“For I, the Lord your God, will hold your right hand, saying to you, ‘Fear not, I will help you.’” (Isaiah 41:13 NKJV)
A man who owned a delivery business, at a time long before all the present-day services you utilize today to pick up your fast food or entrée from an extravagant eatery, was bringing groceries to a lady that she had ordered by phone. This was in those days where you could run a tab and the owner of the grocery would pull out of his shirt pocket, a worn out two-inch by four-inch, much used spiral notebook, filled with white pages, and he would write down the sum total of his customer’s order. This was his accounting system, a precursor to credit cards. The system worked and trusted customers could pay at the end of the week. Back to the delivery business owner. His three sons were in the truck with him, all packed in the vehicle’s front seat. There was no complaining. They were just glad to be riding instead of walking. Side note: Appreciate your blessings.
Upon arriving at the house, the boys got out of the car to stretch their legs and to play innovative games in the lady’s large backyard. The yard was full of trees, and it was the Fall season. The boys entertaining themselves playing tag or hide and seek, paid no attention to the need for the leaves to be picked up. They just kept playing, listening to their feet generate sounds as their feet ran, rustled, and rushed through the leaf covered yard.
The oldest son perceives that playtime has been long enough and that they should head back to the truck. As they hurry back to the truck, leaves crunching and flying into the air as their feet had given the leaves a temporary lift off to another spot in the yard, the boys hear the lady telling their father that she was praying that the Lord will help her soon and that the leaves would miraculously disappear. The boys don’t focus on the lady’s comments for any length of time whatsoever. They pack themselves right back in the truck and are ready to go home and resume playing. The father gets in and starts the truck. After going two blocks, he pulls over, pauses with his hand on his head. The boys look, wondering why the stop and what is on the father’s mind. After a brief time of contemplation, the father reveals a revelation. His comment: “This lady needs help. We are going back and help her. We are going to be the help that she had been praying for; the instruments of God’s intervention and God’s provision.” The father turns the truck around and the boys and himself become a lawn service, a free lawn service. The woman comes out to the large backyard, not to supervise the work, but to share some words the boy would never forget: “I had this feeling that my help was on the way, and you showed up unexpectedly to forge the miracle from above I was seeking.” She goes on to say in a general sense, “You know, sometimes, the help is you.” Read this account but recognize and remember the reason behind your reading. God wants you to know on this Tuesday morning that “sometimes the help is you.” Be a helper! Be blessed!
“If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care—then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.” (Philippians 2:1-4 The Message Bible)
Still committed to the climb,
Mark L. King