A new direction...East

Hello,
It seems like my blogging has been rather spiratic lately, so I am sorry for that, unless you like not having it every day, in which case, "you're welcome."
The last few days have been a little different and went different than planned. Before leaving Everett, WA, I changed the oil in the Goldwing, so that should be good until I get back home. Then, I kept looking for a place to take it and no one would. Frustration set in, but eventually, I did find a place and headed out.

I ended up calling a relative to see if I could visit with him for a while and that worked out, so I drove over to Oak Harbor, WA. As it turned out, he invited me to stay the night. Now, I really wanted to get into the Cascade Mountains and was really antsy to start heading east and hopefully meet some people in the campground, but then God planted a few thoughts. Here is this elderly man, who lives by himself now and probably wants some company. Also, it would be good for me, so I decided to stay and we had a great time.

While at his place, I reflected a little bit on age and the hardships of life. Remembering things from my past and now seeing this man and knowing his wife had Alzimers, pain just kind of came up in my mind. There have been books upon books written on pain and everyone experiences it in their own ways and yet, it is amazing how God works through pain. But still, every time I feel it or see it in other people, I just want to scream "Come Lord Jesus!" And, I believe that is what our yearning should be. Yet, on the flip side, Jesus us not to sit and wait for his coming but to get out and reclaim his creation. He says, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few." How are the workers few if this country says it is 85% Christian? It's because there are so few people who are truly affected by the love of Christ and it so overflows in them that they want to spread it to others. We have many Christians in name, but very few in "being Christ."

Another thing I think about a lot is that sometimes, we get these notions that sharing the love of Christ and being "harvestors" means going overseas or on long trips to find people who aren't Christians and converting them. Being Christ and being harvestors means being the people of God, right where we are at any given time, to any given person in any given place. It could be a smile, eye contact and a "Thank you" to the cashier at the store or it could be tying a little kids shoe. The love of Christ does not have a minimum requirement. It encompasses all good deeds done in the spirit of love. This is something God has been convicting me of pretty hard on this trip. He may not lead me to bring someone to Christ every day or every week or even every month, but every single day, I can practice being Christ to every single person that I meet.

Anyway, again, those are just a few of the thoughts running around my head. If it doesn't make a lot of sense, please don't hold it against me, because, as I've said before, I just get to a library, sit down and spill out what comes.

By the way, I am now in Twisp (?) Washington and heading east. I hope to be close to Spokane by tonight and get to Glacier National Park tomorrow. Whoot!

Have a great end of the week and God bless you all!

Tim