Sometimes I feel really self-centered. I feel like my problems are the biggest problems in the world, and the world revolves around Planet Beth. It’s nice when God puts people in my path to pray for, and to help me get my eyes off of me, and onto God and his purposes.
Last night, I went to pick up a quick bite at my favorite grocery store, Central Market. The young man behind the counter told me if I didn’t like the Organic Whipped Sweet Potatoes, he would give me the shirt off his back. But then he digressed because he couldn’t give me the shirt because he was leaving to move to Vegas today. So, then somehow we started talking about God. Because anybody moving to Sin City, definitely needs to have God and a whole system of accountability.
He tried telling me he was a “lone wolf,” and didn’t need anybody, like his idol: James Dean (and a few other guys that died in their early 20s and 30s). He said he wasn’t afraid to die, and did believe in God. I told him that God might have a purpose for his life beyond age 30, and that it might involve relationships that were lasting. I encouraged him to keep reading his bible.
I understand what it’s like to be living the “lone wolf-ette” life, since I’m far away from my family. But my family has been extended beyond my inherited blood type. I am so blessed by the friends and families I get to be around here in Houston.
God has not designed us for a lone-wolf lifestyle. We need fellowship. We need encouragement and love from one another--God’s love in us, being given to those around us (and being given back, too). It’s a beautiful thing.
And also, dying-schmying: fear-schmear. It’s not about whether YOU are afraid about death. It’s about making peace with God. Life isn’t over the moment your heart stops beatity-beating. There’s more. That’s what you have to be fear, if you don’t KNOW God. Not just believe in Him, but KNOW him as your LORD and Savior. This life is just a smidgen of real life.
I’m praying for little Lone-Wolf to know Jesus Christ, and to find people in his life to pour God’s love into him, and for protection as he travels. I’m glad I got to meet him, and not just because he was right about those Organic Whipped Sweet Potatoes—which happened to rock my taste buds.
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