My amazing Aunt Jo, one of the most beautiful women of God I know, wanted to pay for me to fly home and back.  How good can God get!  So we finalized the plans and kept this secret from both Grandma and Papa. 

 

As I arrived, my sister aided me in searching for the perfect “hiding place” from which I would emerge.  As I waited, I began thinking, something I enjoy doing quite often.  I began to reminisce of all the memories I had. 

 

MMMMMmmmmmmm…………..

 

So many trips where we had gone to a local creek and fished, oftentimes not catching anything but learning plenty about fish.  Then there were times where we caught more than our fair share.  Times where we went to Chevrolet fishing camps and caught multiple catfish.  Out of all the times, one in particular stands out to me.  In the summer of my junior year of High School, Papa and I went to Tatum, Texas for a fishing extravaganza!  We woke up early in the morning (3:00am) and began preparing ourselves for the adventure ahead of us.  As we met up with Uncle Walter, Papa’s fishing buddy, we grabbed the final pieces of gear we needed.  We departed on the lake in complete darkness.  We found our spot by a water outtake and began to lower our rods in hope of catching some catfish.  We were not disappointed.  As the sun exploded from the water, leaving colorful traces of itself in the sky, we began catching catfish left and right.  They would come up one, two, three at a time.  By noon we caught upwards of 40 catfish, 4 of which were big blues.  I thoroughly enjoyed this trip. 

 

But time was up.  They were about to play my video.  As I saw myself move off the screen,  I began singing happy birthday while walking towards the front of the room.  However, I became surprised when I noticed everyone was still mesmerized by the projector screen.  Nonetheless, I was able to surprise my Grandpa and give him my love.  As for the rest of the day……it was a blessing.  It is days like these that remind me of the huge blessing that my family is to me and inspire me further to love them and devote myself to helping them in whatever way I can.  My family is a visual representation of the love of Christ for me. 

 

My prayer to day is this:

That God shows me new and creative ways to love my family and to bless them.  Also that they live long, blessed, fulfilling lives devoted to the Lord Jesus Christ

Impressions

What is an impression?  According to the Apple dictionary it is an impact, effect, influence, indentation, dent, mark, outline,or imprint.  Everywhere we go, we leave an impression.  Sometimes we leave big impressions and sometimes we barely leave any.  How powerful is an impression?  It depends.  Sometimes it makes a push on someone but they shrug it off and move on.  Other times such influence is gained and a person is so impressed, that it has the effects of a hailstorm on a car.  There is no way all of those dents will be removed.  The car will never look the same.  In this example, a negative connotation is implied but can we not, as humans, be impressed to that extent in a good sense?  Yes we can.

In Ephesians 5:1-2 we are told to be imitators of God and live a life of love.  We can see throughout the bible, history, and present times the impression that the life of Jesus Christ made on the entire earth.  Millions of people have been impressed to the point of seeking relationship with this God that has affected them so deeply.  So if we became imitators of Christ, would we leave an impression similar to Him?

I observed a very interesting event take place the other day.  I was standing in line for an activity at my theatre when perchance my eyes turned downwards.  Lo and behold, the person in front of me had just taken off his shoes and was currently standing in his socks.  Ordinarily I wouldn't be astounded by such a simple action, but my attention was snatched when he took two steps forward.  There on the ground were two imprints or "impressions" of his feet where he had previously been standing.  This stimulated my inquisitive mind.  How did this happen?  Science had an answer for me.  The temperature of the floor and that of the guy's feet were different.  The room was slightly chilly whilst his feet were warm and probably slightly sweaty.  (My apology for those who get squeamish about feet.  I will arrive to my point soon enough.)  What had happened was a transfer of heat.  The coolness of the floor cooled off his feet whilst the warmth of his feet warmed the floor.  At the point of contact between the feet and the floor,  condensation formed on the ground thus the footprint was created.  This inspired my thoughts on impressions.  It would appear that when the guy was leaving his "impression" on the floor (i.e. footprints) that the floor returned the favor and left an impression on him (i.e. cooler feet).

Mmmmmmmm.......

This made me think further into the subject.  It seems that when we leave an impression on people, it is highly likely that they will likewise leave an impression on us.  This brings to mind the phrase, "choose your friends wisely."  Those we spend the most time with, we naturally begin to pick up some of their character traits.  If you spend a lot of time with violent people, you will naturally begin to have violent undertones in your life.  If you spend a lot of time working on a project, it will consume your thoughts and everything you see will begin to tie in with your project in one way or another.  A classic example would be the consuming power of revenge.  It has a quaint ability of swiftly engulfing people with thoughts and plans of revenge.

So what happens when we devote our time to Jesus Christ and continually fellowship with Him?  He naturally leaves his impression on us.  The deeper we get in Him, the deeper His impression on and in us.  It is inevitable.  It is from this point that we can better represent Christ to the world.  It is not only by speaking.  When we spends hours daily with Him, His thoughts and mannerisms naturally become ours.  We represent Christ in our daily behavior and activities.  He is represented by the way we handle various situations in life.  This gives us a lot of responsibility.  However, this task becomes extremely easy when quality time is set aside to worship God and fellowship with Him.  

I now arrive to the finality of my point.  What impression do you leave?  Do people think of you as a rude, arrogant, immature person?  Or, do they consider you a polite, humble, diligent, obedient person?  My hope is that you belong in the latter of these two categories.  

My prayer to day is this:

that everywhere I go, I leave an impression of Christ

(love, caring, kindness, respect, humility, ..... the list is endless of good qualities that my Lord Jesus Christ possesses!)