Over the past three days I have been teaching at one of the local high schools... I have the wonderful opportunity to share about setting goals in life, make students aware of emotional needs in their lives, and about character... and, oh yeah, about postponing sexual activity until they are in that long term, committed relationship called marriage. I am so very grateful to the Crossroads Congregation for allowing me to participate in this program. I have made some wonderful contacts within the school system, and some of the students comments/conversations with myself and others that teach this program have made it worth while.
Have you ever thought of what you do with a blessing once you have received it? Today was a reminder of this for me. Yesterday I had to be rather direct with a young man in one of the classes I was teaching. His attitude toward what was being taught was one of discontent... I knew something had struck a cord with him. When I confront him with his behavior he immediately honored my request. I did not expect this... and moved ahead with the presentation. Afterward I began to think about it and realized I missed the opportunity to say thank you to this young man for showing me respect like he did... by stopping his behavior without any fuss (he still worked hard to show me he was not listening, but he did do what I had asked). As I thought about this I prayed that I would have the opportunity to tell him thank you... unfortunately he did not show for class today. I had missed the opportunity.
So, today another young man demonstrated great respect by not giving in to peer pressure... he did not know I was watching as we were between classes. I did not want another opportunity to go by so I went up to this person and told him how proud I was of him. He was very appreciative of the compliment.
Today I received another blessing as Marshall Q. helped me work on my van. The van has been leaking oil and I had no idea what to do with it. Marshall was able to diagnosis the problem and make the necessary repair (tighten the oil filter). You have no idea how big of a blessing this was to me and Angela. We were so afraid it was something major.
God has blessed my life in some tremendous ways over the past few days... what do I do with these blessings? Do I merely receive them and that's it? No, I think there's more... I need to return the blessings back to God by blessing others. I read about this in my reading from 1 Samuel, chapter 1. A lady by the name of Hannah desired to have a son and God blessed her life with a son. There was a lot more to it than just asking and receiving. The short of it was this... Hannah followed through with what she told God she would do for Him blessing her life... she would give her son to be a blessing for others by his service to God.
May I be as trustworthy as Hannah and give back to God His blessings by blessing others.

Ever been surprised by the fact a person was surprised that you did something? Well, I've had a few of these over the past few days. I was taken back just a little when persons I was helping expressed surprised that I would actually help. I didn't check out their response to see what was behind it... perhaps I should have. Now this leaves me wondering... what exactly was it they were surprised about?
I guess it's made me stop and think about those individuals that want to help me at times. I've got to admit that many times my first response is something like, "No, that's okay... I don't expect you to...". Why don't I expect them to help? Perhaps I should just allow people to do what they volunteer to do and trust they will tell me if they really don't want to. Now, I fully understand that there are folks that will never say "NO" and that they can over-commit themselves to the point of being taken advantage of. But for the most part I need to allow those that want to help... to help!
I've come to realize that there is a big pride issue that goes on inside me sometimes when I have someone volunteer to help with things... for some reason I believe I should be the one to do things. Now you may seem surprised that this confession is coming from a pastor (then again maybe not), but I guarantee I'm not the only minister that has struggled with this. The fact is... I'm much better than I use to be. God does some good work with humbling those that need it... like me.
My reading took me to Ruth, chapter 1. In this chapter I read about some of the same kinds of surprises. This lady named Naomi tries to send her daughter-in-laws away, back to their homes after her sons die. One daughter-in-law leaves while the other refuses and stays right with her (her name is Ruth). Verse 18 states, "When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her [to leave]." Naomi had to come to an understanding that what Ruth said she would do, she would do! Perhaps Naomi had to swallow some of her pride and concede to the fact that she did need help after all.