Follow Up Post...Who Are We Full Of?

My last post stirred up some stuff for a lot of people.

I enjoyed reading the comments and hearing from people.

 

The thing that kept ringing in my head is how the post brought out reactions from a lot of different angles and perspectives and thoughts and feelings far beyond the incident or our family.

  Everyone has a story and an experience and there were many different reactions.

I was touched by the support for Mik and for our family.  Mik has had a lot to deal with in life that has been much bigger than name calling, and his character and the way he lives his life (even though it is far from perfect) reminds me of the enormous power of forgiveness. 

The whole incident led to some great discussion, between Charlie and I, once we had some time to process our own thoughts and reactions.  It stirred up a confession session where we brought up some stuff in our own lives, and our past that we weren’t too proud of our reaction or lack of reaction.

We talked about some times that we wish we would have handled situations much differently.

We could put ourselves in any one of the lives that had the unfortunate exchange.

 

It reminded me of a women’s event that a friend and I spoke at a few years back; we talked about

“What are you full of?”

When we get bumped, what comes spilling out?

This can range from a bump in the hall, to a devastating blow in life.

A bump in life can range from a nasty name, travel delay, change in job or finances. or location, a diagnosis, a loss of life or friendship; it is anything that bumps us.

The thing about bumps us in life; will spill out whatever is in there….even stuff we didn’t know was in there. 

Guaranteed our lives will encounter some bumps and blows and

 WHOEVER

 We are full of will come spilling out.

The little bumps can bring out whatever is on top…but those hard blows in life….bring out whatever is at the bottom.

I do not post our experiences from a stand point of teaching anyone a lesson…. I share some of our story to share what God is teaching us and maybe it can help someone else.

When I prayed for wisdom I felt like He was asking me to share what He is teaching me on this one.

It’s what God gave us……our lives our not our own.

I promise you I have so much grace for this kid that spewed the hateful words and so much respect for Mik in this particular incident.  I pray everything that bumps me or our family  drives us to repentance, which is to turn away from ourselves 

 (selfishness, self protection selfish thinking) 

and humbly turn to JESUS and fill up on

LOVE AND TRUTH AND LIFE AND GRACE.

We are getting ready to go to Uganda, and we will be bumped around in planes and cars and sights and smells and everything we can and can’t imagine will be different than what we are used to and I pray our team is filling up NOW on Jesus, so whether it is a bumpy ride or a big blow out that 

JESUS

 is in us from top to bottom and that’s what comes out here and there and everywhere.

1 Timothy 1:5-6 and 15-17 (NLT)

⁵ The purpose of my instruction is that all believers would be filled with love that comes from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and genuine faith. ⁶ But some people have missed this whole point. They have turned away from these things and spend their time in meaningless discussions.

¹⁵ This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—and I am the worst of them all. ¹⁶ But God had mercy on me so that Christ Jesus could use me as a prime example of his great patience with even the worst sinners. Then others will realize that they, too, can believe in him and receive eternal life. ¹⁷ All honor and glory to God forever and ever! He is the eternal King, the unseen one who never dies; he alone is God. Amen.