Trash for Glory

Phil 3:8-“What is more, I continue to consider all these things to be a loss for the sake of what is far more valuable, KNOWING THE MESSIAH, JESUS , MY LORD!  It is because of HIM that I have experienced the loss of all those things.  Indeed, I consider them rubbish in order to gain the Messiah!”

During a recent therapy session (that is what I have come to call my jogs with Jesus),  I was running around a golf course, through a neighborhood of beautiful homes with long driveways.  I was watching the sky of many colors as the sun faded, 1) because it was beautiful and  2) I needed to be back before dark.  I was listening to a sermon about having a servants heart and how it is never to late to become who you were meant to be! I was inspired and encouraged and excited to return from this jaunt with a renewed spirit to serve, when I almost missed GLORY!

She was bent over with a cane.  She was attempting to put the recycle bin inside a big green trash can in order to consolidate the load she was about to haul up a very long driveway.  She showed no frustration and a toothy white smile beamed from her face.  I am convinced it was the light from her face that caught my attention, not the wrestling match with the trash cans.  I smiled back, said “hello” and ALMOST kept going.  I had been praying all day to see through God’s eyes and boom-I DID NOT miss it!  What good is an inspiring sermon if you don’t live it out!  I wanted a servants heart and here was an opportunity to serve.  “May I please take those trash cans up for you?”,  I asked.  She smiled and tried to say NO but I was a servant on a mission and I wasn’t taking NO for an answer.  I took both cans by the handle with the recycle bin strategically placed inside one of them and we began our trek up the long driveway.

I asked her her name and guess what she said-GLORY!  I got to take up the trash for Glory!  I started crying when she said her name but I think she just thought I was sweating profusely.  It took us a good 10 minutes to get the cans back up the driveway and she proceeded to tell me she had been born in Alabama and had family in lots of different states.  She asked me if I knew her boss and said his name like he must be famous.  You could tell she had the utmost respect for her employer and that getting those trash cans was a labor of love, not just a part of her job.  You could tell she was one of those souls who truly lived out “Whatever you do, do your work heartily as for the Lord rather than for man.”(Col 3:23) She thanked me over and over for helping her take up the trash cans but I am the one who was overwhelmed with gratitude. I couldn’t tell her enough “thank you for letting me help you”-we were having our own little “thanksgiving waltz”- round and round.  In that moment I truly understood that all things are “rubbish or trash” compared to knowing Christ and in knowing Christ you recognize HIS GLORY when you see it and you won’t take NO for an answer when it comes to helping in HIS NAME!  I really needed to see God’s Glory that day and HE delivered!  To God be all the Glory!  No pun intended:)

Over the past 2 weeks I have experienced a host of emotions.  My mom was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer and we were told that her time this side of heaven will be short.  She loves Jesus very much and is not afraid of “going HOME”; however the unknowns here have brought our whole family sadness, some fear and an overwhelming sense of “what in the world do we do”. How does one navigate the waters of “Sad to the bone,yet needing to have complete composure and wisdom to make tough decisions, crashing into joy in the precious remaining moments, yet preparing for an inevitable loss”?

Meditating on Scripture to the rhythm of running shoes has become very therapeutic for me over the past 6 years and my “Glory Story” was just one of those “Therapy Sessions”.   I call these Jesus Jogs “pod pounding”-short for listening to podcast while pounding the pavement.  Some of my favorite preachers are T.D. Jakes, Steven Furtick, Mark Batterson, Robert Morris, Bill Johnson, Francis Chan, David Platt, Perry Noble, Bill Hybels, Christine Caine, Craige Groeshel-just to name a few.  I am making a point to list these names because often times people ask why I am smiling when I run and it is the “Jesus” that pours from these spiritual mentor’s mouths that have made me grin!  I have also shed tears, laughed out loud, taken notes and tweeted on my phone, while running with Jesus and my “preacher posse”.   I am a total stranger to them but they have influenced me to want more and more of “That Jesus”.  The more I have of HIM the more I truly realize that everything else is “rubbish”.  

I pray that you will take the time to listen to some of these preachers.  The more we put Christ in our eyes, ears, mouthes and hearts the more HE will overflow from us.  When HE comes in, HE changes us!  We begin to see, hear, speak and act differently.  We stop missing GLORY and we start seeing HIS GLORY all around us.  Our desires become HIS desires and our service becomes the outpouring of HIM in us!  It is only in truly believing that “to know Christ “is everything and all else is “trash” that we can embrace suffering and sadness with an everlasting hope.  I told my mom how I met “Glory” on my run and she just smiled, proud her daughter didn’t overlook HIM!

Dear God I thank you for your GLORY!  Help us to “Let our light so shine before men that they may see our good deeds and glorify our Father Who is in Heaven! (Matt 5:16)  Your Presence is all around and within us. May we see you in the most unexpected ways, even while taking up the trash!

GoGod